Macau may be a Special Administrative Region that enjoys a number of freedoms and has its own financial, legal and educational system. But its future is evermore tied to that of mainland China. This means Macau’s prosperity is somewhat dependent on its interaction with other cities in the Pearl River Delta, as well as nearby provinces and the central government. A recently published study concludes that the need for and reliance on foreign migrant workers, especially low-income ones, could become a source of ‘future tension.’ The case study is titled ‘Gambling on landfill and infrastructure to reposition Macao in the Pearl River Delta’ and is by John Zacharias, a professor and urban planner from the College of Architecture and Landscape at Peking University. “The rising proportion of relatively low-income migrant workers needed to support this good life could be the source of significant future tensions,” Mr. Zacharias says. According to him, institutional integration in the Pearl River Delta lags economic integration, unlike in European cities. And Macau’s economic integration with neighbouring Zhuhai is different from that of Hong Kong’s with its mainland opposite number, Shenzhen. In the Macau-Zhuhai economic integration, Zacharias argues, there is a “relative absence of obvious conflictual relations,” while the integration between Hong Kong and Shenzhen has been rapid, leading to “significant tensions… in the social sphere and to a lesser extent at the institutional level.” However, in the Pearl River Delta, while unification may shorten travel time between the cities, it also reveals “enormous disparities in income within individual cities” and consequently a source of tension. “City-led development has not addressed these disparity issues – arguably accentuating them – with these issues referred upward to regional and state authorities,” he maintains. Planning lagging At the time of the Macau handover in December 1999, Macau lacked a planning system. In fact, it lagged behind its neighbouring Special Administrative Region Hong Kong in pretty much most areas. It wasn’t until 2011 that the Macau Government launched the first ever public consultation on the expansion plan of the territory, that of the five plots of land that would be reclaimed from the sea. This would increase Macau’s land size by 10 per cent, or by three square kilometres. “The current five-islands plan, like many launched throughout China, is heavy on imagery and light on progress,” the urban planner says. While the government has emphasised time and again that the islands will provide housing for locals as a top priority, given the lack of public housing available, Mr. Zacharias suggests these islands will actually cater to the luxury property market. The reasoning behind this is that this new housing is “isolated by water from existing Macau and largely connected by underground tunnels, parking garages and local facilities, [and] such plans read as virtual gated communities.” In addition, another of the islands is to house an expanded shopping environment plus office buildings as well as more housing. “Macau lacks a luxury goods shopping hub as exists in Hong Kong… Island 4, in particular, exemplifies the effort on the part of the government to meet the needs of the local population through a public space venue and metro, while attempting to capture yet more capital outflow from the mainland,” he adds. “The islands promise a green paradise for recreation but are largely isolated and inaccessible to Macau’s present population. But, as the planning documents emphasise, it may be that the realisation of such a utopian vision may spur a genuine project for a sustainable and liveable Macau,” Zacharias suggests. No hope The urban planner also argues that the islands will offer little or no hope for diversification, except for a “tiny ‘creative industry park’ below the flight path to the airport.” Aside from this land reclamation, Macau has also managed to strike a deal with authorities in Zhuhai to set up the new campus for the relocation of the University of Macau in Hengqin Island. The campus and Macau are now linked by a tunnel. “Arguably, the new campus of the University of Macau, with real and symbolic isolation from the gambling heart via a single tunnel to Hengqin Island, is a step in this direction,” he adds. The new campus location could also spur students to further their education rather than seek easy money by quitting school to work in a casino dealing chips, which up until now has been seen as an attractive way to make big money in a short period of time. “This important investment in education also represents another kind of gamble – that youth can be weaned off easy money and the casino job market,” he says. Mr. Zacharias argues that because of the lack of prior planning, any future plan will be prioritised according to economic development and closer integration with mainland China. “A richer Macau in the short run is accompanied by the promise of longer-term improvements to the public environment, starting with a few highly visible projects in the new territory,” the urban planner says in his study. He adds that “Macau has adopted much the same strategy as the vast majority of mainland cities, where rapidly deteriorating environmental quality is accompanying a rise in personal disposable income for those with urban resident rights.”
—
