RLP Asia's Sky Tower wins urban renewal competition with innovative planning tools

RLP Asia, a Hong Kong-based architecture firm, won first prize in the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA) competition for the Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok District Study (YMDS). Their winning proposal, 'Mong Kok: 100% Open City Vision', demonstrates how the YMDS's new planning tools—Transfer of Plot Ratio (TPR) and Street Consolidation Area (SCA)—can be applied in practice. By consolidating development rights from an entire street block and using the SCA mechanism to close intervening road segments, the design creates a large development site anchored by the iconic Sky Tower. This frees the ground plane to be a Central Urban Park, linking to existing open spaces and enhancing the public realm.

Importantly, RLP Asia went beyond the competition brief by introducing the Skyline-for-Comfort (SfC) Index, developed with researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. This climate-responsive tool calculates how different building height scenarios affect urban ventilation and thermal comfort, allowing the team to add gross floor area under the MRCP+ scenario while actually reducing population density and improving living conditions. The design thus balances redevelopment potential with environmental quality, offering a replicable model for high-density urban regeneration.