PROARQ is honored to welcome Prof. Hendrik Tieben, architect and professor at the School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), whose work focuses on urban design and sustainable cities.
OPEN LECTURE
Lecture title: Living Close, Living Well? Urban Proximity, Housing, and Public Space in Hong Kong and Beyond
Date: Wednesday, November 5, 2025, at 10 a.m.
Venue: Room 445 – PROARQ
ABSTRACT
In its recent goals, UN-Habitat emphasizes housing, land, and services, highlighting the global shortage of decent and affordable homes as well as adequate public facilities. Within this context, the lecture examines Hong Kong — a city defined by extreme density, mixed land uses, and a vertical urban form. Although often associated with minimal living spaces, Hong Kong also provides instructive examples of well-planned new towns and housing estates developed to address its long-standing housing challenges. A key factor in their relative success is the close integration of housing with public spaces and facilities. This proximity shapes Hong Kong’s urban quality and offers valuable insights for the broader international debate on compact, inclusive, and sustainable urbanism.
BIOGRAPHY
Hendrik Tieben is an architect and professor at the School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). His teaching and research focus on urban design, history, and theory, with an emphasis on creating sustainable and inclusive cities. He founded the MSc in Urban Design program at CUHK and served as Director of the School of Architecture from 2021 to 2024. Over the past two decades, he has led community-based design and placemaking projects. In 2023, he co-curated Transformative Hong Kong for the Venice Architecture Biennale. He currently collaborates with UN-Habitat’s Global Public Space Programme, researching the interrelations between housing, public space, and facilities. Tieben also serves as Chair of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU) and has been a visiting scholar at several universities across Europe, Asia, and Oceania.