Private housing estates in Sha Tin District

The following is a non exhaustive list of private housing estates in Sha Tin District, Hong Kong.

Tai Wai

Festival City

Festival City (名城) is the largest private housing estate in Tai Wai. It is a HK$20 billion residential-commercial development project by Cheung Kong and MTR Corporation. It is located above the Tai Wai (Station) Maintenance Centre, next to Tai Wai Station, which is the interchange station between the East Rail Line and Ma On Shan Line of the MTR metro system. The site was formerly occupied by a football court and public bicycle park. However the government needed to build the Ma On Shan Line Depot in 2000, forcing the demolition of all of the facilities.

Festival City was built in three phases from 2007 to 2012. It consists of 12 buildings, a 620,000 square feet of clubhouse and a landscape podium. Phase I was completed in September 2010, Phase II in October 2011, and Phase III in August 2012. The plan was to build 12 50-stories high residential towers with a total construction area of 313,955 square meters as well as 25,890 square meters for the general public's use. It offers 4,264 flats to families, two schools and one community facility. This residential project raised the population of Tai Wai significantly. The controversy of this project is that the 12 towers would create an urban heat island effect and block off the air flow of the area. Many people criticize that housing estate is a walled-buildings and it makes Tai Wai lack of public open space and community facilities in nowadays.

Dubai Festival City

Dubai Festival City (Arabic: دبي فستيفال سيتي‎) is a large residential, business and entertainment development in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Touted as a "city-within-a-city", Dubai Festival City is the Middle East's largest mixed-use development: all elements for work, living, and leisure will be contained within the project. Once completed Festival City will comprise a series of residential communities, numerous hotels, malls, a golf course and other entertainment sites, and a full suite of public services, including schools.

Description

Construction of the development, which was undertaken by Al Futtaim Carillion, began in 2003 and is expected to take 12 years. The project spans 3.8 kilometres (2.4 mi) of water frontage on the eastern bank of Dubai Creek and is 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) from Dubai International Airport. As of mid-2006, investments in the project had exceeded 11 billion AED (3 billion USD).

Hotels

The development includes two hotels and a long term stay serviced apartment complex, all managed by InterContinental Hotels Group. In July 2009, Intercontinental took over management of the Al Badia Golf Course. Future developments include the 400-room Four Seasons Hotel Dubai, but construction of both hotels was put on hold in January 2009 due to the Global financial crisis of 2008–2009.

City

A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town in general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.

Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, and transportation. The concentration of development greatly facilitates interaction between people and businesses, benefiting both parties in the process, but it also presents challenges to managing urban growth.

A big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are usually associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas, creating numerous business commuters traveling to urban centers for employment. Once a city expands far enough to reach another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis. In terms of population, the largest city proper is Shanghai, while the fastest-growing is Dubai.

Origins

There is not enough evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities. Some theorists have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces.

Intercontinental

Intercontinental may refer to:

See also

InterContinental

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts has over 180 hotels, located in more than 60 countries across the globe. In operation for over 60 years, the Intercontinental brand is one of the world’s major luxury hotel and resort brands.

History

In 1946, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts was introduced from Pan Am's vision of mass international air travel, with the first hotel opening in Belém, Brazil to accommodate crews and passengers in destinations where upscale hotels were not yet present.

The brand was thought up of by United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Juan Terry Trippe, former President of Pan American Airways. At a White House breakfast in 1945, the two men discussed their concern for Latin America’s need for development dollars. The men thought that one way to attract businessmen and tourists would be to offer luxury hotels. Trippe agreed that Pan Am, with the support of U.S. government institutions as the Export-Import Bank, could form a subsidiary to foster the implementation of the idea. On April 3, 1946, Intercontinental Hotel Corporation was legitimized. Today, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts operates globally, with 37 properties in North America, compared to 31 in Europe, 29 in the Middle East, 19 in Latin America and 51 in Asia Pacific.