Kai Tak Promenade (Metro Park Section) – A Waterfront Reimagined By ARTA Architects, Hong Kong

In the heart of Hong Kong’s former aviation hub, the new Kai Tak Promenade breathes life back into a waterfront that once roared with jet engines. ARTA Architects have taken this 1,000-meter stretch and turned it into something altogether quieter, softer—and far more human.

The design doesn’t shout. Instead, it flows literally through a series of gently curving forms that echo tree trunks and natural contours. These curves aren’t just aesthetic; they shape the promenade’s rhythm, defining moments of movement and pause, activity and rest. It is a space that invites exploration while offering room to simply be.

The promenade has community at its core. Along the path, you will find an open-air amphitheater, kids’ play zones, and a shared greenway for walkers and cyclists. Nothing feels over-designed or out of place. The edges of the pathway ebb and swell to create natural lookout points and spaces to sit, breathe, or take in the harbor view. It is a landscape that meets people where they are—active, social, or simply seeking stillness.

Environmental intention runs deep here. Plantings are native and chosen for more than looks—they provide shade, improve the microclimate, and support biodiversity. Recycled and sustainable materials are used throughout, grounding the design in a sense of responsibility without compromising on craft or character.

And then there are the harbour steps—600 meters of them. These broad terraces create an open invitation to the water’s edge, a rarity in a city where the waterfront is often inaccessible. Here, you can dangle your feet above the tide, watch the light change over Victoria Harbour, or just enjoy being close to the sea. It’s a simple idea, but one that fundamentally changes how people engage with the city’s edge.

Subtle nods to the site’s past as an international airport are woven into the design—found in the shapes of the shelters, the structure of restrooms, and the linear language of certain elements. These references don’t dominate; they quietly acknowledge where this place has been, even as it moves forward.

What ARTA Architects have created isn’t just a promenade. It’s a new kind of public space for Hong Kong—layered, responsive, and designed with a clear-eyed sense of what people actually need from a city. It’s a place to move, to gather, to linger. A place that reconnects the city not just to its harbour, but to its people.