Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho attended the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU) in Lisbon, Portugal, to promote Hong Kong’s resident-oriented “Well-being design” concepts and strategies.

On Wednesday, Ms Ho began her visit to Lisbon by meeting Secretary of State for Housing in the Ministry of Infrastructure & Housing Patrícia Goncalves Costa, to exchange views on the housing policies of the two places.

Afterwards, Ms Ho attended the IFoU held at the Pavilion of Portugal for the previous World Expo, where she explored the latest trends of housing planning, design and management, community engagement and more with scholars, industry representatives, professional bodies and students from the Mainland, Europe and the US.

In the forum’s plenary session, Ms Ho highlighted that the “Well-being design” guide launched by the Housing Bureau and the Housing Authority last year, serves as a reference for the future design of new public housing estates and the improvement works of existing estates, to create a more comfortable and vibrant living environment for the residents.

She also said that Hong Kong can give full play to the role of being a “super connector” through interactions and exchanges in different places.

The IFoU is organised in different cities each year, and this year’s edition was hosted by the University of Lisbon with the theme of Future Living.

After the forum, Ms Ho had dinner with Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Portuguese Republic Zhao Bentang, and briefed him on Hong Kong’s latest housing policies and initiatives.