The talk tells the story of 2022’s Coastal Trail Challenge which started on New Year’s Day and is still running until 6 February. Participants are encouraged to solve 35 clues and take photos along the way to win prizes. People can take part in teams of 2-5 persons, and walk stages of the trail at their own convenience using the TrailWatch App to navigate and track their progress.
The co-initiators Paul Zimmerman, Ester van Steekelenburg and Alicia Lui give insights on their cooperation to put the trail together and run the Trail Challenge. They explain how they have used a community-driven approach to piece together small paths into a 65 km trail, work with organisations like the Transport and Lands departments to connect missing links, build infrastructure, improve wayfinding and use technology to document popular places along the trail and the stories behind them.
They also highlight how this initiative fits into the bigger picture of sustainable city and territory-wide planning and inclusive placemaking in Hong Kong.
Paul Zimmerman, CEO of Designing Hong Kong
Paul is one of the key figureheads of sustainable development in Hong Kong. He heads Designing Hong Kong that over the years has initiated a wide range of projects to promote waste reduction, nature conservation, urban walkability and harbourfront accessibility in the territory. One of its latest initiatives is a series of coastal trail mapping projects including Hong Kong Island, Tsing Yi and Lantau Island.
Ester van Steekelenburg, co-founder iDiscover
Ester is a social entrepreneur who combines her passion for heritage, culture and the territory. She has worked as a consultant on urban regeneration projects throughout Southeast Asia for 20 years. In 2016, she co-founded iDiscover, a digital platform that enables communities to map what matters in their own neighbourhood.
Alicia Lui, Project Director at TrailWatch
Alicia has been working in the field of nature conservation and sports development for 10 years. She is currently the project director at TrailWatch, a mobile wayfinding app that enhances hiking experiences and empowers users to report trail and park misuse.
The opinions expressed in this talk are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the Royal Geographical Society - Hong Kong.