The recent Legislative Council briefing by the Transport and Logistics Bureau and Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) on the three-runway system (3RS) and Airport City paints an impressive picture. Once fully operational, the 3RS will boost capacity by 50 percent, handling 120 million passengers and 10 million tons of cargo annually by 2035. The expanded Terminal 2, autonomous transport corridors, and the HK$100 billion ($12.75 billion) Skytopia blueprint — featuring AsiaWorld-Expo Phase 2, a yacht marina, an artist village and art storage — signal robust hardware progress slated for completion between 2026 and 2031.

Yet, a walk through the terminal today reveals a landscape dominated by Hong Kong-style shopping malls, highways and concrete structures. It feels “dry”, lacking the sensory richness of Singapore’s Changi Airport, where Jewel’s Rain Vortex cascades amid a four-story forest valley. Hong Kong possesses engineering prowess but needs to translate “hard” infrastructure into “soft” cultural arts and entertainment experiences. This is where the AAHK can excel.

Skytopia, a portmanteau of sky and utopia, overlooks a vital asset — water. The airport island is lapped by the sea, with Skytopia’s plans encompassing a 200-hectare harbor and 1.5-kilometer promenade. “Sky and ocean” is an organic theme rooted in Hong Kong’s maritime heritage — a story well-told at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.

The AAHK could extend this narrative intellectual property by creating an immersive “sky and ocean story” museum within Skytopia. Using theme-park-mode extended reality immersive technology, visitors could journey from the era of junks and the legendary Kai Tak Airport flight approach, to today’s superhub. This aligns with the needed repositioning of 11 Skies. Rather than a conventional high-end shopping mall, 11 Skies — with its celestial name — could be reimagined as an immersive cultural experience cluster, housing themed performance spaces and integrated food and beverage areas that let travelers experience Hong Kong rather than just stopping to shop.

The Hong Kong International Airport needs its own language — one that narrates the city’s journey from fishing village to aviation nexus

The 20,000-seat indoor arena at AsiaWorld-Expo Phase 2, due in 2028, should be unapologetically specialized for world-class concerts. Rather than pursuing a multipurpose compromise, a venue optimized for acoustics and sightlines would become an indispensable stop on global tours.

Crucially, a single mega-venue is insufficient. A performance and entertainment ecology requires smaller, flexible spaces. London’s demountable ABBA Arena and teamLab’s agile global installations prove that temporary structures can host world-class entertainment and arts experiences. The AAHK should cultivate a cluster around the main arena — four or five 500-seat immersive theaters, two or three 1,500-seat entertainment concert spaces, covered pop-up theme-based markets and pop-up exhibition zones. Combined with AsiaWorld-Expo’s existing convention business and surrounding different modes of dining, this creates a complete experience consumption loop — tourism business by day, entertainment by night.

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) transforms Skytopia from a local asset into a Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area gateway. Initiatives like “Fly via Zhuhai-Hong Kong” and upcoming automated car parks for southbound Guangdong vehicles enable seamless journeys. A family from the Greater Bay Area could park at the boundary crossing, take an autonomous shuttle to Skytopia for an immersive history tour, dine by the harbor, attend a concert, and fly out the next morning. Skytopia becomes the first stop on their regional cultural itinerary.

The AAHK enjoys institutional agility, but this must be paired with professional cultural research and planning. Singapore’s Jewel thrives on a “nature and tech” theme; ABBA Arena innovates through immersive audio-visual design. The Hong Kong International Airport needs its own language — one that narrates the city’s journey from fishing village to aviation nexus.

“Between sky and ocean” is where Hong Kong’s story began. Skytopia can be its ultimate expression, woven from immersive experiences, flexible spaces, and regional connectivity. When the HZMB feeds the performance cluster at AsiaWorld-Expo, and 11 Skies redefines airport leisure with the “sky and ocean” narrative, Hong Kong International Airport will evolve from a transport machine into a cultural ecosystem. The HK$100 billion investment must purchase not just concrete and mega structure, but a comprehensive upgrade to Hong Kong’s soft power — activated by creative soft thinking and research.

The author is a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies and artistic director of Zuni Icosahedron.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.