An ecological and humane urbanism is required to combat resource degradation and socio-economic polarisation. UN-Habitat’s New Urban Agenda calls for a paradigm shift to ‘leave no one, no place and no ecology behind’ through sustainable development. However, this article argues that a ‘sustainability fix’, while necessary, is insufficient to counter the hegemonic growth-orientated culture and it is important to re-embed economic activities in ethical socio-ecological relationships for people and place well-being. These require critical scholarship to reproblematise issues and present prescriptive approaches for resolving them. Reproblematisation of Hong Kong’s alleged land scarcity problem reveals a property-dominant urban-biased political economy that sustains a high land price policy through suppressing development of massive rural land resources, resulting in ecological and socio-spatial disparities. Reimagining the development of rural Hong Kong based on the principles of nature conservation and place-making for conviviality and human flourishing could be a potential pathway towards a transformative urbanism.