Environmental injustice has received high attention in the field of environmental studies. The concept of environmental justice is well defined within different academic disciplines. It refers to the rightness, fairness, and equity that a person in his own living environment is entitled to. In contrast, environmental injustice refers to the failure for one to receive the environmental justice that he is entitled to. Environmental injustice has been well substantiated by numerous international studies and evidenced in many countries overseas. A key question thus emerges: Is environmental injustice well evidenced in Hong Kong? Air pollution presents a major environmental challenge to the socially deprived communities both internationally and locally. Whilst the relationship between air pollution and social deprivation is well established internationally, given the strong evidence supporting the hypothesis that the socially deprived are exposed to more air pollution, the validity of such claim in the local context is not as obvious. Existing local studies investigating the relationship between air pollution and social deprivation are limited by, first, the lack of fine-grained air pollution data at a smaller geographical scale, which constrains the observation and conclusion of such hypothesis at a more refined geographical scale (Stern, 2003) and second, a stronger tendency to focus on the vulnerability of air pollution on different socio-economic spectrums (C. M. Wong et al., 2008). The current study aims to close the research gap by (a) developing a sophisticated methodology to enhance the collection and analysis of air pollution data at the Territorial Planning Unit, (b) examining the relationship between air pollution exposure and social deprivation at the TPU level, and (c) examining whether environmental injustice in relation to air pollution exists in Hong Kong. Our key research questions thus include the following: (1) Are the socially deprived in Hong Kong exposed to more air pollution? (2) Can we break through the existing methodological constraint and develop a brand new sophisticated air pollution data estimation methodology to interpolate air pollution at a smaller geographical scale? (3) If (1) is positive, would the exposure to more air pollution by the socially deprived in Hong Kong constitute the case of environmental injustice? A more sophisticated and accurate air pollution estimation methodology to estimate air pollution at a smaller geographical scale with the least root mean square error (RMSE) as compared to other key traditional models is introduced. The model identifies key spatial factors that affect the dispersion of air pollution in Hong Kong. By regression analysis, it is shown that the relationship between exposure to air pollution and social deprivation is positive and statistically significant. Both NO2 and PM10, the two major road-based pollutants, are positively correlated with the social deprivation index (for NO2: coefficient=0.4404 R= 0.6937, p<0.01; for PM10: coefficient = 0.4185, R = 0.6430, p<0.01). This leads to the conclusion that the socially deprived in Hong Kong are exposed to more air pollution, thus establishing the case of environmental injustice. This study has generated a key methodological breakthrough by developing a sophisticated air pollution estimation model that generates more accurate and fine-grained air pollution data at the TPU level – which was not previously available due to the limited number of air pollution monitoring stations in Hong Kong. This methodology allows the pursuit of social-economic air pollution study at a more refined geographical scale. The study strongly points to the existence of air-pollution related environmental injustice in Hong Kong. It calls for the Hong Kong Government to immediately address this under-researched and long neglected social-environmental problem, by formulating and implementing effective policies based on the fine-grained air pollution and socio-economic data, and the evidence generated from this study. / published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

In recent decades studies all around the world have shown an increasing trend of visibility degradation. In Hong Kong, the visibility has shown a deteriorating trend from 1968 to 2003 (Leung et. al 2004). The level of visibility has been proven to be related to the level of air pollutants causing air pollution. Therefore, visibility degradation is a sign of deteriorating air quality and a potential threat to human health. In addition, visibility degradation will blur the vista of the skyline that tourists are looking for in their trips. The degraded visibility will harm the tourists’ enjoyment at popular tourist sites such as the Peak, Hong Kong. This study aims at finding the standard of visibility violation of the lay public and the tourists in Hong Kong and their perception on visibility degradation. The study designs a questionnaire based on a judgement study on photograph of perception and justification of visibility standards by Pryor (1995) and the conceptual model of Sell et al. (1988) to unveil the reason behind the human standard on visibility degradation and the relationship between people’s background and their perception. The study suggests the standard of visibility violation is 4.5km in the Peak, Hong Kong and the standard varies from place-to-place while it is very much based on the environmental setting of the vista. A modified model based on the conceptual model by Sell et. al (1988) is introduced to explain the relationship between environmental change, individual, perception and their responses. It is deduced that human perception on visibility degradation will start when the environmental degradation exceeds the acceptance level of people. The finding proved that the standard of visibility violation could be determined. The standard would change according to a place-to-place format and poor visibility was interpreted according to the aesthetic characters and the aesthetic integrity of the vista. The demographic background of different individuals only determined the perception on visibility degradation but not the standard of visibility degradation. Meanwhile, according to the findings, a standard of low visibility based on either health concern or aesthetic concern and an early warning system of low visibility were proposed. / published_or_final_version / Geography / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Radioisotope / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management