abstract / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Around the world, urban redevelopment is a universal process of exploiting city areas. In Western countries, the development of modern cities is at an advanced stage, and these countries have produced a significant amount of research on urban redevelopment theories, patterns and evaluation. Research on urban redevelopment, particularly evaluating the impact, has attracted less attention in China. Moreover, the spatial order and development path of Chinese cities are dramatically different from those of Western cities. This thesis, therefore, explored the evaluation framework of urban redevelopment taking into account the characteristics of Chinese urban development and property rights issues. The case study strategy was used for this exploratory research. The case of the Liede redevelopment project in Guangzhou City was analyzed through in-depth interviews. Three groups of project actors, namely governments, developers and urban villagers, were interviewed to form a comprehensive understanding of the whole redevelopment mechanism and processes, as well as to evaluate the impacts of the redevelopment. Other data sources including academic literature, local archives and official documents were also used to analyze the Chinese situation. Before starting the case study process, the ideological and theoretical discussion on neoliberalism and gentrification were reviewed and the rent gap theory was applied to explain the motivation behind urban village redevelopment in China, specifically Guangzhou. To build the evaluation framework for the case, this thesis also referred to the evaluation system developed upon the urban regeneration of western cities. An effective partnership of urban redevelopment was found to lead to the efficient completion of the Liede redevelopment project. The role of the government was supportive and no longer sought for profits, while negotiation was made between the developers and urban villagers to maximize each actor’s benefits. Some positive redevelopment outcomes were evident. For instance, the physical environment as well as infrastructure is greatly improved and the family income of Liede villagers increases. Other long-term impacts were expected to be achieved in the future. It could be concluded that the pattern and experience of Liede redevelopment project are valuable for coming redevelopment projects. To widen the use of the findings, the evaluation framework established in this research could be tested on redevelopment projects across different cities. A general framework with some flexible adjustment to specific contexts could then be very useful for the evaluation of urban redevelopment. / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Philosophy

The growth of informal employment characterizes the urbanization process in the developing countries in the previous decades. China is in the fast lane of urbanization and there are signs of casual employment in Chinese cities in the recent decade. This study chooses a prevalent phenomenon, i.e., street vending, in Chinese cities to investigate the emergence and growth mechanisms of informal employment in Chinese cities since the economic reform. The city of Guangzhou is chosen for case study. There are two theoretical frameworks in explaining the growth of street vendors in other developing countries. First, they could be interpreted as the mismatch of job opportunities against the capacity in generating employment under specific development strategy (the dualist framework and ISI strategy); or street vending, along with other informal employment opportunities, is the efficient way of doing business (the neoliberal framework). The Chinese case is unique as the country is on the course of marketization while the state remains strong. What is the role of the strong state played in contributing to or refraining from the growth of street vendors; and how the lives of street vendors are in this particular context; are the two questions to be investigated. Empirical finding shows that the revival of street vendors in Chinese cities (the first generation of street vendors since economic reform) is facilitated by a series of reform policies initiated by the state, particularly the introduction and promotion of individual business. Street vendors relieved employment pressure, met the commodity shortages in the cities, and rejuvenated urban economy in China. The returnees and the peasants in the city suburb are two major groups practicing street vending, who made fortune out of it. The current wave of street vendors is resulted from the unexpected consequences of the state’s policies, including the state’s promotion on labor dispatching regulations to lower the labor price, the land centered urbanization pushing up the rent, the persistent rural urban disparity in generating urban-bound migration, the hukou system in inferiorizing the rural migrants to the locals, and the changing labor market as more young rural migrants emerge. Street vendors in the current wave could be differentiated into developmental street vendors, who drop the low-wage income to practice street vending; and survival street vendors, who are rejected by regular job markets but have to turn to street vending. The street vendors in the recent years tend to have higher income than some regular paid jobs. Survey on their operation, commuting and accommodation shows that they could maintain they live in the city and their vibrancy is due to the abundant cheap products, as the country is the world factory; and a large number of low and lower-middle income wage workers being their clients. This study concludes that the state contributes to the growth of street vendors in Chinese cities. The strong growth momentum on the growth of street vendors suggests the current antagonistic policies against street vendors need to be reviewed. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Recent studies reveal that language teacher identity makes the difference in classroom teaching and has increasingly become a valuable focus in the field of language teaching research. However, a review of the research literature shows that there have been limited studies about the professional identity formation and even fewer studies involving teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in the context of mainland China. English language teaching (ELT) has increasingly gained attention in mainland China, with the curriculum reforms, which promoted communicative language teaching (CLT) and later task-based approach (TBA), have been initiated since 1970s, yet the professional identities of English teachers acting as the key players of the curriculum reforms have not been given due attention. This is particularly true for those teachers in the Northwestern Hinterland areas with relatively limited resources and a challenging environment. In order to fill the diverse gaps, this study provides valuable information and knowledge not only for teacher professional identity research area but also for Chinese ELT, CLT and TBA reforms, By exploring three experienced secondary EFL teachers’ professional identity formation in Lanzhou city, in Gansu province, a whole heretofore unresearched area has been brought into view. With a case study approach, the study collected the teachers’ personal life experiences from their childhood to current teaching experiences. By building up a theoretical framework based on the features of professional identity formation proposed by Beijaard et al. (2004), the study has examined the teachers’ personal life experiences, school contexts and agency and achieved rich understandings about their professional identity formation. This study shows that the teachers’ biographies, particularly their fathers and pre-service teacher education acted as important components of and exerted an enduring influence on their professional identity formation of the three teachers. Findings highlight that teachers’ three levels of professional contexts had an important impact on their professional identity formation; among the three levels of contexts, the macro context of the College Entrance Examination and the meso context of school leaders were the most influential. The findings of this study extend the understanding of the complexity of teachers’ professional identity formation, and shed light on how to develop a more effective professional learning mode for pre-service teachers. This study also gives a voice to life history and offers the possibility of helping pre-service teachers to effectively understand the teaching profession in new ways in the teacher education programs. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Illegal Parking has become a serious problem in major cities of China, but the features and causes of illegal parking are seldom studied; hence, no effective solutions have been proposed to solve this problem. This study is a case study on one provincial capital city of China, Hefei, Anhui. With an on-site observation and a self-designed questionnaire survey, this study is able to reveal the general background of the study area where illegal parking is prevalent due to great parking shortage. After analyzing all the data obtained from the surveys, this study also brings to light the main characteristics of illegal-parking participants, including age, gender, income, perception on punishments and parking difficulty, as well as the distributions of illegal-parking activities temporally and spatially. Through these, this study gives a comprehensive picture of what illegal-parking phenomenon is like. The reasons leading to illegal parking vary. This study uses a combination model of PEST and Cause and Effect Diagram (CED) to comprehensively explain the illegal parking causes from four aspects: policy & regulation, economic, social and technique. Aiming at solving illegal parking problem, this study looks deeply into the externalities produced by and the costs of illegal-parking activity. A microeconomic analysis is adopted to compare the external cost, generalized cost and perceived cost of illegal parking. Lastly, a series of recommendations are proposed accordingly. Increasing generalized cost is then considered as an effective and efficient way to solve illegal parking problem by not only reducing illegal parking demand but also internalizing the externality. Besides, carrying out supportive policies, increasing parking supply, educating drivers and updating parking facilities and management methods are also recommended based on the analysis of illegal parking causes. / published_or_final_version / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

Urban renewal is a critical issue in Hong Kong. On one hand, many old districts in Hong Kong such as Wan Chai and Kwun Tong are suffering from urban decay; poor living environment and dilapidated buildings are urging for large-scale replanning and reconstruction. On the other hand, growing criticisms constantly arose, arguing that the renewal initiatives and process only focus on the physical and economic aspects, but lack of social consideration and humane care. Numerous studies have been conducted to generally evaluate the economic and social impacts of urban renewal project. In this dissertation, the author will take the local case of Lee Tung Street as an example. A cross-sectional survey including the tenants and trades information was conducted soon after the announcement of the project to examine the social economic impacts within the study area. Demographic features and property prices in the nearby neighbourhood area were also observed comparatively from 2001 to 2011, so as to understand the externalities of the renewal project. Conclusions drawing from the social impact assessment in this case study mainly include: iiThe affected residential tenants and small business operators in the Lee Tung Street were mainly from the low and middle income groups; the majority of them were unsatisfied with the renewal process and unable to move back after redevelopment. The property prices within the study area have doubled after renewal due to the improvement of living conditions and public environment. iiImpacts of renewal projects to the nearby street blocks vary in different project periods. During the construction phase, the property prices and rents in the adjacent areas showed no significant fluctuations; on the contrary, the migration rate in this street block displayed an increase trend in the short-term study. The long-term impact of this case need to be further monitored and evaluated. iiIn order to enhance the public satisfaction and project efficiency, construction in phases could be adopted; comprehensive social impact assessment and timely review are also strongly suggested; besides, public engagement and the independency of social service team should be improved as well. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

During the past decade, China has shown unusual enthusiasm for gaining World Heritage status in anticipation of a substantial rise in tourism profits.However, World Heritage recognition is not always beneficial to heritage sites. Such recognition not only attracts tourist flows and creates potential development opportunities; it also poses threats for heritage conservation and increases the social contradictions and cleavages in such sites. This research examines the relationship between heritage conservation and tourism via the case study approach. The target case for analysis is the vernacular Hakka heritage tulou sites in the Chinese province of Fujian. Combined research methods comprising in-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys among representatives of key stakeholder groups were adopted to examine local tourism development from a variety of perspectives. On-site participant observations and secondary archival research collection were employed as supplementary methods. The stakeholder analysis framework was adopted and modified to examine stakeholder engagement in tulou heritage tourism. Three key stakeholder groups were the focus of investigation: the local government, local residents and domestic tourists. Exploration of their roles in tourism development revealed an imbalance in the partnership between the three groups, which may have consequences for sustainable such development. The investigation was then extended to such secondary stakeholder groups as the central government, tourism entrepreneurs, UNESCO, tourism planners and scholars, the mass media and inbound tourists. The involvement of each group is herein analysed to generate a stakeholder map of tulou tourism. The findings show that heritage tourism development is usually accompanied by tensions and conflicts among economic, cultural and political goals. The partnership between three key stakeholder groups is imbalanced, and consequently reforce the dominance of government over tulou residents and tourists in heritage tourism contexts. Only when this triangular partnership achieves balance can tulou heritage tourism achieve sustainable and healthy development. It is suggested that stakeholder collaboration is great need in order to achieve sustainable tourism development. In sum, this thesis applies stakeholder analysis into heritage tourism. The research findings herein contribute useful insights for future tourism development and have important policy implications for tourism management. Besides policy implications, this research has some theoretical contributions to heritage tourism literature as it modifies stakeholder framework for future tourism studies. / published_or_final_version / Geography / Master / Master of Philosophy

This dissertation inquires into policy adoption and adaptation in the context of Chinese higher education development. Three primary research interests inform the dissertation – how global patterns have been adopted into national higher education (HE) policy, how HE institutions organize their governance structures in a globalized context, and whether individual academics can influence the adoption and adaptation of global HE patterns. Due to its open-ended and exploratory nature, the study employs a qualitative research design. Embedded cases and grounded theory are used to generate theories. Four faculties at two public universities in Guangzhou (one research university and one teaching university) are employed to answer specific research questions. Theoretical sampling was employed in choosing the research sites, according to maximizing and minimizing strategies. Semi-structured interviews, document analysis, content analysis and textual analysis were all used to explore all aspects of organizational governance in the case universities. The national level of policy transfer in Chinese HE provides room for agents to exert their capacity on initial policy contents. Policy transfer mainly focuses on policy goals, while specific policy contents and implementation tools are always decided by grassroots HE institutions on a case-by-case basis. At the organizational level, the researcher found dissipative structure in the process of academic capitalization, explaining the changing equilibrium of the transformation of HE governance in the case HE organizations. At the individual level, though academics believe they have little opportunity to participate in formal decision-making processes, they constantly influence the rules and policies of their organizations, exercising their agency to change the direction of policy through phyletic gradualism. This study contributes to the existing literature in four ways. First, by employing dissipative structure, it sheds light on internal and external resource exchanges in HE organizations, thus widening the power of resource dependence theory to explain dynamic change. Second, this study provides a research illumination beyond the methodological confines of separating the individual from the organizational level of research when discuss changes to HE governance. Third, it reveals the features of policy adoption at the national level by systematically tracing policy adoption trajectories in different aspects of HE governance in China. Finally, this study unfolds the capacity of agents in HE organizations and shows that agents in a HE organization can transform or reproduce the initial structural policy and institutional context in which they work and live. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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