Yuen Ching Yin. / "Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 2007-2008, design report." / Includes bibliographical references. / Chapter 1 --- Abstract / Chapter 2 --- Research on Phenomena within and outside Architecture / Chapter 2.1 --- Voidness / Chapter 2.2 --- Indeterminacy / Chapter 2.3 --- Japanese Haiku / Chapter 2.4 --- "Spatial Continuum - Dongtongchi, Ancestral Hall in Jiangxi" / Chapter 2.5 --- Event Space - Dongtongchi and Dafen Museum / Chapter 2.6 --- Merging with Everyday Life - Kanazawa Museum / Chapter 2.7 --- Temporal Margin / Chapter 2.8 --- Hinge / Chapter 2.9 --- Edge Condition / Chapter 2.10 --- Hinge as a strategy of Reprogramming / Chapter 2.11 --- Dissolving Edges / Chapter 3 --- Research Summary / Chapter 4 --- Design Strategy / Chapter 5 --- Contextual Experiment - Southorn Playground in Wan Chai as a Testing Ground / Chapter 5.1 --- Site Survey / Chapter 5.2 --- Design Constraints / Chapter 5.3 --- Design Scheme / Chapter 5.4 --- Design Documentation

Kwok Sze Ming Stephanie. / "Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 2008-2009, design report."

Choy Ka Fai Ivan. / "Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 2008-2009, design report."

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

The sense of belonging and identity of people in Hong Kong has strengthen since the 1990s, particularly after the 1997 handover, there was a growing recognition of the importance of heritage conservation. In response to the growing public concerns and heated discussions on the issue of conservation of heritage structures after the demolition of Star Ferry Pier and Clock Tower in December 2006, the heritage conservation policy and new initiatives are drawn up in the 2007-08 Policy Address and Policy Agenda. However, the conservation policy and initiatives are limited to individual building level only. This may result in the incompatibility of the heritage building with the surrounding developments. As a result, many conservationists and scholars comment that it should expand the heritage conservation work beyond individual buildings by embarking on an 'area-based' approach. Overseas experiences especially from United Kingdom in area based heritage conservation have been studied to provide legitimate guidance i.e. Conservation Areas. On the other hand, Area Based Heritage Conservation cannot be achieved without the facilitation of a town planning system. As a result, the relationship between heritage conservation under the town planning system has been reviewed, problems and issues has been examined. This study reveals that after the Government’s recent policy and initiatives in the past few years, to a large extent, have resolved or alleviated some of the decades-old problems under the existing town planning system. The objective of heritage conservation has been incorporated to different levels of town planning system. However, it is surprised that the adoption of Area Based Heritage Conservation is still not yet incorporated into the town planning system like Conservation Areas in the UK. Are there any difficulties to adopt this in Hong Kong? The answer is yes. Although there is still no timetable for the adoption of the designated area of "Special Design Area" ("SDA") proposed in the "Comprehensive Review of the Town Planning Ordinance" 1991 for area based heritage conservation in statutory plans, the introduction of planning application submitted to Town Planning Board ("TPB") for consideration under section 12A for planning permission under Town Planning (Amendment) Ordinance 2004 is found to be a usable tool for the area based heritage conservation under the statutory power of town planning system at district level. In practice, this may not work, as seen with the s.12A planning application submitted by the Central and Western Concern Group ("CWCG") which was not agreed by the Metro Planning Committee ("MPC") under TPB on 8 May 2009. If political and economical considerations were ignored, CWCG’s proposals in the s.12A planning application can be implemented "in theory" under the existing planning system of Hong Kong. However, gaining the approval of s.12A planning application from MPC is just the first step of the whole town planning process. This study continues to examine the following steps in town planning processes under different sections of Town Planning Ordinance ("TPO"), particularly in the plan-making process under section 6 of the TPO, which CWCG needs to go through in order to incorporate the accepted proposal eventually into the relevant approved statutory plan for area based heritage conservation. The whole process is lengthy and during the process CWCG’s proposal may subject to the attacks of the individual property owners and the developers, etc., as the development potential of their properties is being affected. If political and economical considerations were ignored, CWCG’s proposals in the s.12A planning application can be implemented "in theory" under the existing planning system of Hong Kong. However, gaining the approval of s.12A planning application from MPC is just the first step of the whole town planning process. This study continues to examine the following steps in town planning processes under different sections of Town Planning Ordinance ("TPO"), particularly in the plan-making process under section 6 of the TPO, which CWCG needs to go through in order to incorporate the accepted proposal eventually into the relevant approved statutory plan for area based heritage conservation. The whole process is lengthy and during the process CWCG’s proposal may subject to the attacks of the individual property owners and the developers, etc., as the development potential of their properties is being affected. This study concludes that although s.12A planning application has 'hidden' potential for area based heritage conservation, under the current political sentiment, it will not have the chance (i) to be accepted by the TPB and (ii) to incorporate the approved proposal into the relevant statutory plan subsequently unless it can obtain the consent of the sole current land owner/all current land owner(s) (private/government). As there are several successful projects of area based heritage conservation implemented by the Urban Renewal Authority in the past few years e.g. the Blue House Cluster in Wan Chai, the MPC recommends discussing the issues in the recent Urban Renewal Strategy Review ("URSR"). However, from the latest "Public Views and Future Direction – Paper for the Consensus Building Stage of the URSR" released in May 2010, does not mention about Area Based Heritage Conservation. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

It is a common phenomenon in many developments that the old cannot coexist with the new especially when our city is under rapidly development pressure for elevating the city competitiveness. Many decayed urban districts have neglected the importance of urban redevelopment. As a result, many featured streetscapes are disappearing. There are many discussions and a huge public noise on protecting some commemorative old districts because those unique streets are our local identities and living cultures. There are two well known urban renewal projects recently - Lee Tung Street and Wing Lee Street. The first one is completely demolished while the second one has escaped from bulldozer thanks for an award-wining film. These two cases exactly indicate that the fate of all decayed districts are either completely demolished or completely preserved. Frankly, it is sad to witness our local identities losing bit by bit, but the decayed urban districts are definitely needed to be regenerated to enhance better living qualities. This thesis aims to examine a landscape approach to reimage a streetscape for Lee Tung Street renewal project, exploring in a new way to sustain the unique street culture. Intangible value is significant in streetscape. It is an image of a city and a section of a city development history. The demolition of Lee Tung Street has destroyed part of the development history and has erased a section of the city memory. The proposed model aims to reframe the missing link in urban content and to sustain the intangible heritage of Lee Tung Street. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

Compact cities, as opposed to the urban sprawl, are being advocated in many countries and regions. As a sustainable urban form, these have significant implications on the pursuit of economic, social, and environmental sustainability. However, despite their advantages, compact cities have negative impacts on urban development. Both positive and negative impacts are derived from developed countries. However, whether these impacts are applicable to developing countries remains uncertain. This research aims to examine the development and impacts of urban compaction in China. Guided by land use policies, compact development in Beijing is currently being promoted through the intensification of existing construction areas rather than the development of new large-scale areas. This research aims to explore the development of urban compactness from the perspective of time and spatial dimensions and examine the impact of compact development. To carry out this research, this thesis reviews the relevant theories on compact cities characterized as high-density developments and mixed-use developments of construction areas that have a well developed public transport system. These compact cities can be achieved through urban intensification. In this work, an indicator system for measuring urban compactness based on the features of compact cities (e.g., high-density development, mixed-use development, and public transport system) is proposed. The development of the urban compactness of an entire city during the period of 1992-2007 is also calculated according to the indicator system. In addition, the development of urban compactness in the different regions of inner city districts, outer city districts, and new towns in 1996, 2001, and 2006 are also studied. Given that compact cities have a significant impact on urban development, some indicators that reveal economic, social, and environmental development are utilized to test the impact of compact cities in Beijing through statistical studies and semi-structured interviews. The results of evaluating the urban compactness development from the entire city perspective indicate rapid population growth and urbanization, along with the rapid increase of urban density in Beijing. Compared with high-density development, mixed use development has not been as rapid. With the mass construction of the subways and the increase in the provision of public buses, the development of public transport has also improved significantly. Following these results, the impact of urban compaction is analyzed, and compact development appeared to be beneficial to economic, social and environmental development, although some of its benefits have not been embodied fully. This research further examines the spatial development of urban compactness. The findings reveal that land use in the central city has become increasingly compact and that the potential for urban compactness could be further enhanced in the outer city districts. In new towns where the urban sprawl is quite severe, high-density development and mixed-use development should be promoted. To increase accessibility, the public transport system should be further improved. By analyzing the development of urban compactness, this study suggests that the support facilities and services in Beijing are insufficient compared with population growth and urbanization occurring in the city; this inadequacy leads to the backward progress of mixed-use development. As a large city, the different regions in Beijing stand in different positions that require varied development strategies to achieve urban compaction. The study fills a gap in the literature on compact development in China and population growth as well as theoretically and empirically enriches the impact of urban compaction in the context of rapid urbanization and population growth. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Nan Jing is famous for its long history and rich culture and nowadays it is facing a serious problem of character lost in company with fast modernization and construction. In south area along Qin Huai River which is the source of most non-material cultural heritages, lots of old districts are under the process of demolishing which contains the most valuable element for the area is the existing urban texture of old Nan Jing city. On the other hand, people in old south area are facing problems of over density , chaos environment and shabby houses for decades of years. How to improve people’s living standard become an important issue for local government. The purpose of the thesis is to find ways to preserve the valuable urban texture, at the same time, expand open spaces for new requirements of residential and public use. The traditional small scale and the requirement of big open space is the main conflict through out the whole design. The design is proposed to create big spaces first and use different ways to separate them into small spaces with the maintenance of the function. There are two steps in the design process. The first step is to reorganize the existing buildings and the second step is to generate landscape design. The landscape design should keep the same language with the buildings and interpret different ways to keep the original scale of the space at the same time meet the requirement of new space functions. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture