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

published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Applied Geosciences / Master / Master of Science

This research explores the current and potential green initiatives to advance the sustainability agenda in property management. It outlines the environmental protection strategies adopted in housing management in achieving sustainable development goals. This research also studies how eco-friendly objectives could tie in with other environmental and social goals in sustainable development. The research involves a review of available evidence in an attempt to identify and recognize good practice/instances where green measures are actively promoted in private housing estates. The researcher tries to advance and examine the key issues and challenges that are at stake respecting sustainable development in the context of property-related decision making, and at the same time, suggests how environmental considerations can be integrated into all aspects of a housing project from planning to implementation. The study draws on evidences emerged from relevant literature reviews, interviews and a case study in exploring the role of housing management in promoting sustainability in the scope of realizing green measures. In addition, the researcher would mention the local policy background and discuss the efforts by the government in related to sustainable development. In the final section, the limitations followed by recommendations towards the subject matter would be revealed. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Environmental protection has become increasingly concerned by from the government, general public and private sector in recent decades. Recently, the concept of green or sustainability, which has come out as a more comprehensive concept than environment conservation, is getting more concern and discussion as well. This dissertation starts with an introduction on the background, scope of study, methodology and data collection. Then, it goes to literature review on concept of green building, environmental management system and marketing strategies as well as development of environmental protection and green building accreditation in Hong Kong. After that, a case study on 248 Queen’s Road East will be conducted for identifying its existing environmental measures and potential for improvement on green management system. Face-to-face interviews and a questionnaire survey were conducted to collect the relevant information or opinions from the property manager and tenants for exploring the progress of improvement in their environmental management and performance as well as its impact to enhancement of competitiveness to the building through achieving green building accreditation. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Background: Data from many studies suggest that traffic exposure can influence asthma among children. Most of these studies were conducted in Europe and America. However, there is less information on the association between traffic exposure and asthmatic children in China. This study investigated whether asthma severity in children was related with living near to major road in Guangzhou, China. Methods: The study method was case-control study. In this study, cases were with diagnosed asthma by physician and they aged between 1 and 14 years old. Controls were children without asthma in the same age range. Traffic exposure was measured as the distance from the nearest major road to home and to school weighted by the proportion of time spent in each location. Result: The longer the time-weighted distance being near to major roads, the lower the risks were associated with asthmatic children (OR=0.693 [0.504-0.953]). The other risk factors of asthma includes male compared with female (OR=2.696, [1.271-5.721]), age (OR=1.224 [1.078-1.391]), secondhand smoke exposure at home (OR=2.074 [0.985-4.364]), breastfeeding duration<6 months (OR= 1.423 [0.681-2.974] but also presence of pet (OR=0.508 [0.162-1.588]) and mold at home (OR=0.326 [0.152-0.697]). We also found the distance of home and school near to major roads were associated with asthma only among boys(OR=0.598 [0.373-0.957])，but not among girls(OR=0.802 [0.504-1.278]). The second hand smoke exposure was associated with asthma in boys (OR=3.459 [1.274-9.391]), but not in girls (OR=1.041 [0.306-3.539]). The estimated risk factors were not associated with the level of asthma severity except the time-weighted distance. After adjusted with other risk factors, the time-weighted distance had negative trend with the level of asthma severity (p-value=0.030). The time-weighted distance had no association with lung function (p-vale=0.779). Conclusion: The results show that the time-weighted distance near to main roads is associated with the risk of having childhood asthma. And it may be harmful for the asthma children lung function. The sex and second hand smoke exposure are also risk factors of asthma. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

Sustainability is a hot topic for years and sustainability assessment has been generally used as an approach to assess the level of sustainability. For the effect of general products to the development of sustainability, there are existing assessment frameworks in use. However, they are either environmental-focused, or relied mainly on life cycle assessment approach, which has many deficiencies especially in the social aspect. In this paper, history of development of sustainability and relevant principles related to sustainability are extensively reviewed. Those relevant in the context of product assessment, like the nested model of sustainability, strong sustainability, precautionary principle, design of environmental sustainability and sustainability assessment and measurement principles (BellagioSTAMP), are chosen as the foundation theories of development of the new product sustainability assessment framework. Even though the focus is put into assessment of social aspect of sustainability, the framework is designed for the assessment of overall sustainability. The framework comprises of a list of guiding principles, vision and goals and an assessment process. It is suitable for the evaluation of any product, no matter it is in conceptual stage, design stage or already in the market. It can be used for company in any level of maturity in sustainability assessment through allowing them to define their own position and targets. A standard list of measurement is defined and can be used for any product, while product-specific measurement can be defined within the process. A case study is done using iPad2and every step in the process is gone through. The pilot study proves that the framework is logical, easy to use and practical enough to help identifying what needs to be done to contribute into sustainability. Issues are identified in the process of pilot study, including the lifecycle for some products is too short for a meaningful review and remediation follow up; social impacts could be associated with the whole series of product or the general technology instead of specific product under assessment; the comment given by participants in survey or focus group meeting may come from perceived impact instead of actual impact; knock-on effect to other existing products and services may be neglected; and the potential for companies to pretend they are contributing to sustainability but actually not. Nevertheless, these issues are not difficult to be resolved. Future research agenda includes handling of cumulative effect from sales of the product, formalizing the professional qualification of sustainability assessor and improving the practicality of economic and environmental sustainability assessment through the proposed framework. Through this paper, with the creation of a new and practical product sustainability assessment framework, it is believed that the effect of products on sustainability can be evaluated and actions can be identified for them to contribute into sustainability development. / published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

Luxury implies indulgence, hedonic pleasure and access to resources in abundance. Sustainable development, on the other hand, encourages modifying human behaviour towards a lower rate of resource consumption. For years these two concepts were regarding as contradicting, so much so that they were rarely mentioned within the same sentence of any kind. However, this view has been undergoing a dramatic turnaround ever since the dawn of the new millennium, and a new expression was conceived - sustainable luxury. This phenomenon has a complex and far-reaching mission and has been gaining momentum in recent years. My qualitative study aims to find out whether sustainable luxury is achievable in real-life businesses, particularly for hotel operations. It is firstly reviewed as an emerging concept through literature and desktop research. Next, its practicality is investigated on four luxury branded hotels in Hong Kong. It is found that sustainable luxury is currently a popular de facto expression used by the luxury sector to describe the attitude and effort towards integrating sustainability in the design and production of luxury products and services. Although it was yet to be established academically as a concept, a cornerstone report “Deeper Luxury” produced by World Wide Fund (WWF) in 2009 promulgates an overarching principle that the luxury sector has the duty to edit and influence consumer’s consumption choice and behaviour. A holistic action plan specifically tailored at the luxury sector is provided in this report and it is adopted as the assessment framework for my investigation. Details are construed to suit hotel operations and a set of scoring criteria is developed to facilitate a structured assessment. My investigation reveals a stark contrast that at present, sustainable luxury in urban luxury branded hotels is practical at the ‘back of the house’ areas while limitation lies in the areas related to the ‘front of the house.’ Engaging customers is found to be the single biggest challenge while both innovation and external collaboration are proven to be valuable means for the subject matter. Coordinating effort with the corporate office is also essential. The owner could either be the key driver or barrier for sustainable luxury. Furthermore, external infrastructure and support is vital. The study brings to my conclusion that the overriding factor for sustainable luxury to be achievable in real-life businesses is the existence of the right mindset, a mindset that believes in the co-existence of luxury and sustainability. / published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

Hong Kong is a crowded city where pavements, lanes, hawker areas, trunk roads and highway are closely built. With heavy traffic flow on complex road networks, the noise barriers located in the urban centre usually adjacent to commercial centres and residential buildings. The design of noise barriers is therefore needed to be in harmony with the landscape of the neighbourhood. Different kinds of green noise barrier systems combined with soil and vegetation had been developed across Europe and the USA in recent years. It is believed that an effective controller of noise shall be visually attractive especially for residents who are adjacent to the roads. A number of noise barriers with vegetation were successfully implemented in European Countries. Nevertheless, these engineering techniques cannot be fully applied to Hong Kong due to the over-crowded living environment. A well-designed green noise barrier system is the critical reason for successful application to sustain the vegetation and to insulate and absorb noise. The objective of this study to investigate different kinds of green noise barriers and come up with some guidelines for design consideration in order to optimize the green noise barriers. The study provides a thorough analysis of the available green noise barrier systems across the world, including a look at all the potentials benefits from environmental and socio-economics perspectives. The pilot field measurement was conducted at Yeung Uk Road where green noise barriers located between a heavily travelled main road and residential area in Tsuen Wan, to measure the SPL and Leq noise levels to assess the effectiveness of the green noise barriers. No significant attenuation effect is observed on the green noise barrier which has to be attributed to the median placement and over-crowded urban environment. Online questionnaires and interviews are conducted to investigate the effects of vegetation on the perception of green noise barriers. Results show that 78% of the respondents preferred vegetation rather than concrete (0.1%) and other materials. 77% like the aesthetics appearance of vegetation and 86% are willing to bear the cost. In general, 95% of the respondents agreed green noise barriers should be promoted in Hong Kong. The results assured that (1) vegetation on green noise barrier is aesthetically pleasing and mostly preferred; (2) people are willing to pay for green noise barrier for aesthetics; (3) aesthetic or vegetated screen is important in determining human response to noise which improved public perception of traffic noise due to visual and psychological relief. The outcome of the study indicated that it is feasible to promote green noise barriers in Hong Kong, with the evidence of the potential benefits, technical experience and public support. It is also suggested that the living wall modular system is the best system which is suitable for the application in Hong Kong. / published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management