This study analyzes the determinants of housing environmental preference by consumers in Guangzhou, China. Preferences of different housing environments have been well researched by scholars in architecture, urban planning, and urban environmental science. However, few studies shed light on housing environment by measuring physical/tangible and social/intangible attributes with hierarchy models. Based on the literatures on housing environment, preference, satisfaction and housing quality, this thesis explores the housing environment preference by identifying the environmental attributes which are grouped into three categories: mobility, community facility, and community social capital. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed to estimate the relative importance of those environmental attributes, which are further organized into a hierarchical structure. Housing consumers and property experts in Guangzhou participate in the survey and they represent a wide spectrum of environmental performance demands as well as socio-environmental backgrounds in the sample. Statistical weights of the factors based on their judgments are then generated. It is found that mobility factors, including public traffic network, proximity to workplace, have dominant importance in the housing environment. Social capital factors and facility factors, including sense of safety, medical and health facility, and education facility are also regarded important. Property experts and consumers have diverse perspectives on the demand of end users as they represent different interest groups. Furthermore, different age groups of housing consumers attach different relative importance to the factors studied. This study develops a method to assess the relative importance of the environment factors in housing preferences, and provides a useful tool in the field of environmental assessment. Instead of measuring the monetary value of different attributes in the market, the findings of this thesis help to understand the general demand pattern and preferences of consumers in the housing market based on multidimensional values and benefits. It is hoped that the findings will offer more information for urban planners and housing developers from a social and cultural perspective. / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

Background: Pregnancy is the fertilization and development of one or more offspring. It is a period of significant importance, during the time of which, health status of the mother could have profound impact on that of the fetus. Due to the one child policy in Mainland China, ensuring the baby’s health is of the utmost priority. In the past two years the incidence rate of miscarriage has been gradually increasing. It has an impact on mothers both physically and psychologically. Formaldehyde can be released for a long time from compound and furniture products in newly decorated houses and have become a chronic source of pollution. We are interested in whether there is any association between miscarriage and formaldehyde exposure. If the association exists, the evidence could be applied to support further research to identify the sources of formaldehyde and to support formulation of environmental public health policy to reduce formaldehyde exposure. Objectives: (1) To estimate whether the serum formaldehyde concentrations were different between miscarriage women and normal pregnant women at the same stage. (2) To investigate the normal serum formaldehyde concentration in pregnant women; and (3) to identify exposure factors in miscarriage patients. Setting：Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Centre Method: A case-control study was carried out to estimate the association between serum formaldehyde concentrations and miscarriage. 309 pregnant women who fulfilled the inclusion criteria participated in this study, 191 normal pregnant women at term delivery as the control group and 118 women who were diagnosed with miscarriage as the case group. The main outcome was miscarriage confirmed by ultrasound and physicians. The main exposure variable was serum formaldehyde concentration. Binary logistic regression was used to estimate the crude and adjusted odds ratios for a diagnosis of miscarriage for each independent variable. The odds ratio (OR) would be used to estimate the relative risk of the serum formaldehyde concentration in miscarriage women compared with those women who were not diagnosed miscarriage. We also categorized the values of formaldehyde into quartile, and put them into logistic regression as continuous variable to test the linear dose-response relationship. Then we tested whether there would be a significant linear trend that the increasing of serum formaldehyde concentration level leads to the increased risk of miscarriage. Chi-squared tests were performed to test the association between diagnosis of miscarriage and various independent variables. And Chi-squared tests for linear trend were also used for ordinal independent to study any dose-response relationship. Results：The mean serum formaldehyde concentration was 0.0944 in the case group and 0.0239 in the control group. The difference was statistically significant. All characteristics between case group and control group were quite similar. After adjusting for age, occupation，education level, household income, home decoration situation, the following factors remained having independent impact on the miscarriage. They were formaldehyde and second-hand smoke (crude ORs=7.87 [95%CI: 4.96, 12.49]; 3.20[95%CI: 1.86, 5.52] respectively, adjusted ORs=8.06 [95%CI: 4.96, 13.09]; 3.60[95%CI: 1.58, 8.20] respectively). Exposure to formaldehyde and second-hand smoke were significantly associated with higher risk of miscarriage. The liner dose response association between formaldehyde level and miscarriage was presented with P value for trend less than 0.001. Conclusions：Our study provided some evidence of the association between the serum formaldehyde level and miscarriage. A significant linear trend was found that the increasing of serum formaldehyde concentration level lead to the increase the risk of miscarriage. And we also found that second-hand smoking was contributive to miscarriage. This association did not confound by age, occupation, education level, household income, or home decoration situation. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

A just city is what urban planning should be fighting for. In Chinese cities, however, spatial justice has been seriously overlooked in many aspects of urban development. Using the theoretical framework devised with spatial justice theories, urban power structure, and the theories and practices of urban renewal and housing for migrants in developed countries, this dissertation has evaluated the impacts of urban planning and urban policies on the housing for migrant workers. A case study of the redevelopment project of Liede Village in Guangzhou has been conducted to illustrate the scenario. Findings show that the policies and planning have brought together the government, the market, and the village, making them the core of the growth coalition, and marginalizing the migrant workers in the situation of the redevelopment of urban villages in Guangzhou. This alliance, aiming for growth, has helped commoditize the space reproduced during the process. The commoditization of land and housing is driving up the value of the properties. Migrant workers with limited income and rural Hukou status can only move to other villages. While Guangzhou is planning to redevelop nearly all the urban villages within the city core, migrant workers have to migrate to places where is far from the city center to seek for affordable housing, completing a migration pattern from the city center to the edge. It is concluded that the spatial injustice in the problem of the urban villages in Guangzhou has not been solved with the redevelopment. In contrast, it is exacerbated by urban planning and urban policies. A more inclusive, peopleoriented planning approach as well as other institutional changes is required for promoting spatial justice in Chinese cities. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

The lion dance is a traditional form of Chinese culture with thousands of years of history. From the historical record, the lion dance tradition was started in the Han Dynasty. Similar to the dragon dance, the lion dance is a spiritual activity. It is a symbol that brings good fortune to people. Nowadays, the tradition is practiced in China, particularly in Guangdong Province (廣東省), Fujian Province (福建省) and spread by the Cantonese, together with good fortune, to Asia, the United States and Canada, and even to Mexico and Europe. Wherever there are Chinese, people perform the lion dance to express joy and happiness. However, after years and events, with such a rapid development, the crafts industry of making lion heads is facing a variety of challenges in China. This dissertation aims to document the crafts, especially the Southern lion head in Guangzhou (廣州). With particular focus on the craftwork of Mr. Zhong Jiachao (鐘嘉超),the Inheritor of Intangible Cultural Heritage awarded by Guangdong Province Government for his work on lion heads, is famous with his craftwork of building lion heads in Guangzhou and overseas. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide the technical background for the future conservation of the tradition via the documentation and analysis of the heritage significance of making the lion heads. As a cultural tradition, the craftsmanship of the making of lion heads is an intangible heritage to express tangible and intangible socio-historical value within Chinese communities. It aims to conserve the crafts, and to revive and rejuvenate such folk art via the investigation on the lion dance and lion heads. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

Background: Nursing professional, up to today, is still women dominated. The consistent medical reform and scarcity of nursing labor force in China contribute to the high workload and work related pressure. On the other hand, family always plays an essential role in women’s life, especially for Chinese women. They are believed to be the principal person to provide family care. Therefore, female nurses always face the challenges in accomplishing the duty from work and family, and also face the difficulties in balancing the work-related role and family-related role. The incompatibility between work-related role and family-related role leads to work-to-family conflict. It is a kind of interrole conflict to which women are especially sensitive. Work-to-family conflict is defined as a type of interrole conflict which occurs as a result that the work related responsibilities interfere with family life. Literatures suggested that there were many aspects are significantly related to work-family conflict, such as the working model, workload, and social support. And work-family conflict was demonstrated to be associated with lower job satisfaction. Objectives: This study mainly aim to explore the relationship between shift work models and self-perceived work-to-family conflict in Chinese female nurses working in Guangzhou city hospitals. Many related aspects are also explored and we in particular focus on the effect of night shift work demand. Furthermore, we aim to detect the association between work-to-family conflict and job satisfaction among recruited sample subjects. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted in several Guangzhou city hospitals. Employed female registered nurses were included. Questionnaires were delivered to nurses in hard copy or soft copy, involving categories of working model, working demand, job satisfaction, and work-to-family conflict. 315 questionnaires were delivered and 261 of them were returned with a response rate of approximately 83%. After data cleaning, total 250 valid-responded questionnaires were analyzed finally. Statistical description, subgroup analysis, linear regression analysis, and multivariable linear regression analysis were established for data analysis and hypothesis testing. Results: In this study, family financial responsibility, occupation support from family, overall workload, overtime work, organizational policy support, supervisor support were found to be significantly associated with self-perceived work-to-family conflict. The effects of night shift on work-to-family conflict were different among subject with different demographic characteristic, family role, work role, family-related support, and work-related support. Shift model was found to be significantly associated to work-to-family conflict, and day-night shift was related to higher level of work-to-family conflict. But the relationship between the frequency of night shift and work-to-family conflict was not found through the linear regression model. And it was found that there was a significant negative correlation association between work-to-family conflict and job satisfaction, meaning that higher work-to-family conflict was associated with lower job satisfaction among the sample subjects of this study. Among the six items measuring the overall job satisfaction, job autonomy, task requirement, organizational policy, and professional status were found to significantly related to work-to-family conflict level. Conclusions: The association between shift models and work-to-family conflict was confirmed but it was affected by nurses’ demographic characteristic. The frequency of night shift was not found to significantly affect the self-perceived work-to-family conflict level. And there was a significant negative relationship between work-to-family conflict and job satisfaction, where higher job satisfaction was associated with lower work-to-family conflict. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

Chinese cities have been experiencing significant growth and profound socioeconomic transition since late 1970’s. Reform and development on institution arrangement for land, which is one of the basic production elements, have been the core issue for the strategies of establishing market economy and urbanization. Land banking was a mechanism initiated in western European cities for directing urban development in early 1900’s. Under this mechanism land is resumed by public authorized organizations and will be held for future use to implement public land use policies. Some Chinese cities began their own land banking operation in the 1990’s. After nearly 20 years of introduction of land banking mechanism to China most of the cities and counties are now practicing this mechanism in their land management and supply framework. This study attempts to explore land banking mechanism and its effects on urban development comprehensively in lights of theories of new institutional economics and urban spatial structure applying the diachronic public policy analytical framework. Guangzhou, the third largest city and the first city to practice land banking mechanism, is taken as the study area. Spatial data for land supply records since introduction of land banking mechanism are collected and processed with GIS software. Archives in Guangzhou Construction Archive covering the land development and planning administration in Guangzhou were studied to facilitate in-depth understanding of the mechanism. Related statistics data, regulations, planning proposals, internal reports and were obtained to facilitate this study. Review on evolution of land banking mechanism in China and comparison of related regulations at state and local levels argue that the introduction of land banking mechanism into China has lead to institutional changes in the land development process by integrating western experience and local characteristics. Applying empirical transaction costs analysis on institutional models of major land supply mechanisms in China, this research illustrated that land banking mechanism has resulted in re-distribution of transaction costs of the land supply process, which reduces the transaction costs from the perspective land use right (LUR) users. However, for a specific case of land supply, overall transaction costs would increase under land banking mechanism compared to other land supply mechanisms. Exploration on data collected through GIS analysis illustrated that land banking mechanism strengthens city government’s capacity to instruct changes in both macro level urban form and micro level built environment. Analysis on statistics data and budgetary reports of Guangzhou Municipal Government demonstrates that with land banking mechanism gains of LUR conveyance are providing supplement income for the city government, which is approximately 30% of the traditional tax-based fiscal income. Financing values of Guangzhou city’s land bank are developed by land banking loans and establishment of the urban development financing platform. Supplement fiscal income and financing values of land banking greatly improve local governments’ leading role in urbanization process mainly through investment on urban infrastructures. Case study on evolution of Liede village under land banking mechanism illustrates that different land development process and changes of urban form have also lead to rearrangement of socio spatial structure such as significant changes in residential spatial changes. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

With the rapid growth of bilateral trade between China and Africa in the past decade, more and more Africans are coming to China to seek what they see as appealing business opportunities. Guangzhou, the economic centre in Southern China, has become the largest enclave for Africans. It is estimated that there are about 100,000 Africans living and doing business in Guangzhou. This large number of Africans in Guangzhou has drawn the attention of many researchers. However, current research on Africans in Guangzhou focuses predominantly on sociological and ethnographic aspects. Although the issue of communication problems has been brought up frequently, little has been investigated in depth about actual communication, especially the actual language use between Africans and Chinese. This thesis analyzes the English-based contact language used in the marketplace between Africans and Chinese in Guangzhou. It has two main focuses: first of all, by analyzing the results from a questionnaire survey, it provides a socio-cultural and linguistic profile of the Africans in Guangzhou as well as the Chinese who has constant contact with the Africans; second, it examines several major language features based on actual language data collected from real-world communication in the marketplace. On the basis of these socio-cultural and linguistic features, I argue that the speech form between Africans and Chinese in the marketplace in Guangzhou could be regarded as a rudimentary pidgin, which has the potential of developing into a pidgin in the future. / published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management