published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

This thesis argues that an exercise of political will by the government was decisive to the course of public housing in colonial Hong Kong. Historians have seldom looked deeply into the local and international politics leading to the development of public housing. Not until recently did scholars start to challenge seriously the wellknown Shek Kip Mei fire of Christmas 1953 as the origin of public housing. This thesis contextualises housing history within broader political issues and challenges various historical events as watersheds in Hong Kong history, such as the Shek Kip Mei fire and the 1967 riots. The China factor greatly influenced both colonial rule and housing policies in Hong Kong by politicising the problems of refugees, squatters and indigenous people in the colony, as well as by triggering the British to link Hong Kong’s domestic policies with imperial concerns amidst the global wave of decolonisation. This thesis also shows how colonialism and laissez-faire capitalism interacted to make room for the real estate business by ensuring that public and private housing ran parallel. The act of political will by the government to choose between different housing solutions obscured the notion of public housing as social welfare over time. Offering insight into colonialism in Hong Kong, this thesis argues that the policy making of public housing was extremely complex because of imperial and colonial concerns, laissez-faire capitalism and the local people’s interest. / published_or_final_version / History / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this study was to establish a common understanding of the implementation of urban housing reform in China and to examine the trends in housing development in China and its relationship with the national economy. The crucial role of the Chinese government in the development of housing, the necessity of government intervention in China and whether it should be involved in housing development at all, were also explored in this study. In order to achieve the aims and objectives of this study, it was necessary to analyse the success and failure of the urban housing reform implemented in a particular period in China, and to investigate the challenges and problems existing in housing development. As regards the significant contribution of the housing development to the national economy, Rostow’s stages of economic growth were used to investigate the relationship between the housing industry and the national economy in China. This model shows that the housing industry could become a leading sector in the Chinese national economy. The housing industry in China has not yet reached maturity, and direct regulation by government is still necessary. In an attempt to address the research problem and to fulfil the research objectives, an in-depth and comprehensive literature study was undertaken to provide a basic framework and conceptualization of the housing industry in China. The international scope of the findings, as well as the insights that were gained through the study, contributed largely to solving the identified research problems. The normative and positive nature of the study made it possible to recommend solutions for the problems in the development of housing in China. iv Recommendations were made with regard to sustainable and healthy strategies, regulatory instruments, housing finance, and the utilization of lightweight materials in housing development in China. Although Rostow’s model is one of the more structuralist models of economic growth, it de-emphasizes any differences in how leading sectors develop in free and controlled markets. However, Rostow’s consideration of non-western cases such as China show that, to some extent, modernization can be achieved in different ways, through a free market or controlled economic means, and still fit into his model.

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

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

published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Science in Real Estate and Construction