There are many abandoned villages in the remote areas of Hong Kong, especially in the New Territories. They are the result of urbanization and economic transition of Hong Kong. Some of these abandoned villages become relics and visitorsʼ attractions due to their long history, rural settings and unique culture. However, preservation is not a free lunch. Transforming them into museums or galleries for educational purpose may not be the real sustainable way of keeping them. This thesis aims to explore a viable form of rejuvenating an abandoned village, where urban people can have a rural experience while preserving the heritage of the village. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

Because of their age, Declared Monuments require more maintenance and repair as their building components have inevitably deteriorated with longer usage over time. Declared Monuments require a high standard in conservation, and the principle of having minimum intervention and degree of change is a basic and essential requirement. Based on this fundamental principle, the repair and maintenance of Declared Monuments will not only keep up the physical condition of the building but will also provide a safe and comfortable environment for the users and retain the heritage significance of the building. Today, a number of historic schools have become Declared Monuments based on their heritage significance. As functioning schools, they are subject to regular repair and maintenance. However, most of the maintenance teams in Hong Kong and their employed consultants only focus on maintaining these schools in modern terms, such as reinforced concrete repair, water seepage repair, re-roofing etc. The techniques on how to maintain and repair the building as an important architectural heritage is not a matter of concern. As a qualified building surveyor, the author finds this a matter of concern. The focus of this study is to explore a systematic and user-friendly approach to solving repair and maintenance problems in school that is a Declared Monument. The case selected to illustrate the repair and maintenance techniques is June Li Building of St. Stephen’s Girls’ College, which is a Declared Monument. The methodology adopted is to provide a side-by-side comparison of how maintenance and repair are carried out for heritage building and a modern building. Problems at different parts of the school building are identified and the appropriate solutions are proposed. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

Community-driven approach to Heritage Conservation has been increasingly discussed internationally. One of the principles in the Charter for the Conservation of Historic Towns and Urban Areas drawn up by International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) stated “the participation and the involvement of the residents are essential for the success of the conservation programme and should be encouraged.” (ICOMOS 1987) One of the more well-known bottom-up approaches is Machizukuri from Japan. 　　The origin of Machizukuri in Japan largely stems from the desire of local residents to maintain and develop aspects of their living environment that can otherwise be threatened by external forces. The need to voice out on behalf of their own community is often a relatable trait for various communities all around the world. 　　In the case of Machizukuri, its origin was cast in the backdrop of a post-war Japan, where at first glance the entire country seemed to homogeneously focus solely on modernisation and economic development regardless of costs (Siegenthaler 2004, 3). But as the truth revealed, many local communities—far away from the Japan National Government in Tokyo and its consideration when shaping the country’s urban planning scheme of the time—often differ from the opinions of top-down decision makers on how their own neighbourhood should be developed. 　　When this Japanese concept of bottom-up approach first started, the leaders of these organisations were mainly made up of local non-professional residents, contrasting greatly to the conventional decision makers comprised of scholars and bureaucrats—the “traditional elite”. And yet, despite its modest beginning, after decades of development, Machizukuri is seen as a proven method to effectively solve a wide-range of issues in areas such as planning, heritage conservation, and disaster relief. 　　Over time, the Japan National Government gradually accepted the merits of Machizukuri, eventually incorporating it into national planning law. It was evident that local inputs often improved upon planning decisions made by top-down approach, and thereby increased the chance of successful implementation. 　　After several decades, Machizukuri is recognised as a proven bottom-up, community-driven concept that aimed for the improvement of quality of living through the participation of local citizens of Japan. It represents an important development in local politics and urban management in Japan. The recent citizen movement of Hong Kong, since the 1997 Handover, shared similarities to the situation that led to the creation of the Machizukuri movement in Japan at that time. 　　 　　As Machizukuri gradually matures over the past decades, it became fully recognised in Japan and internationally as an effective method to conduct community-driven citizen participation activities. It can be a viable option for Hong Kong to consider as the citizens are exploring bottom-up conservation solutions. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

Adaptive reuse of historical buildings was promoted by the government during the 2007 policy address regarding the conservation of Hong Kong’s Heritage. In the few years after this policy was launched, there were many changes to the statutory control related to the use of buildings, which has indirectly affected the occupants of these historical buildings. While it was widely criticized that there was no statutory protection to historic buildings other than those graded as Declared Monuments, these buildings related statutory controls also some effects on the conservation of historical building both positive and negative. This dissertation focus on Fringe Club as a case study, to review the effect of statutory controls to the adaptive reuse of a government owned historical building, in particular, the control through licensing. The objective is to provide holistic considerations for future improvement in applying statutory control on adaptive reuse of historic buildings. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

The conservation approach of “Heritage Rehabilitation,” as a means to give new life to deteriorated heritage buildings, seems to receive criticism from people of Hong Kong in recent years. While the government tries to promote this conservation treatment to strike a balance between sustainable development and heritage conservation, the news media appears to report related stories leaning to one side of public opinion: the side of conservationists, carrying a sense of criticism on government’s work to rehabilitate historic buildings. 　　　Studies in recent years indicated different preference on “what to conserve” among the government, scholars and the public in relation to heritage conservation. In addition, it also showed that the news media has an effect in pushing the conservation movement forward. However, there is limited research comparing the different opinions on “how to conserve” and investigating the news media’s effect on public perception on this conservation approach. 　　　This dissertation uses the rehabilitation of Wing Lee Street as a case study to explore and compare different perspectives on the rehabilitation work has been done on the street, ranging from those of the URA, architectural conservation scholars, those of the public expressed in questionnaires, the internet and via the news media, and news media interpretation. The comparison uses both statistical and text analyses. Findings suggested in the Wing Lee Street rehabilitation that there is no conflict in renovating the rundown Tong Lau and improving the street environments. 　　　However, concerning the degree of renovation, the use and maintaining the original community, there is a clear difference between the Urban Renewal Authority’s and other groups. While the Urban Renewal Authority put “Regulation” as its major reference for intervention, the scholars and public showed more concerns for the “Sense of Place” and the “Continuity of Life” on the street. 　　　The dissertation contributes to better understanding the different rationales and priorities for heritage rehabilitation from those expressed by the Urban Renewal Authority and architectural conservation professionals. In addition, it also illustrates public’s expectation on heritage rehabilitation, which will hopefully be a useful reference for a better outcome in future heritage rehabilitation projects. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

Restoration of streams that were formerly channelized for timber-floating has become increasingly common. Generally, this restoration returns boulders from riparian zones to streams, leading to wider, more heterogeneous channels with slower flows. The primary goal is to enhance fish populations, but riparian vegetation is also expected to be favoured. However, increases in floristic diversity have not been observed and reasons for this slow response are still unknown. One possible explanation might be the lack of colonist pools. I therefore investigated how surrounding plant compositions influence riparian recovery. The vascular plant flora was identified in riparian sites and in adjacent upstream riparian and upland sites. Four reach types were included: unchannelized, channelized, restored and demonstration restored. Species richness and floristic similarities among types of sites and reaches were compared. Correlations with upland and upstream channel slopes were made and the importance of variation in seed floating ability was tested. The results show that unchannelized reaches were floristically similar to their adjacent upstream riparian and upland sites, whereas channelized reaches showed more different floras. Restoration created a somewhat more homogeneous flora among the three site types and demonstration restored reaches were most similar to upstream sites. Soil moisture conditions (i.e. wetland vs. forest) in the uplands had stronger impacts on species similarities than upland or upstream channel slopes. I conclude that adjacent sites are important for floristic recovery of riparian reaches and that demonstration restoration is most advantageous for riparian recovery. I recommend protection of upland sites from forestry to facilitate recovery. / Local- and landscape-scale effects on biodiversity after stream restoration

Monitoring successful urban stream restorations can provide guidance for best practices for restoration design. My case study was located at Critter Creek, a tributary to the Grand River, in northeast Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where due to high flow and tight meanders, six constructed offline ponds have become connected to the main stream and are now online ponds. This project aimed to evaluate how these online (formerly offline) ponds are affecting the restoration of the stream. The majority of research on this topic has concentrated on ponds specifically constructed for stormwater management or on urban restored streams without ponds. In many restoration plans, offline ponds are proposed to compensate for cut-fill balances and/or for habitat diversity. The relationship of these offline ponds to the function and ecology of the channel has not often been assessed. Benthic macroinvertebrates were used as indicators of restoration as a proxy for water quality. Using a Surber sampler, samples were collected in the reaches of the stream upstream of the inlet and downstream of the outlet of each pond. Comparative samples were taken from waterbodies that provided a restored stream without offline ponds and a reference stream. In the laboratory, all benthic macroinvertebrates were identified to the Family level. Ecology-based metrics (EPT, functional feeding groups, etc.) and an index (Hilsenhoff FBI) were used to characterize the assemblages. The Percent Model Affinity (PMA) Method was used to determine the impairment of the streams and Mann-Whitney tests were conducted to determine if differences existed between the samples taken close to the ponds and those not close to the ponds. Those tests were also conducted to determine differences between Critter Creek and the reference and other restored stream. PMA results from monitoring from previous years indicated that Critter Creek was an impaired stream, and this research shows that the stream is still impaired with PMA values less than 33.23% for 83 of 89 samples. Mann-Whitney tests showed that the location in Critter Creek, whether it be adjacent to an online pond or not, does not have an effect on the benthic assemblages. They also indicate that the composition of the benthic assemblages in Critter Creek has not reached the same stage as those in Laurel Creek, the reference stream, or Clair Creek, the other restored stream. While the habitat and functional requirements of organisms between all three streams is similar, the water quality present in Critter Creek is much lower than in the other two streams. Further monitoring could be completed to determine the trajectory of the benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in this restoration. However, given that monitoring for the past 10 years has shown that the ecosystem integrity of Critter Creek is not improving, it is advised that action be taken now to improve the stream restoration. The concepts of urban ecology were addressed in this study and a wider-scope monitoring program could be completed to determine the impact of urbanization on the restoration of Critter Creek.

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