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

Public Transit Information System is an online transportation system providing integrated transit journey planning solutions to the general public. Generally, the system requires users to input their places of departure and arrival as well as some preferences such as the shortest or cheapest path. The system will then generate the results with transit schedule, route, fare and so forth. Since the system is designated for public usage, it is important that the system not only meets the needs of its users, but also is easily operated by the general public with different level of computer skills. Thus, this paper explores the design criteria of public transit information system by reviewing the development of user interface design from previous research and comparing the user interfaces of the public transit information systems of Hong Kong, Singapore and Vancouver. This paper also studies the transit systems of these three places and thereby concludes that the diverse and complex transit network of Hong Kong makes it difficult in developing such a system. This paper concludes that aesthetics, consistency and effective error management are the technical design criteria that can improve the usability of public transport information systems. In addition, technicians should also consider the social aspects, such as computer literacy and the computer systems when designing products for the public. / published_or_final_version / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

This dissertation seeks to understand the relationships between the evolving political economies and modes of public health governance in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan from the 19th century to nowadays. It is argued that from a political economy perspective, a suitable institutional set-up is important in providing political resources necessary for the evolution of public health governance. This dissertation looks specifically at political resources that include authority, legitimacy, finance and knowledge. The uneven distribution of these political resources across the polity determines the power gradient amongst different actors. Institutional set-up is also important because it governs the interaction between different actors who are in various ways dependent upon one another. From the 19th century, the polity of these three jurisdictions experienced drastic change under the banner of colonialism. The colonial governments were preoccupied with advancement of colonial interest. With the unrest in the polity, the colonial governments realised the importance of authority and knowledge in perpetuating their existence. At the same time however, the ignorance towards cultural affinity of colonial subject deprived the governments of their ability to regulate the life of the latter. The contradiction was strongly reflected in the two British colonies where there were clashes over the application of public health law and regulation. Japan, by contrast, was more able to garner authority because of her tactics to couple traditional control with modern policing. In the post-war era, the political economy of these three jurisdictions departed from one another. In Hong Kong, the colonial set-up shifts from regulatory-led to developmental-led institutional set-up. Similar tendency can be observed in Singapore and continued after her independence. Bureaucratic authority became the most available resources for government to mobilise. In strong possession of authority and finance, the government was increasingly able to introduce expansionary measures. This is accompanied by the rise of rational planning in Hong Kong and Singapore. As a result, there witnessed bureaucratisation of public health governance which shaped the dependent interactions between the authorities and citizen and the sporadic contribution from charities and overseas organisations. Taiwan departed significantly from these two jurisdictions. The inception of Kuomintang’s authoritarian regime attempted to continue the regulatory-led institutional set-up from the colonial regime in the 1950s. Whilst authority became abundant, financial resources were drained away to military project. International agents became the key actor to contribute to the functioning of public health governance. In the 1970s to 1990s, the fiscal crisis arising from exponential increase of public expenditure and the international policy discourse of deregulation led to the declining ability of tax-based direct provision of health care. There displayed a greater willingness to rely on more actors and more instruments to divest the responsibility of the government. However the negligence about the potential trade-off between authority and finance limited the dynamics of coordination between different actors. The sudden outbreak of the SARS episode in 2003 unveiled the problem of underinstitutionalisation of polity. It unsettled the role of power and authority of government as demonstrated in Singapore and unleashed the latent power of civil society in the arena of public health as seen in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It also illuminated the role of knowledge in dealing with uncertainty in an institutional set-up. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This study aims to explore the home ownership policy drawing from Singapore to Hong Kong. It does so by reviewing the concept of policy drawing, and by analyzing 4 dimensions, namely, 1) use of provident fund for home purchase; 2) development of new town to increase housing supply; 3) land reclamation and land acquisition to increase home ownership; and 4) role of governments in promotion of home ownership via literature review and interviews. Based on the analysis, it is found that Hong Kong can partially draw the lessons from the home ownership policy of Singapore. For example, the use of provident fund for home purchase and the technique on the development of new town to increase housing supply can likely be drawn by Hong Kong. Rather, the techniques on land reclamation and land acquisition, and the achievement of universal home ownership cannot be drawn by Hong Kong. Although the first two dimensions can be drawn by Hong Kong, it is difficult to implement in Hong Kong due to the difference in policy environment between Singapore and Hong Kong. Certain conditions are required to fulfill before implementation of the two dimensions in Hong Kong. In fact, the home ownership policy of Singapore is used for reference only, it should be further modified by the Hong Kong government in order to develop a practicable housing policy which is suitable for the situation in Hong Kong. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Since the 1960s, as a result of the rapid and outstanding economic growth and industrialization, Hong Kong and Singapore, the two city-states in Asia, were named Asian Dragons among other Asian countries. Historically, both city-states were British colonies, and thus, they both shared similarities in the develop stage of the city in social, economic and political context. In the housing sectors, both city-states have also launched massive subsidized housing programme to facilitate their rapidly growth population with provision of affordable subsidized housing. To assist more residents to become home owners, a series of housing assistance programmes were implemented periodically to help the low and middle income households to climb up to the housing ladder. Despite that the government of Singapore and Hong Kong has implemented similar housing policies approach to their citizens in the beginning stage; yet, as at today, a different achievement in home ownership rate was resulted mainly due to different ruling of governance. This dissertation will first review the home ownership policies of Hong Kong and Singapore in social, economic and political context. In Chapter 5, evaluation on the effectiveness in the subsidized housing supply, land supply, control of affordability of both city-states will be critically discussed and explained why different home ownership rate of Singapore and Hong Kong was achieved. To make this dissertation more fruitful, in Chapter 6, in-depth interviews with Legco members, scholar and graduated students who have profound knowledge in the housing sector would be discussed and analyzed. Last but not least, political obstacles of Hong Kong would be explained in comparing with Singapore in the final chapter. Recommendation on which part of the housing policies of Hong Kong can be learnt from Singapore will be debated from the result drawn from the key findings and the analysis from the in-depth interviews from the previous chapters. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

In the contemporary East Asian security context, free trade is a double-edged sword that simultaneously secures and threatens the primary security referents and interests of periphery and semi-periphery states. This thesis aims to provide a much deeper and comprehensive understanding of the linkages between security and trade by examining the experiences of smaller and weaker countries in East Asia, in particular, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia. I argue that in their quest to enhance, promote and secure their state-centric (“statist”) and/or people-centric (“humanist”) security referents, these countries have learned to re-imagine and re-invent the utility of free trade at the start of the twenty-first century. Accordingly, trade has become an integral function of national security, particularly for East Asian states that have a marginal geo-economic size and geo-political position. However, to this point very little has been done in explaining the impetus and dynamics behind these linkages based on the overarching assumption of “cohabitative security” or the view that security encompasses both statist and humanist dimensions. Furthermore, there is a dearth of comprehensive theoretical and empirical analyses concerning linking efforts and strategies by the non-major powers in East Asia. This thesis attempts to address those gaps. Using a qualitative comparative method, I analyse both statist and humanist forms of security-trade linkages. On the one hand, I examine how small East Asian countries utilise free trade to promote, enhance and secure the primary referents of their national security policies and strategies. And on the other, I investigate the roles of security issues and threats (traditional and non-traditional) in the continuing relevance and proliferation of free trade in the region. To fulfill these objectives, the thesis performs three main tasks. First, I theoretically reconfigure the security concept by amalgamating the statist and humanist dimensions of security to establish a “cohabitative security” framework that will serve as the operative definition of security for this research. Second, I empirically analyse the linkages between cohabitative security referents (statist and humanist) and various types of free trade (multilateral, minilateral and bilateral). Third, and lastly, I outline three main themes based on the findings generated from the case analyses: (i) high levels of internal and external insecurity; (ii) multidimensional and multidirectional nature of security concepts, contexts, and threats; and (iii) marginal geo-economic size and geopolitical position. The thesis concludes by arguing that free trade is irrefutably being utilised by periphery and semi-periphery countries to promote, enhance and secure their statist and/or humanist security referents and interests. The rationales and motives behind these linkages vary significantly from one country to another. For example, in Taiwan, free trade might be viewed as a sovereignty-upgrading mechanism; in Singapore, a defence-upgrading tool; in the Philippines, a development-upgrading instrument; and in Malaysia, a diversity-upgrading apparatus. However, it is important to note that while the constructed rationales for these linkage efforts usually sound altruistic (that is, to advance national security interests) the real motives behind them are often less than benevolent (that is, to advance a regime, a party or a privileged group’s vested interests). Furthermore, the steady proliferation of preferential bilateral and minilateral trade amid all the difficulties impeding multilateral trade at the WTO has provided small countries in East Asia a strategic platform for pursuing a broad range of security interests – altruistically or otherwise. However, considering that free trade works like a double-edged sword, I make the corollary argument that states attempting to co-habit their security interests and trade agendas are essentially “trading security”. The reason is that for every additional security that a linkage provides, a corresponding insecurity is reflected in other referents. This is clearly illustrated by the four cases examined in the study. With respect to “statist linkages”, Taiwan’s linkage efforts can lead to the island’s complete assimilation with China; while Singapore’s linkage attempts may result in the city-state’s failure to strategically balance conflicting American and Chinese interests in the region. With respect to “humanist linkages”, the Philippines’ linkage attempts have preserved uneven economic development and reinforced the oligarchic system and patronage culture; while Malaysia’s linkage efforts have perpetuated racial inequalities and further legitimised the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional. Finally, in attempts to address both traditional and non-traditional security threats, East Asian countries (via their membership in APEC and ASEAN) have made some noteworthy progress in broadening and widening the respective agendas of these two regional organisations. Despite the limitations of their compliance mechanisms (or lack of them in some issue areas), the fact that both state and human security issues are now being openly discussed vis-à-vis free trade policies underlines the ongoing progress toward East Asian linkages.

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Economics / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning