published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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

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

With rapid urbanization since the 1990s, many Chinese historic cities have faced the dual challenges of regenerating dilapidated historic inner urban areas and promoting local economic development. Rampant urban redevelopmentoriented planning and practices have been undertaken in many places. While bringing enormous economic returns, this trend also poses many threats to the character of the historic cities. Literature on urban regeneration shows that local communities should play an active role in regenerating a place in addition to other key actors such as the government and the private sectors. Local communities also play a critical role in conserving the indigenous lives of historic residential districts. Social capital enables local communities to act together to pursue shared objectives in the community-based regeneration processes. Based on this theoretical premise, the study seeks to examine the role of social capital in the regeneration of Chinese historic cities. This thesis aims to provide a historical and contextual understanding of the evolution of urban regeneration in Chinese historic cities. The thesis also explores the role of social capital in the current controversies surrounding urban regeneration in transitional China. In the current mode of urban regeneration governance in China, local governments often play a dominant role as both redevelopment advocates and project managers. Private developers are actively involved while local indigenous residents are often excluded from the regeneration processes. Urban regeneration practices in Chinese historic cities are often conducted through urban conservation-cum-redevelopment strategies to spur local economic growth and improve the physical environment. Since the focus is on the conservation of the physical environment, many local indigenous lives have to be excluded and relocated to give way to local redevelopment projects. The lack of community involvement in local regeneration processes severely undermines the goals of comprehensive urban regeneration and integrated urban conservation plans. Xi’an, a typical Chinese historic city, has been chosen as the study site. Two solid local case studies have produced the following major findings. In the Drum Tower Muslim District, traditional Muslim lives and businesses have sustained a vibrant local economy. Together with cohesive community relationships, this thesis argues that the historic Muslim district can actually sustain a self-regeneration process, given proper maintenance of the dilapidated urban infrastructures by local governments. The question is an institutionalized mechanism to facilitate this kind of regeneration. The implementation of the government-led regeneration projects within the Sanxuejie Historic District, where community relationships are weak with low level of social capital, was more “efficient”. However, it also means that regeneration efforts were less comprehensive and indigenous lives of the original neighborhoods were not conserved. To achieve the goals of comprehensive urban regeneration in historic cities, this thesis maintains the following: (1) the conservation of indigenous lives and local socio-cultural elements is important for local regeneration plans; (2) a strong social capital contributes to the conservation of local indigenous lives by facilitating community involvement in local urban regeneration processes; and (3) an institutionalized community participatory mode of urban governance is essential for a comprehensive regeneration plan at the local level. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Philosophy

近年來，社會資本成為了西方學者熱門的研究焦點。然而，以發展中國家為實證例子的相關研究卻相當匱乏。就中國的情況而言，由於改革開放初期下的制度法規常未成熟，非正規的文化規範及社會網路(關係)便成為建設世界工廠、提供靈活而低成本的生產運作的重要元素。本論文以港資跨境企業為研究對象，實地考證珠江三角洲的從改革開放以來的工業發展變遷。作者於二零一零至二零一一年間走訪香港及珠三角，與十名港資企業家及其他有關的專業界別人士作深度訪談。 / 研究結果顯示社會資本在珠三角工業發展過程發揮了關鍵的作用。由於改革開放初期的制度法規積弱，港資企業家大多利用跨境社會網路與珠三角的地方領導接洽，從而在當地設置生產基地。及至中國加入世界貿易組織以後，如何靈活運用社會資本及應付新興的制度力量更成為港資企業的重要議題。隨著中國的制度法規在產業轉型升級的路上更見成熟，部分一直過度依賴地方關係及制度漏洞而生利的企業將被淘汰。為解決現時的發展困局並防止當地工業被連根拔起，地方之間必須尋求更緊密的跨境協作。最後，本文揭示珠三角未來的工業發展將取決於企業如何升級社會資本、積極應付新的制度及市場挑戰、更替舊有的社會關係網路。 / In the past decades, scholars have been conceptualizing the asset of social capital in the contemporary West. However, its empirical reference to the developing countries is particularly missing. In the context of China, with a lack of substantial formal institutional support in the early reform period, it is the traditional Chinese cultural norms and informal social ties (guanxi) that constructed the "world factory" renowned for low operation cost and flexible production. This research studies the industrial dynamics of the Pearl River Delta since the economic reform in 1978, with a particular attention to the transborder manufacturing establishments operated by entrepreneurs from Hong Kong. In-depth interviews and field investigation are conducted with ten transborder entrepreneurs and some other involved officials in 2010 and 2011. / Research findings support the claim of social capital as a significant asset to enterprise development in the context throughout the period. In the early reform period with weak institutional infrastructure but strong preexisting personal and social ties across the mainland-Hong Kong border, transborder manufacturing establishments were emerged in the cultivation of guanxi among Hong Kong entrepreneurs and cadre-affiliates in the PRD as enterprise social capital. Meanwhile, the resilience in mobilizing enterprise social capital and particularly the institutional force has been more important to the sustainability and promotion of these transborder enterprises in the post-WTO China. The institutional turn towards techno-economic restructuring is going to eliminate many of the obsolete transborder enterprises, whose vested interests entangled in local guanxi networks and institutional holes have now been dissipated. Tighter collaboration across the border is urgently needed to simultaneously smash the regional lock-in and prevent the hollowing-out of industries in the region against recent global economic downturn. Eventually, it is believed that the reinventing of enterprise social capital, in the acknowledgement of institutional and market force but also informal guanxi networks, is crucial to the future trajectory of the industrial development in the PRD. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Leung, Chiu Yin. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-154). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgements --- p.iv / Table of Contents --- p.v / List of Figures --- p.vii / List of Tables --- p.viii / Chapter Chapte One --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Research Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Scope of Study --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Research Objectives --- p.5 / Chapter 1.4 --- Thesis Outline --- p.6 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Literature Review / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2 --- Firm Dynamics --- p.8 / Chapter 2.3 --- Social Capital Theory --- p.16 / Chapter 2.4 --- The Chinese Context --- p.22 / Chapter 2.5 --- Summary --- p.29 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Methodology / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.31 / Chapter 3.2 --- Conceptual Framework --- p.31 / Chapter 3.3 --- Research Design --- p.34 / Chapter 3.4 --- Data Collection --- p.35 / Chapter 3.5 --- Date Analysis --- p.38 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Transborder Venture Creation in the Early Reform Era: Process of Social Capital Building / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.40 / Chapter 4.2 --- Background Conditions --- p.42 / Chapter 4.3 --- Firm Emergence --- p.52 / Chapter 4.4 --- Summary --- p.65 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Sustaining Enterprise Development against the Latest Challenges: Theorizing the Dynamics of Social Capital / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.68 / Chapter 5.2 --- Case Study --- p.70 / Chapter 5.3 --- Locating the Dynamics --- p.86 / Chapter 5.4 --- Theorizing Enterprise Social Capital --- p.96 / Chapter 5.5 --- Institutional Turn --- p.105 / Chapter 5.6 --- Summary --- p.122 / Chapter Chapter Six --- Conclusions / Chapter 6.1 --- Discussion of Results --- p.p.124 / Chapter 6.2 --- Contributions and Limitations --- p.130 / Chapter 6.3 --- Remarks for Future Research --- p.133 / Bibliography --- p.135

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Xiang, Xiaoling. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-117). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.ii / List of Tables --- p.vii / List of Figures --- p.viii / Abstract --- p.ix / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature Review and Conceptual Framework --- p.4 / Positive Youth Development --- p.4 / Positive Youth Development: An Introduction --- p.4 / Conceptualizing PYD: A Multidimensional Construct --- p.6 / Inter-relationship between and among the Selected PYD Attributes --- p.11 / Conceptualizing Social Capital in Relation to Youth Wellbeing --- p.14 / "Contributions of Coleman, Putnam, and Bourdieu" --- p.15 / The Working Definition of Social Capital in this Study --- p.18 / The Social Capital Framework --- p.22 / The Effect of Social Capital on Youth Development Outcomes --- p.23 / Theoretical Links --- p.23 / Empirical Evidence --- p.25 / Effects of Socio-Demographic Variables --- p.35 / Limitations in the Literature --- p.36 / The Conceptual Model of Social Capital and PYD --- p.39 / Summary of Definitions of Terms in the Study --- p.39 / The Conceptual Model of Social Capital and PYD --- p.40 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Methods --- p.43 / Data Source: the GRF Project --- p.43 / Overview of the Methodology in the current study --- p.45 / Research Questions and Hypotheses of the Study --- p.46 / Sampling Procedures and Participants of the Current Study --- p.47 / Missing Data --- p.49 / Measures --- p.51 / Demographic Variables --- p.52 / Social Capital Variables --- p.53 / PYD Variables --- p.57 / Data Analysis Plan --- p.59 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Results --- p.62 / Preliminary Analysis --- p.62 / Sample Demographics --- p.62 / Descriptive Characteristics of the Key Variables --- p.64 / Main Analysis --- p.66 / Test of Measurement Model --- p.68 / Test of Structural Model --- p.71 / Summary of Findings --- p.80 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Discussion --- p.82 / Summary of the Study --- p.82 / Discussions of Findings --- p.85 / Socio-demographic Characteristics and Social Capital Functioning --- p.85 / Social Capital and PYD --- p.90 / Contributions --- p.94 / Implications for Practice and Policy --- p.96 / Limitations and Future Directions --- p.99 / Conclusion --- p.102 / References --- p.104 / Appendices --- p.118 / Appendix A English Translated Version of Items Measuring Social Capital --- p.118 / Appendix B English Translated Version of Items Measuring PYD --- p.119

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