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

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

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

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

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

Exhaust emissions from vehicles are major contributor to local air pollution and global climate change. Electric vehicles are zero tailpipe emission, while electricity can be generated from renewable sources. They are widely considered by policymakers. Although the Hong Kong Government carried out various policies in last few years, the market share of electric vehicles is still low, particularly in the public transport sector. This dissertation aims to investigate the policy drivers and obstacles to electric vehicles adoption in Hong Kong, focus on public transport vehicles – buses, public light buses and taxis, because they are the largest contributor to the street-level air pollution. The methodologies of this study included two parts. The first part is an extensive literature review and overseas case studies. The second part is survey interviews on 34 decision makers from public transport operators, public vehicle associations, infrastructure developers, car park management companies and property management companies. The survey covered 25.2 percent of total licensed public vehicles in Hong Kong in March 2013. The investigation reveals that long payback period, lack of infrastructure support, battery capacity, and range anxiety are the key obstacles to public electric vehicles adoption in Hong Kong, while environmental concern is less important to the stakeholders. As breakthroughs in technology will compensate most of the shortcomings, in short-term, provide direct subsidy on a non-linear sliding scale, and allocate land for overnight charging are vital for the Government to push public electric vehicles adoption. In medium to long-term, the Government has to be more proactive and roll out a clear roadmap for future development. Provide governmental research and development support, release the threshold of Green Pilot Transport Fund, further amendment on Road Traffic (Expressway) Regulations (Cap. 374Q), enhance collaboration with electric vehicle manufacturers, increase promotion, public education and professional training are recommended. The dissertation ends with a future research agenda. Suggestions included investigates the effectiveness of public electric vehicles' operation and acceptance by passengers; monitoring public electric vehicles' adoption, operation and development among Hong Kong and major regional competitors - Singapore and Shanghai. In addition, research on how China's expanding electric vehicle industry will influence public transport sector in the next two to three years' time. / published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

With the expansion of cities and economic prosperity, research on the location of commercial center has been increasingly brought to the attention of the relevant scholars. Urban commercial activity affects the city's overall development. Moreover, commercial land directly reflects the urban spatial structure characteristic, and is closely related to the city's social economic activities. Urban traffic network structure is the basis for land use and economic activity of urban space. Among many factors affecting commercial distribution, urban traffic network and the accessibility of it are the main factors. This study is trying to answer what role the accessibility plays in the development of commercial centers and how. Space Syntax theory provides a new perspective for understanding the complicated urban transportation system, and a set of quantitative analysis method for space configuration. In order to investigate the accessibility of traffic network in Hong Kong, map data will be collected from road network and metro network, and the data will be digitalized before the calculation of accessibility. For the purpose of finding the development of commercial centers, a variety of data will also be collected from the three commercial centers-Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay, and Mong Kok, such as the operating area of main retail stores in each commercial center. The first theoretical hypothesis is that the accessibility of traffic network does have an influence on the location and development of commercial centers. After the calculation of metro network accessibility and road network accessibility, the second theoretical hypothesis is that the accessibility of metro network may exert different effect on the location and development of commercial centers, compared with that of road network. The influence of metro network and road network on the location of commercial centers was discussed. It can be concluded that an area of high accessibility is more likely to develop into a commercial center. In another word, commercial centers always have higher accessibility than non-commercial center areas. Another conclusion is that the scope of commercial centers is mainly controlled by accessibility of road network in local configuration. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

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

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

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