For the past decade, Hong Kong’s redevelopment strategy has been dictated by property-led urban regeneration. This approach is highly controversial as it often neglects the voices of people in the plan-making process. The growing desire for transparency and public involvement in the city’s governance system prompted the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government to introduce broad-based public engagement (PE) procedures to its institutional framework. In 2011, the new Urban Renewal Strategy (URS) endorsed a “People First, Districtbased, Public Participatory” approach to strengthen urban renewal at the district-level. Subsequently, the pilot District Urban Renewal Forum (DURF) was established in Kowloon City (KC) to foster a bottom-up, district-based approach to urban regeneration planning. This change in Hong Kong’s urban regeneration strategy is highly relevant to Foucault’s concept of governmentality that emphasize on how contemporary arrangements and structures are developed to govern society, which raise important questions when it comes to the distribution of power and knowledge in the planmaking process. Foucault argued that knowledge is power and vice versa, but it is rather difficult to determine where power truly resides in the plan-making process. This dissertation will examine the power-knowledge nexus in the first pilot KC DURF programme, and analyze whether the newly implemented procedures will set unprecedented improvements in carrying out urban regeneration. Hung Hom and To Kwa Wan in Kowloon City District are chosen as case studies to investigate whether the proposed mitigation measures in the URP for KC could truly respond to residents and key stakeholders’ concerns, needs and aspirations, which are key knowledge inputs documented in the Planning Study (PS), Social Impact Assessments (SIA) and PE Reports. The issues of incompatible land uses in Hung Hom and To Kwa Wan sub-districts demonstrate that key public comments advocating for stronger social renewal initiatives are clearly neglected in the URP for KC. Despite efforts to promote a people-centred model, the analysis reveals that power derives from two main sources: the existing power structures of the KC DURF within Hong Kong’s current top-down institutional framework and authorized knowledge, i.e. situated knowledge generated from dialogues of engagement activities. The study further reveals important gaps between the nexus of power and knowledge in the pilot KC DURF framework where authorized knowledge is identified as an exploit of professional knowledge to justify the rationality of powerholders in districtbased planning. To justify discrepancy between the initial aspirations from the local community and the mitigation measures proposed in the final plan, responses from government officials are provided to rationalize what is deemed acceptable based on a rigid set of values and requirements set out in the existing institutional framework. The DURF is, nonetheless, a form of governmentality; and the incompetence for key stakeholders to affect plan-making decisions asserts the limits of power for the layman citizen. These factors subsequently contribute to the loopholes in the pilot KC DURF programme. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

Urban renewal is a critical issue in Hong Kong. On one hand, many old districts in Hong Kong such as Wan Chai and Kwun Tong are suffering from urban decay; poor living environment and dilapidated buildings are urging for large-scale replanning and reconstruction. On the other hand, growing criticisms constantly arose, arguing that the renewal initiatives and process only focus on the physical and economic aspects, but lack of social consideration and humane care. Numerous studies have been conducted to generally evaluate the economic and social impacts of urban renewal project. In this dissertation, the author will take the local case of Lee Tung Street as an example. A cross-sectional survey including the tenants and trades information was conducted soon after the announcement of the project to examine the social economic impacts within the study area. Demographic features and property prices in the nearby neighbourhood area were also observed comparatively from 2001 to 2011, so as to understand the externalities of the renewal project. Conclusions drawing from the social impact assessment in this case study mainly include: iiThe affected residential tenants and small business operators in the Lee Tung Street were mainly from the low and middle income groups; the majority of them were unsatisfied with the renewal process and unable to move back after redevelopment. The property prices within the study area have doubled after renewal due to the improvement of living conditions and public environment. iiImpacts of renewal projects to the nearby street blocks vary in different project periods. During the construction phase, the property prices and rents in the adjacent areas showed no significant fluctuations; on the contrary, the migration rate in this street block displayed an increase trend in the short-term study. The long-term impact of this case need to be further monitored and evaluated. iiIn order to enhance the public satisfaction and project efficiency, construction in phases could be adopted; comprehensive social impact assessment and timely review are also strongly suggested; besides, public engagement and the independency of social service team should be improved as well. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Urban Design / Master / Master of Urban Design

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

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

The premise of this thesis is the relationship between community participation and public satisfaction in urban renewal projects. Public satisfaction is different from those evaluation indicators used in most previous studies. Public satisfaction level evaluates performance of renewal projects based on public’s perspectives instead of a set of standards. Performances of renewal projects in satisfying the public personally, in environmental and social aspects were appraised. Both quantity and quality of community participation of the renewal projects and other factors believed to have effects on people’s perception were studied. Quantity of community participation was measured as community participation level based on the variety of community participation activities organized in the renewal projects, while quality of community participation was assessed by the satisfaction level on community participation perceived by the public using questionnaire survey. Also, public satisfaction levels of renewal projects in different aspects were collected by questionnaire survey. The relationship between community participation and public satisfaction was examined by linear regression analysis. Data was collected from 181 respondents responding to 5 sample projects regarding their satisfaction level towards the renewal projects in different aspects. Quality of community participation and public satisfaction level of urban renewal projects are positively related in different aspects while negative effect of quantity of community participation on the public satisfaction level was found. It is anticipated that if the public are satisfied with the community participation activities organized in a renewal project, they will also be satisfied with the project itself. However, results unexpectedly showed that public satisfaction level would increase as less community participation activities were organized in the renewal projects. This thesis gives insights into the optimum practice of community involvement in renewal projects and that of urban renewal to satisfy the public’s needs. The results are suggestive to the ideas that private developments can better formulate the needs of the public and the public concern more about the quality of community participation than the variety or number of it. / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Urban Design / Master / Master of Urban Design

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