published_or_final_version / Law / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

- The Conservation Plan for Ladder Street is prepared based on the research findings by going through the early history about the development of the streets in Hong Kong and particularly the driving forces about how the Ladder Street was developed. - Based on site survey to record about the significant value culturally and architecturally of the Ladder Street in this study. - Being part of the urban heritage of Hong Kong, the ever changing in nature of the street will be discussed. Taking the street’s basic function, statutory requirements and together with the significance values into consideration to develop a Conservation Guidelines for conservation and maintenance usage. - The importance of sustainability in conservation for the future generation will also be considered / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

Home ownership has been recognised by most of the literatures as the preferable tenure compared with the renters. It has been the housing policy of the Hong Kong Government to promote home ownership to increase the sense of belonging of the Hong Kong people. This paper attempted to explore if home-owning would have impact on one’s sense of belonging in the low-income group by making comparison of the sense of belonging between the PRH tenants and the HOS owners. The results of the survey revealed that the HOS owners did have a higher sense of belonging than the PRH tenants. Nevertheless, home ownership is not the main contribution. There are other factors affecting one’s sense of belonging. In the unique political situation of Hong Kong, the analysis shows that ‘family’ is the most significant element in anchoring the sense of belonging of the low-income group. However, the findings also confirmed that home ownership would bring societal benefits in fostering a sense of belonging among the public as well as to bring neighbourhood stability through homeowners’ social participation and attachment to the local community. Both the PRH tenants and HOS owners indicated home-owing being their preferred housing tenure. Despite that there are many respondents viewed that the societal benefits from home ownership may also be achieved in the public rental housing estates, they agreed that the Government should offer subsidies to the Hong Kong people to assist them in acquiring home ownership in the form of HOS. It is justified that the Hong Kong Government will re-launch the HOS in the near future to realise the aspiration of home ownership of the low-income people and the young generation in view of the incredibly high housing prices which are far beyond their housing affordability. It is also observed that the public rental housing estates did offer a stable community to the PRH tenants who rated an admirable score of sense of belonging to Hong Kong. To promote sense of belonging, provision of more housing rental flats to low-income people is strongly recommended. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

Hong Kong’s extremely high density has mesmerised many outsiders for years. Through the devastations of the World War II to the influx of immigration from the Mainland China, Hong Kong has managed to build a remarkable city within the severely limited land mass and inhospitable topography. Hong Kong’s skyscrapers sores into the sky, leaving crevasses of spaces between towers for people and vehicles to flow through. In the Central Business District, elevated walkway connections hovers and criss-crosses every major roads, moving thousands of people on a daily bases. Some people descend into the CBD by hopping on hill-side escalator from nearby residential area of Mid-Levels. Seemingly chaotic yet orderly typical scene of Hong Kong’s CBD is enough to intimidate first timers to Hong Kong. Add flying cars and people in futuristic suits, it will be enough to resemble those images of future envisaged by film makers and architects from the early 20th century. The vertical city of Hong Kong has emerged as one of the first embryonic volumetric cities in the world. Hong Kong continues to defy the conventional Western beliefs in urban planning and development establishing itself as an efficient, vibrant and safe urban model with an extreme density. Yet, the city’s experience remains peripheral to the mainstream debates despite many lessons to be learned from Hong Kong as more cities aspire to intensify in an attempt to establish sustainable living. The reasons for this can be attributed to the general lack of evidence-based research on Hong Kong’s model, especially in vertical urbanism, as well as the reluctance to adapt higher density living in the West, shrouded by grossly misunderstood notions of density. This research begins by demystifying the (mis)understandings of density using Hong Kong as an example and attempts to decode the complexity of Hong Kong’s urban model. The research does this by developing and applying a quantifiable tool – the Volumetric Study - to assess and analyse the current practice of building in Hong Kong and to identify the emerging condition of multiple ground. The complexities of vertical and/or volumetric living are assessed using readily available data and simple field work. It is hoped that the Volumetric Study offers insight into the understanding of how existing buildings operate as well as providing potential guidance for future improvements and development. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Inefficient industrial policies in the 1970’s led to the growth of privatization since the late 1970’s. Apart from the general trend of privatization worldwide, budgetary distress (1999-2003) after the Asian Financial Crisis (1997-8) obliged the Hong Kong government to adopt extensive privatization of public assets and services to increase income and reduce expenditure, including privatizing the construction, ownership and management of infrastructure projects. However, obstacles to efficient privatization abound, and it is suggested that incentive conflicts in privatizations may result in poorly performing or even failed transactions. Following a literature review, it is suggested that inefficient privatization seem to be present in complex and highly asset specific projects. The review suggests that asset specificity could also be an obstacle to efficient transactions. In project finance, however, it has been shown that asset specificity could be used strategically to manage agency incentive conflicts. It is thus argued that highly specific fixed assets privatization transactions may be incentive inefficient if incentive conflicts are unchecked. Since asset specificity has been used particularly in the project finance field to manage agency incentive conflicts, this study investigates the effect of high asset specificity in facilitating incentive efficient privatization of highly specific fixed infrastructure assets. The proposition that high asset specificity contributes significantly to incentive efficient privatization of fixed infrastructure assets is examined using the case study methodology. Incentive efficiency is taken to mean clear identification of incentive conflicts, clear measures taken to manage the conflicts, and clear measures taken to “minimize” costs incurred in managing such conflicts. A fourth concept, a transaction's "internal coherence" is a subjective consideration of the mutually reinforcing functioning of these measures whilst drawing on asset specificity for additional effectiveness. An exploratory case study, the Western Harbour Crossing (WHC) Build Operate Transfer privatization, a highly specific cross harbour tunnel in Hong Kong, was analyzed. Evidence was sought through desk research of published secondary case material, aimed at confirming or otherwise the proposition. Three major sources of information, namely the concession agreement and allocation of property rights, corporate structure and financing and operational matters, were considered, following a structured transaction analysis framework. Incentive conflicts and corresponding management mechanisms are pointed out, and it is discovered that asset specificity has salient effects on the management of incentive conflicts in WHC. Since asset specificity was used strategically in the design of transaction governance mechanisms, asset specificity contributed substantially to enforce property rights and monitor incentive conflicts. Furthermore, the three concepts of incentive efficiency seem well coordinated. Thus it was argued that transaction governance in WHC was internally coherent. The presence of the four concepts of incentive efficiency was considered convincing evidence to conclude that high asset specificity contributes significantly to incentive efficient privatization of fixed infrastructure assets. / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

Wetland are valuable habitat in Hong Kong. These area have been threatened by rapid urban development in Hong Kong for the past 50 years. Since they handover of Hong Kong from the British ruling back to China, the frontier land have been left untouched for many years. And this land is precious and shall be treated with care in order to preserve the ecological valuable area for our future generation to enjoy. The design thesis would response to issues concerning with drainage channel design in the rural Man Kam To district and current ecological stream park/wetland compensation mitigation in Hong Kong. A study area in Shenzhen River, near Man Kam To Border Control Point is selected as demonstration site for drainage edge treatment together with storm-water treatment to restore the natural edge of the area. In addition, an algae bioreactor treatment design will be incorporated as a vision to use new technology to provide renewable energy and clean air for a self sustainable design. It aims to establish an innovative landscape solution the current over engineered river channel treatment and to balance between developing the economic growth from the Shenzhen Area while preserving ecological valuable area as a greenbelt in Hong Kong for future sustainable development use. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

This qualitative study investigated the extent of Teachers’ Private Theories on the level of instructional technology integration within a Hong Kong international school. Such private theories develop as a result of personal and pedagogical experiences influencing how teachers think, manage their classrooms and make decisions, essentially acting as a foundation for instructional decision-making practices. The participants within this study consisted of three teachers with various degrees of experience. Lesson observations and interviews were conducted, and an intervention measure in the form of Moodle, a course management system, was introduced to enhance existing pedagogical practice and provide an opportunity for the teachers to facilitate a higher level of technology integration; something that is generally attributed to a strong focus on student centered pedagogy. Private theories were categorized into six key areas - student learning, management, assessment, teaching, technology and support. Results from the study indicated that intervention measures used to facilitate higher-levels of technology integration for teachers who already focus on student-centered pedagogy, do not result in any noticeable transformation of their private theories. Instead, teachers develop a deeper cognitive understanding of the intervention, and begin to question how they can modify existing teaching and learning practices. Teachers that participate in comprehensive school wide technology programs need continuous support to ensure they achieve higher-levels of technology integration, and continue to develop student-centered pedagogy. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture