Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-178).

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-119).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 308-337).

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-96).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references.

Conventional land use change detections with remote sensing use annual remote sensing images because of the limitations of optical sensors that cannot collect data in bad weather and cloudy conditions. This limits its applications in rapidly developing areas which are cloudy, such as the Pearl River Delta in China. These areas also need to detect land use changes in short intervals, such as on a monthly basis, in order to monitor illegal land use changes and prevent irreversible land use changes that may damage the environment. The objective of the thesis is to examine short-interval land use change detection, especially the change from agriculture to built-up areas, using RADARSAT-1 images which can go through clouds. This thesis firstly examines the classification of RADARSAT-1 images with pixel-based and object-based classification methods respectively. Based on the classification results, post-classification change detection method are conducted in order to obtain the detailed information of land use changes for the analysis of short-interval land use change. Land use change detection accuracies can be improved as the number of the RADARSAT-1 images used in land use change detection increased. More images, which represent longer monitoring period, can obtain better results of land use change detection. For short-interval land use changes detection, four time periods is the maximum otherwise the period of monitoring will be too long. Agricultural activities such as planting and harvesting have significant effects on the monitoring of land use changes. In planting and harvesting months, the accuracies of the land use change detection are lower than other months because its land cover is often confused with other land uses, such as water and bare soils. The process of construction can be considered as a three-stage process and a combination of two land uses. However, construction sites are often confused with vegetation and bare soil in RADARSAT-1 images because the values of backscatter coefficients of construction sites and the two land uses are very similar. The land cover changes during the planting and harvest seasons are often confused with the process of construction. It is found that construction sites can be identified with their two stages of low values of backscatter coefficients, which is not found in the pattern curves of backscatter coefficients of other land uses. By the comparison of the accuracies of identifying construction sites using two, three and four RADARSAT-1 images, it is found that using three time periods can get better accuracies which is different from the result of general land use change detection. This thesis does not try to evaluate land use change detection methods or find the best method for monitoring land use changes. Instead, it focused on the analysis of confusions caused by the time periods of land use change detection and seasonal variation of vegetations. The main contributions of this study are as follows: 1) it explores the use of multi-temporal RADARSAT-1 images into the land use change detection to overcome the problems of cloudy conditions, making short-interval land use change detection possible for areas which are often covered by clouds; 2) pixel-based maximum likelihood method and the object-based classification method were compared for their accuracies in land use classification of RADARSAT-1 images; 3) it examines the optimal time periods for land use change detection; and 4) it examines the appropriate number of images that are needed for monitoring land use changes in different seasons in order to obtain the best accuracies. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Because of dam construction, currently there are 25,000,000 migrants in China, and until 2020, Chinese government will be built as much as 9 Three Gorges dams, but the resettlement compensation was never satisfied migrants benefit over the past 50 years. My thesis is looks at this particular phenomenon and proposed new resettlement model for the future that is to take advantages of water level change in the specific area and create new resettlement policy as an opportunity to change people’s life. Through Chinese resettlement history and case study to understand the resettlement situation in China. Choice a future dam location, to solve the problems, at first, I try to redesign dam but it maybe not the best way, then I focus on the drawdown zone which is one of the most important issues of dam construction, I want to take advantage of water level change to think new resettlement model. The strategy was considered about the effect in social, cultural, economic and ecological ways. Respect the original environment and creates a new resettlement model. My project goal is to contribute to reduce settlement, minimize erosion, make a productive drawdown zone but still keep the reservoir capacity, the method is to balance cut and fill land. To achieve this, I analyze the typology in the site, the first type is rural area and another is city area, I take different strategy for different category, the design method is use the water level change and land available time to utilize the land in range. he main strategy is: built a road following the high water level as a structure to reorganize resettlement around road, then manipulate topography to reserved villages and vegetation in range, also plant with fluctuation add new activities make a more productive drawdown zone, create wetland system for water treatment. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

After 1949, the massive urbanization take place in many traditional and new cities in new China, as one of the most unique cities in China, Beijing experiences the unprecedented development in last few decades, the thesis project starts from the general research on urbanization of Beijing to lead to the key phenomenon during the process - resettlement. The research on a series of resettlement housing projects throughout the history of Beijing from 1949 is an essential part to understand the evolution of the resettlement housing strategy in Beijing. Based on the design methodology of different projects and the various analysis of the resettlement housing strategy from different researchers, this thesis project tries to summarize the characteristics of the resettlement projects in different area, and to find out the changing trend of the typical resettlement projects. The research is not only focused on the building design and spacing, but also concentrated on open spaces, public facilities and all elements that impact on the relationships of neighborhoods. On the other hand, the resettlement that spontaneously happened in the traditional residential area is also an important part of resettlement in Beijing. The different between the government conducted resettlement housing project and the spontaneous resettlement phenomenon produce the different way of neighborhood communication, therefore the thesis also focuses on how the traditional building and street shape the neighborhoods communications and its differences with the new resettlement housing. With the constant urbanization, the massive resettlement is still happening in Beijing today, and the government is introducing more large scale resettlement projects in these years, the Dongcheng-Chaoyang cooperative resettlement plan is a large resettlement planning of center-area population evacuation, which plans to evacuate 10,000 people to Chaoyang district per year from 2011 to 2020. The thesis project plan to propose a new strategy in one part of Dingfuzhuang resettlement site in connection with the main issues of previous research, which to restructure a new type of neighborhood experimentally. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

The River Thurne catchment on the north-cast coast of Norfolk contains large areas of marshland, including several Ramsar-designated sites. Land drainage of much of the marshland over the previous centuries has lowered groundwater levels to below sea-level. Consequently, saline groundwater has intruded into a large proportion of the underlying Norwich Crag aquifer, thereby raising the salinity of the surface water networks. Changes in the economics of arable farming and the perception that changes in the land drainage regimes will produce beneficial effects on the water quality of the River Thume and its associated Broads have necessitated the need for a better understanding of the hydrogeology of this complex, highly managed aquifer. To provide the necessary understanding, this study has investigated the hydrogeology, hydrology and land management of the catchment using a variety of geophysical techniques, including electrical resistivity soundings EM surveys and reflection seismology to supplement information collected using standard hydrogeological measurements The distribution of dyke water levels as maintained by the drainage pumps are shown to exert important controls on the extent and depth of saline intrusion. In the north of the catchment a further control is the internal structure of the Crag aquifer. A clay layer of probable Baventian age divides the Crag aquifer into two units and appear to prevent the salinization of the aquifer above this layer. A catchment water balance has shown that land drainage pumps discharge about 95% of the catchment recharge, so that raising dyke water levels will also result in raised groundwater levels. Futurel and use change to grazing marsh, while improving the water quality of drainage water entering the River Thurne may lead to increased salinization of the aquifer, as a result of changes in the distribution of dyke water levels.

The development of the law in Scotland in respect of the co-ownership of property has been undermined by an early philosophical prejudice against the idea of co-ownership, coupled with the indiscriminate and imprecise use of language in the judgments of the courts, particularly in the Nineteenth Century. But nevertheless, co-ownership – an essential concept in the property law of any developed legal system - is a common, popular, and economically useful form of ownership, which may arise by accident or by design; and the law has accordingly been subject to periodic legal ‘correction' by way of judicial fiat. Such corrections may have resolved particular questions in law, but they have left other questions unanswered and have also had the effect of posing new questions. In particular, the modern orthodoxy, which posits a binary structure of co-ownership in Scotland, is questionable and unhelpful. The law in respect of co-ownership has undeniably advanced in recent years, but there have also been missed opportunities. This thesis seeks to clarify the development of the understanding and articulation of the concept of co-ownership and its role in Scotland as a contribution to a better understanding of an important aspect of property law with continuing utility in legal development.