Search results

Playing as a global city, to maintain the economic dynamics and urban vitality, Hong Kong government would like to take urban regeneration in urban core as a kind of urban growth strategy. The government monopolizes land supply for urban development through the leasehold system, while the redevelopment agency is authorized to take land acquisition for urban redevelopment. The transformation of agency from Land Development Corporation (LDC) to Urban Renewal Authority (URA) reflected the formation of a coalition composed of quasi-public redevelopment agency and private developer, which facilitates land and property resumption in urban redevelopment. The URA-led projects often tend to redevelop obsolete communities into up-market neighborhoods, which possibly enables redevelopment agency and developers to gain more economic benefits from real estate appreciation. Nevertheless, evidences from some large redevelopment projects conducted by URA in Hong Kong such as Lee Tung Street, Langham Palace and Kennedy Town have presented that urban redevelopment is closely associated with gentrification triggered by displacement of original neighborhood residents. Hence gentrification in Hong Kong has raised more and more concerns about booming housing price as well as fragmentation of social networks. Through urban regime combined with growth machine approach, this paper will explain the collusion of redevelopment agency and private developers that jointly turns the URA-led redevelopment into neighborhood gentrification. And by examining Kwun Tong Town Centre Project (KTTCP), findings indicate that soaring property value will crowd low-income groups and working classes out from their original neighborhoods; and then those gentrified residential estates will be occupied by rich class. Moreover, increasing rent and operation costs will inevitably eliminate those family-operated small businesses; and then they will be superseded by high-end retailing and services. In this way, urban morphology will be reshaped perpetually through more and more gentrified neighborhoods.

One of the major impediments to urban renewal in Hong Kong is the acquisition of land from different owners in order to form adequate parcels for development. Compulsory purchase powers are not available to the private sector as only public authorities can properly exercise powers over individuals in the public interest. In the case of urban renewal, when the Land Development Corporation (LDC) exercises compulsory purchase powers, it has to go through long and rigorous procedures to demonstrate that there is no undue detriment to the interests of landowners. In this paper the practice of the LDC in this respect is examined in detail and the problems and issues of land assembly in the urban renewal process highlighted. Finally, new policies for land assembly are suggested as means of dealing with the difficulties identified.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of urban renewal policy by comparing urban renewal in Hong Kong with that undertaken in Macao.

This study reviews the concepts of urban renewal in the two cities and examines related policies in Hong Kong and Macao.

The study finds that the emphasis of urban renewal policy rests on the principles of self-financing, holistic planning and public-private partnerships. In order to deal with urban renewal issues, the Chinese Government has adopted a “People First, District-based, Public Participatory” approach based on public engagement and, to this end, it has introduced various measures, such as the District Urban Renewal Forum and the Urban Renewal Trust Fund. However, compared with Hong Kong, Macao’s efforts at urban renewal policies have been disjointed and piecemeal.

The study adopts the principle of public management and compares the two cities’ urban policies to highlight the importance of both government leadership and public engagement for successful urban renewal.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the progress of rehabilitation and redevelopment and review the effectiveness of the Land (Compulsory Sale for Redevelopment) Ordinance (LCSRO) (Cap. 545) and proposals that influence the urban renewal process in Hong Kong.

The study largely relies on the review of the LCSRO and the Government's proposal, and the urban renewal progress. Rehabilitation and redevelopment data was collated and analyzed to assess how effective the renewal process and the Government legislation have been in tackling the urban decay problem in Hong Kong. This study benchmarks the good practices of Singapore.

The pace of urban renewal activities in Hong Kong is lagging behind its policy goal. The implementation of the urban renewal programme has not adequately resolved the serious problem of ageing buildings. The existing legislation has not been effectively attracting private sector's participation either. The proposed relaxation of the compulsory sale threshold for specified classes of lots under the LCSRO aims to assist private sector‐led redevelopment. However, it is not a panacea for urban decay. Whilst the private sector's participation is facilitated, the Government should consider complementary measures, e.g. the relaxation of such criteria as the building age, plot ratio and height limitation for a more effective and efficient process, particularly in less attractive sites. A careful balance should be maintained in redeveloping different regions in the city. The Government should also be cautious about the negative externalities that might affect to the community.

The paper identifies the implementation gap of urban renewal in Hong Kong. Practical suggestions are made to the Government and related organizations to expedite urban renewal works.

The paper assesses Hong Kong's urban decay problem in a quantitative way. This approach has hardly been applied in a local context. It also highlights important issues relating to private sector involvement in urban renewal activities and various concerns over the proposed changes to the LCSRO. The paper will benefit local policy makers, property developers and professionals in the area. Its results will form a basis for further research on the impact of the proposals on land supply and housing prices after its implementation.

This paper seeks to examine the contributions of rehabilitation and redevelopment projects to the labour force of the construction industry in Hong Kong. Major projects from the private and public sectors were critically examined and the manpower requirements and the tangible benefits in terms of wages arising from urban renewal were forecast.

The forecast of the expected persons to be engaged in the construction industry is based on trend regression model. Time series data of construction sites, both private and public, and persons engaged in the past ten years were forecasted for linear trend process for the next three years. From this, a reasonable estimate of man‐days to be engaged and wages to be incurred in the construction industry in the future can be obtained.

The results provide evidence that the impacts are positive. About 19.4 million man‐days and an income of HK$16.4 billion (3.8 per cent of the nominal GDP of Hong Kong in 2008) are anticipated in the short run. To meet urban regeneration needs, the Government should develop various vocational skills and enhance motivation and job search.

There are potential risks of error arising from the use of assumptions, limited sample size and data from the secondary resources.

Urban renewal works can generate more jobs. The ratio of development projects to rehabilitation works in terms of producing job opportunity by the same amount of budget is about 1 to 4.7. To meet urban regeneration needs, the Government should develop various vocational skills and enhance motivation and job search for renewal works.

Urban renewal attracts and stimulates investment, creates employment opportunities and improves the built environment of cities. Also, public rehabilitation works can play a moderate role in stabilizing the economy and the labour market.

The major contributions of this paper are: the estimated labour and financial resources to undertake such renewal works; and the more significant impact of rehabilitation work identified.

This study is founded on an assessment model derived by the authors in previous studies. It aims to identify the applicability of the model by using it to assess the urban design aspects of two local urban renewal projects against a set of pre‐determined performance indicators.

First of all, a brief on the details of the assessment model is provided. Then, this study introduces how case study can evaluate the effectiveness of the model in assessing the government‐led urban renewal projects in the real world. Afterwards, it identifies the way of selecting appropriate urban renewal projects for the case study, sets out the process of the assessment, and highlights the assessment results and its implication.

The case study conducted here has proved that the assessment model is able to produce reliable and valid assessment results for evaluation of the sustainability performance of local urban renewal projects. In addition to the assessment of the overall performance, the model also helps to identify the deficiencies of the renewal projects, and the level of satisfaction of the affected persons and the concerned parties to the renewal projects being assessed.

By assessing the design of two pre‐selected urban renewal projects against individual indicators through case study, it can be ensured that the model derived by the authors in previous studies is theoretically and practically feasible. In addition, this study has demonstrated that the model is able to measure the design quality and the sustainability level of individual urban renewal project in real life context.

To develop a multi‐criteria decision‐making framework for evaluating different schemes of urban regeneration project.

Urban decay in Hong Kong has long warranted community concern. To tackle the problem, there are generally two different approaches, namely building rehabilitation and redevelopment. In the past, urban regeneration was dominated by complete redevelopment. However, with the rise of the concept of sustainability, the choice of building rehabilitation is becoming increasingly popular. Nevertheless, with either option, difficulties are often encountered in balancing the diverse interests of the stakeholders, who have varied aims and ambitions for the achievements of a project. Therefore, we have developed a framework, which contains the factors to be considered when planning an urban renewal project. To obtain the relative importance of these factors in a reliable but reasonably inexpensive manner from the building‐related professionals, the Non‐structural Fuzzy Decision Support System was employed. In total, 34 building surveyors and 31 town planners were interviewed using structured questionnaires.

The set of perceived weightings of the decision criteria obtained from building surveyors was quite different from that from town planners. People of different backgrounds hold divergent views towards the relative importance of the decision criteria in an urban regeneration project.

Due to the resource limitations, individuals from the professions of building surveying and town planning were studied only.

To achieve a credible decision‐making process, it is therefore advisable to have a balanced mix of members in any urban regeneration project decision making panel. Also, the framework developed in this study can be used to facilitate the decision making process in the future project.

This paper is the first attempt to explore the relative importance of various criteria for the decision‐making process in urban regeneration projects perceived by different professionals.

Singapore’s retail landscape has undergone much change since the 1960s as a result of its economic growth and social change. Fuelling the transformation is the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) whose policies have resulted in modern one‐stop shopping centres. Today’s retail market is highly cosmopolitan, complex and sophisticated with nearly every international brand and retailer found there. However, the retail market has been tough in the last few years owing to problems such as an oversupply of retail space, high labour costs and a tight labour market. Describes strategies adopted by retailers and developers to combat the problems in the industry. Among the strategies adopted by retailers are niche marketing and regionalization. They have also forged strategic alliances with other larger retailers. Developers, on the other hand, have recognized the need to find the right tenant mix as opposed to just securing the highest rents. Less competitive shopping centres have also considered converting their retail space to more sought‐after office space. The government continues to steer Singapore’s urban development with its policies. The URA’s long‐range vision is presented in its concept plan. The broad policies of the concept plan have been translated into detailed development guide plans for specific areas.

Urban renewal projects provide an effective channel for adjusting land-use allocation and improving land-use efficiency, which effectively increases land supply. The purpose of this paper is to support the decision-making process of sustainable land use in urban renewal projects. A GIS-based framework, consisting of a planning support model and a land information database, has been developed in a typical high-density city – Hong Kong.

A qualitative and quantitative combined methodology is designed for this research. Several research methods such as expert interviews, focus group meetings, and case studies and technical approaches such as GIS, MCA, and AHP are adopted in this research.

General and sustainability criteria for land-use decision making in urban renewal along with associated data are identified, and an integrated approach to quantitatively assessing land-use suitability is developed.

The framework was developed in a loosely coupled form rather than a software package installed on a computer, and the development of the land information database was a time-consuming process as a large amount of data were collected, processed, and analyzed.

Application of the proposed framework is reported by showing analyzed results of land-use suitability. The framework proves a useful tool for both practitioners and researchers involved in sustainable land use for urban renewal.

The aim of this paper is to: study reviews of the urban renewal practices in Hong Kong and London; compare the perceptions of the design professions in both cities on the importance of different urban design considerations when defining urban renewal strategies; and verify the applicability of London's experiences in achieving sustainable urban renewal in Hong Kong.

A comprehensive literature review was conducted to compare the urban renewal practices in Hong Kong and London. Questionnaires were sent to design professions in both cities who were actively involved in Hong Kong's and London's urban (re)development projects. ANOVA was adopted to compare the perception patterns in both cities.

The survey and ANOVA analysis revealed that the urban design considerations short‐listed for this study could contribute towards the sustainability of economy, environment and social equity. It was noted that the distinctive features of cities of various locations do have impacts on certain perception patterns of the professionals.

This article adds to the limited literature in this area and will be of interest to those involved in urban redevelopment practices.