| Author: | Liu, Wai-man Raymond |
| Title: | Managerial, political and legal approaches to urban renewal in Hong Kong |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 2002 |
| Subject: | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations Urban renewal -- China -- Hong Kong City planning and redevelopment law -- China -- Hong Kong |
| Department: | Multi-disciplinary Studies Department of Building and Real Estate |
| Pages: | ix, 116, [6] leaves : ill. ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | In the early days, urban redevelopment process was predominately left by the Government to the private sector. The result was a concentration on redeveloping pencil-typed buildings that many older areas remain unchanged. In the 1960's and 70's, the Government carried out a number of schemes to improve the slum area but they were not very successful. They are namely the Sheung Wan Pilot Scheme, Environmental Improvement Areas, and Comprehensive Redevelopment Areas. To resolve this problem, a statutory body, the Land Development Corporation ("LDC"), was finally formed in 1987 to improve the housing standard and the environment in Hong Kong. The goal of the LDC was to undertake, encourage, promote, and facilitate urban renewal. However, the pace of urban renewal conducted by the LDC was not considered as successful. From the first perspective, the pace of urban renewal was too slow. Also, the projects implemented by the LDC mainly involved clearance by bulldozer and redevelopment of land but lack of conservation and rehabilitation. It was being criticized by the public that its projects undertaken were too profit-oriented and there were claims about a conspiracy overthrow the Government and private developers. From the second perspective, the LDC had been criticised for lacking accountability and transparency. There was inadequate public participation and consultation in its decision-making process. Besides, the affected owners were of the views that the LDC did not carry out negotiations sincerely. From the third perspective, the formulation and implementation processes involved in the entire programme were top-down in which the public needs were interpreted and defined by the professionals. The LDC had turned to the big developers as joint venture for funding and had ignored the needs and concerns of the affected individuals. There was no proper channel for the affected individuals to object and appeal against the LDC's decisions. Indeed, urban renewal cannot rely solely on the effort of the private sector because it arouses social concerns and therefore it should be taken up by the Government. The Government should involve actively to deal with the urban decay. In light of the Government's recognition that there are no panacea solutions to the problems of urban renewal, an integrated approach on urban renewal is therefore adopted in this study. This dissertation consists of three parts. The first part will depict the three approaches on urban renewal based on Rosenbloom's (1993) theory of public administration. The three different perspectives are namely, managerial, political, and legal. The managerial approach emphasises maximising effectiveness, efficiency, and economy; the political approach stresses the values of representativeness, political responsiveness, and accountability through elected members to the citizenry; and the legal approach focuses on equal protection, procedure due process, and protection of the rights of those individuals who come into contact with public administrative operations. The second part will examine whether the LDC had conducted urban renewal properly in accordance with each of the three approaches. The third part will review the proposed approaches of the URA and provide recommendations. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
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| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b16590375.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 4.41 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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