| Author: | Sun, Bingxia |
| Title: | Developing an intelligent system of land use planning and 3D visualization for sustainable urban renewal in Hong Kong |
| Advisors: | Shen, Qiping Geoffrey (BRE) Chan, Edwin (BRE) Shi, John (LSGI) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2019 |
| Subject: | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations City planning -- Data processing City planning -- Decision-making City planning -- China -- Hong Kong Land use -- China -- Hong Kong |
| Department: | Department of Building and Real Estate |
| Pages: | xviii, 154 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | As one of the typical densely-populated cities in the world, Hong Kong has long been suffering from a shortage of land supply, urban decay, and building dilapidations. Since land is one of the most precious and rare resources in Hong Kong, sustainable land use planning becomes urgent challenges facing the HKSAR government. Besides, with the ever-increasing population and limited land supply, Hong Kong has been striving to develop every piece of the urban land to its maximum potential. Urban renewal/regeneration is viewed as a potential strategy addressing these challenges since it aims at solving urban decay issues, clearing slum, optimizing and justifying land use pattern, and improving the image of the city. The concept of sustainable development is favorable, but not always be well applied in practice. Urban renewal initiatives have suffered from considerable criticism in terms of destruction of local businesses/culture, profit-driven characteristics, the expulsion of low-income residents, and poor quality of urban renewal stock. Effective decision support is in urgent need before launching renewal programs to prevent or reduce these negative aspects. To better apply sustainability in urban renewal, an in-depth study identifying what and how underlying factors contribute to social sustainability should be carried. Furthermore, the contribution of each factor/variable is measured by its associated weight/parameter, whereas no overall agreement has been reached on the weight distribution, and different combinations of these values lead to totally different urban forms. On the other hand, although the power of GIS has widely been recognized in urban planning, 2D GIS becomes no longer sufficient whilst studies investigating the applications of 3D GIS techniques in land development control are rare. To fill these research gaps, the overall aim of this research is to develop an intelligent decision support system and 3D visualization platform for urban planning to facilitate sustainable urban renewal in Hong Kong. Three specific objectives of this research are fulfilled and they are: (1) To identify what and how factors affect sustainable land use planning from social, economic and environmental aspects; (2) To develop an intelligent optimization method to support the decision-making process of land use planning; (3) To establish an advanced 3D platform of 3D modelling and spatial analyses for investigating the land development intensity in Hong Kong. Three phases are designed and implemented to achieve these objectives: In Phase 1, based on a comprehensive literature review and document analysis, pros and cons of the existing research on urban renewal, decision support system of urban planning from both practical and theoretical perspectives are reviewed. With an in-depth knowledge of the urban renewal mechanism in both Hong Kong and other high-density cities, research question and specific objectives are proposed; Phase 2 refers to the data preparation and implementation of the proposed land use decision-making system through a case study in Yau Tsim Mong District. Specifically, as factors affecting land use decision-making being identified, a 2D geodatabase of both redeveloped and redevelopment areas are established based on historical land use data and GIS spatial analyses. Followed by the essential part of weight optimization for various factors in the artificial neural network (ANN) as well as land use simulation to generate an optimized land use strategy, which is then modelled as 3D zoning shells for comparison. In Phase 3, the land development intensity of Hong Kong is investigated in a 3D visualization platform in terms of 3D modelling and spatial analyses. Effects on the urban skyline, mountain ridgeline, shadow and insolation of minor relaxation of maximum plot ratio/building height (PR/BH) restrictions on 21 sites in the Kai Tak Development Area are simulated. Different PR/BH scenarios for the target sites are created and compared to help decision-makers formulate effective and farsighted decisions. This research proposes an intelligent system of land use planning and 3D visualization for facilitating sustainable urban renewal initiatives in Hong Kong in terms of both land use planning and land development intensity. Significance of the study can be summarized from the theoretical and practical perspectives. First, the intelligent system proposed in this study contributes a methodology to the growing literature on developing NN-based approaches to supporting land use decision making. By analyzing the relationship between the site attributes and land use type, this method provides an automatic and objective way to define the weight distribution of essential factors for land use planning. Second, this study tentatively explores the viability of using 3D technologies to measure the environmental effects of minor relaxation of PR/BH restrictions on 21 sites in the KTDA for the first time, which advances the literature on the integration of 3D GIS technologies with sustainable urban renewal. Third, the proposed system can serve as a comprehensive and effective tool to examine policies and problems in urban renewal practice before making new decisions and implementing renewal strategies. The quantitative approach of identifying land use changes based on historical land utilization provides decision-makers with a more objective way. Last but not least, the 3D visualization realized in this study can make it easier for the public to understand future planning as well as the likely effects of different development intensity for the rebuilt area. Hence more public participation is encouraged to the decision-making process of urban planning. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 991022287146903411.pdf | For All Users | 5.88 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
Copyright Undertaking
As a bona fide Library user, I declare that:
- I will abide by the rules and legal ordinances governing copyright regarding the use of the Database.
- I will use the Database for the purpose of my research or private study only and not for circulation or further reproduction or any other purpose.
- I agree to indemnify and hold the University harmless from and against any loss, damage, cost, liability or expenses arising from copyright infringement or unauthorized usage.
By downloading any item(s) listed above, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the copyright undertaking as stated above, and agree to be bound by all of its terms.
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://theses.lib.polyu.edu.hk/handle/200/10192