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This special issue originated from a similarly titled forum organized by the guest editor of this special issue at the Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University, in November, 2013. The ...

This paper develops a nuanced understanding of town-country relations in China. Inherent in the current literature is the serious problem of randomly indigenizing experiences and concepts from the ...

Urban density has been the focus of attention in urban agenda. Being a typical high-density city, Hong Kong is chosen as case study to review the conceptualization of urban density question. Oversimplification of density as physical and technical construct has overlooked the multi-dimensional nature of density. There is a need to reconceptualise urban density beyond technical and absolute space so as to better understand its diverse meanings and implications by situating it in a wider urban settings and processes. Using the case of Sham Shui Po, one of the densest districts in Hong Kong, this paper highlights the need for a new research agenda which calls for reinterpretation of urban density in processes.

Like other concepts, gentrification must be situated in the socio-historical context in which it was produced. Since its coinage the concept has travelled widely, yet it has been applied unevenly, and in some cases uncritically, in various locations now including Asian cities. This essay challenges the application of the concept of gentrification to Hong Kong, as attempted by an article previously published in this journal. It responds through two main lines of inquiry. First, it demonstrates how the absence of historical, geographical and socio-political context weakens the basis for a critical urban geography. Second, in constructing a historical baseline, this essay proposes to conceive urban redevelopment through hegemony-cum-alienation, which is a more complicated process than displacement of the working class. Alienated hegemonic redevelopment perpetuates systemic reproduction and associated power politics, yet with the primary source of contradiction residing in landed and property relations. Conclusions suggest the urgency of developing new approaches instead of relying on more empirical studies as evidence for an already over-developed concept. Analysis of the Hong Kong case suggests how the spent concept of gentrification could be superseded by alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high property price syndrome in Hong Kong has led to heightened concern about the role of landed capital in property development. Recently, the hegemony of the real estate industry has become a buzzword in local literature, but unfortunately there is neither adequate theoretical articulation nor informed understanding of the concept of hegemony. There is widespread misunderstanding of hegemony, equating it to domination by property tycoons. The local literature has overlooked the government-business collusion in constructing the common sense of society so as to dominate others. Through an empirical investigation of the redevelopment of ‘Government/Institution or Community’ (G/IC) land in Hong Kong, this article attempts to offer an alternative explanation to the land question of G/IC redevelopment by highlighting that the everyday life of the silent majority and of professionals has in fact perpetuated the hegemony of the real estate industry in Hong Kong. It is argued that the government, property developers, professionals, charitable organisations and the general public have altogether participated, in different ways and to different extents, in the capital accumulation projects of leading developer conglomerates in Hong Kong. A land (re)development regime has thus contributed to the property boom in Hong Kong.

Culture-led urban regeneration has been the buzzword of many cities around the world nowadays. There are two related ways to interrogate this problematic. First, it is about the extent to which it is a real urban future for cities. Second, it is about its applicability to cities other than those in the West. This article attempts to tackle these related queries by, first, invoking Lefebvre's concepts of utopia vs isotopia and, then, drawing on two cases of cultural regeneration in an industrial district and an old residential neigbourhood in Hong Kong. The conceptual discussion of utopia highlights the imperative of spatial contradictions as the prerequisite for the emergence of concrete utopia; otherwise, it only results in isotopia. As such, it is difficult for cultural regeneration to produce utopia. This, in turn, calls for greater attention to the historical–geographical processes that have produced the conditions for the concerned city. It is these processes that differentiate Hong Kong from many others in the West. The prevailing land (re)development regime has favoured some processes at the expense of others. The two empirical cases have confirmed that either spatial contradictions were not there, or if they ever emerged, they were time and space specific. These conditions rendered it difficult to nurture creativity and to really relegate the decision-making power to the people, thereby denying the possible applicability of the problematic of cultural regeneration to Hong Kong.

Henri Lefebvre has enjoyed wide currency over the past two decades. One of his path-breaking contributions to urban research is the thesis of complete urbanization, producing an urban society that is not only real but also virtual. This thesis has enlightened research on urbanization across the world. Nevertheless, like other great thinkers at any time, Lefebvre, being a Frenchman born at the turn of the twentieth century, as well as someone who experienced the rapid rise of industrial capitalism since the 1950s, the turbulent years of the 1960s and the signicant change in the nature of state intervention since the 1970s, is very much spatiotemporally bounded (Gardiner 2000: 10-17; Merrield 2006: 8). Smith (2003: xx-xxi) has objected that The Urban Revolution is incapable of addressing the rapidly expanding urbanizing world as well as the more complex web of capital and the state in the present day. In response, there are numerous attempts either to defend Lefebvre by commenting that he had already foreseen these ‘anomalies’ or to explore seriously the ways to extend Lefebvre over time and across space. As an example of the latter, Kipfer et al. (2008: 299) think that it is straightforward: just extend Lefebvre by taking into account colonialism and patriarchy. Globalizing Lefebvre entails ‘linking considerations of everyday life to a broad critique of the imperial and patriarchal aspects of capitalist world order’. How feasible is this task?

There are various techniques for deforming three-dimensional objects in existing computer-aided design CAD systems. To maintain user-specified constraints in the deformation of a parametric and feature-based model is a new challenge in deformation modelling. This article presents a constraint-based deformation technique. Firstly, a deformed object is obtained with common deformation techniques such as free-form deformation FFD and axial deformation. Secondly, features defined with parametric are grouped into systems of primitive constraints based on user specification. Finally, features are reconstructed by the use of optimisation technique. The optimisation is to minimise the changes in the deformed model subjected to all the provided constraints. This method allows deformations like FFD and axial deformation to be performed without destroying the constraints in the model. This method combines the advantage of free-form modelling with feature-based modelling and allows engineering design to be performed in a free-form manner.

Hong Kong society nowadays is overwhelmed by the rhetoric of hegemony, but there is no serious attempt to discuss it, especially in the domain of urban development. This article expands on Henri Lefebvre’s concept of urbanizing Gramsci to resolve contradictions of space under increasing urbanization by urban specialists and applies it to investigate the public engagement exercise of Central harbourfront planning in Hong Kong. By dissecting its contents and procedures, the article illustrates how public engagement has insisted on technical rationality, thereby perpetuating the functioning of the land (re)development regime. In consequence, the ordinary residents may have been excluded from ‘rational’ consideration in the (re)development of Hong Kong.

By applying the Lefebvrian lens, this paper tries to understand why unlike previous similar cases, the latest removal of the Star Ferry and Queen's Pier was so controversial. To Lefebvre, embedded in "spatial practices" that "secrete" a place are two contradicting spaces: "conceived spaces" produced by planners to create exchange values and "lived spaces" appropriated by citizens for use values. Applying Lefebvre's framework to examine the "Piers saga", it is found that the pre-Second World War (WWII) piers were "conceived" by spatial practices of a colonial and racially segregated trading enclave. The public space in the commercial heart that housed the previous generations of piers was not accessible to the Chinese community, thus denying them opportunities to appropriate them and turn them into "lived" spaces. It was only after WWII when the Government carried out further reclamation to meet the needs of an industrializing economy that inclusive public spaces were conceived in the commercial heart, enabling the general public to "appropriate" them as "lived" space. When the Government planned to remove this very first "lived" space in the political and economic heart of the city to conceive further reclamation for the restructuring economy, the more enlightened citizens were determined to defend it.

A Hong Kong—based human geographer presents a paper on the city's social development and its domination by land and real estate developers (a state of affairs he terms the "[re]development regime"). The author analyzes the route and composition of the participants of an Olympic torch relay in the city, which demonstrates the influence of that regime. Before focusing on the regime's role in impeding alternative options for urban (and distorting societal) development, the paper discusses Hong Kong's social rankings, including a comparison with China and the United States, as well as the increasing social inequality, the rising cost of living (particularly food and energy prices), and the prohibitive cost of apartment rentals. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H10, L85, O15, R14, R31. 8 figures, 3 tables, 37 references.

The city of Beijing has increasingly been re-integrated with the world since the 1980s, thereby entering into closer, but more complex relationships with the global system. To understand the implications for urban planning, it is important to appreciate that Beijing is handling these global–local relationships amid delicate 'local' relationships with the Chinese state, in ways that are obviously different from those of the West. The objective of this paper is to throw light on how new global and local forces have influenced planning in Beijing, first by understanding the nature of urban government in Beijing and then by examining master plans for the city. From a Foucauldian perspective, it tries to describe state practices, including urban planning, of the Chinese governmentality. It focuses on the effectiveness of government during this new era, taking into account non-state practices, including those adopted from the outside world. It argues that the state needs to invent new toolkits and conceive urba...

Most of the existing planning theories (theories in urban development, of planning practice and justifications for planning) and debates about their interrelationships are derived from the contexts of basically 'demand-constrained' (capitalist) economies. Some authors have attempted to theorise urban planning in transitional economies. However, theorisation based on concrete planning practices in a city in the transition from a 'resource-constrained' to a 'demand-constrained' economy is an uncharted terrain. This paper attempts to take up this challenge and through a detailed case study of Shenzhen, China's first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) explores the relationships between urban development and planning in a transitional economy. Shenzhen's experience proves that a perceptive understanding of urban development can provide us with important clues for understanding the nature of and theoretical justifications for changing urban planning practices. In return, the reformed planning practice helps sharpen ou...

This paper takes issue with the desakota model developed by Terry McGee by elucidating the illegal land use and construction in the rural–urban transition zone in China, with the additional case study of Tianhe Village in Guangzhou City. The paper emphasises the need to examine the geography of illegal activities along the approach of geographies of difference. It has shown that illegal land use and construction is prevalent in rural China. In rural areas where cultivated land has been converted to non-agricultural purposes, peasants are left with no alternative but to use land and construct buildings illegally. Some have increased their income by leasing out flats to migrant workers, whereas others have not been able to do this. This study has revealed that underneath the positive and integrative picture portrayed by the desakota model is its negative and disintegrative counterpart. Illegal land use and construction is one such example. Unless we incorporate both into our studies, we will not be able to comprehend the urban morphology of Chinese city regions in the new millennium.

This article reviews the literature on urban planning in China. The literature has traditionally viewed urban planning in terms of changing styles over time. It was found wanting both methodologically and theoretically. Methodologically, it has failed to situate the various styles of governmental practices. Theoretically, the socialist state has been uniformly conceptualized as homogeneous and monolithic. This has led to the adoption of a technorational concept of urban planning, which, in turn, has privileged the instrumental nature of urban planning knowledge. Finally, the literature has conveyed the myth that urban planing is a distinctive profession. In conclusion, the article suggests that all the above problems of the literature can be improved by adopting Foucault’s concept of governmentality, which means that urban planning in China must be situated in political rationality and understood as a technology of government.

This paper argues that before 1978, the Chinese state, a "police state" in the Foucauldian concept of governmentality, aimed at total administration of the economy and society. Central investments determined local spatial development. Economic reforms and administrative decentralization after 1978 allowed local authorities to pursue their own development, leading to many planning problems. To regain control over spatial development, the state now employs urban system planning to regulate development in city regions. The Pearl River Delta Urban System Plan (PRDUSP) is a case in point. To overcome myopic regional development and environmental issues, the PRDUSP lays out a development strategy in which cities are organized into hierarchies around three metropolitan areas, have different functions, and are connected by development and growth axes. Various measures and policies also are recommended. All these suggest that the Provincial Government of Guangdong is searching for a new way of regional governance....

This paper studies the political economy of urban governance and land‐use planning mechanisms in the ‘one country, two systems’ of mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). It is argued that the market economy of Hong Kong had, over the years as a British colony, established an efficiently‐run regulatory system of land‐use planning. The current land‐use planning mechanisms are biased toward economic growth as a result of its executive‐government‐led and business‐interests‐dominated political structure. The challenge for Hong Kong as a relatively autonomous SAR, therefore, is to incorporate the social and environmental dimensions in planning for territorial development within a wider regional context as a result of economic and political integration with China. In mainland China, the reforming socialist planned economy has now embraced privately and foreign‐owned enterprises though the Communist Party and the government have retained strong political control. A ‘dual’ l...

There are various techniques for deforming three-dimensional objects in existing CAD systems. To maintain some user specified constraints in a deformation of a parametric and feature-based model is a new aspect in deformation modeling. This paper presents a constraints based deformation technique. Firstly, a deformed object is obtained by some common deformation techniques such as FFD, axial deformation. Secondly, parametric features are grouped into systems of primitive constraints based on user specification. Finally, parametric features are reconstructed by the use of optimization technique. The optimization is to minimize the changes in the deformed model subjected to all the provided constraints. This method allows deformations like FFD and axial deformation to be performed without destroying the original constraints in the model. In order to maintain some particular feature in a model, users may need to specify features with a combination of primitive constraints. This method combine the advantage of free-form modeling with feature based modeling system, and allows engineering design to be performed in a free-form manner.

Chinese human geography started its development more than 2500 years ago, recognizing a naive human–land relation based on Confucian and Daoist constituted ‘human–heaven harmony’ cosmology. Unlike the West, this relation emphasized the dominance of human, yet paying heed to local conditions. Since then, human geography was widely practiced as Fang Zhi (local gazetteers), covering a wide range of practical topics, relying on concrete sense impressions as the methodology, and serving mostly for state governance. Undoubtedly, the discipline has interacted with the outside world, first via expeditions and Western missionary encounters in her dynastic past, and then in the contemporary period from challenges by modern geography. While spatial determinism at the beginning of the last century might have concentrated efforts on physical geography, Soviet geography in the 1950s might have reinforced the practical orientation, and Western geography since the 1980s might have introduced post-Enlightenment concepts, human geography in China as a discipline has not departed much from its original course. It has continued emphasizing the objective of deploying geographical knowledge to revitalize the nation, relying on the methodology of sense impressions at the expense of abstract speculation and showing a distaste for critical scholarship to avoid possible conflicts with the state. Nevertheless, the Wuxing principles enlighten us in that we should not de-contextualize the object of study and set up unnecessary, discrete boundary between human and nature. In short, its unique path, including conceptualization and emphasis, has rendered Chinese human geography relatively distinctive.

Four organised car sharing schemes (the YORKSHARE schemes) were established and monitored in West Yorkshire between 1979 and 1981. Three of the schemes were based on a employment sites and one on a residential suburb. Differences in site characteristics and in procedures allowed conclusions to be drawn as to the determinants of scheme performance and impact on the transport system. The proportion of the target population participating in new car sharing arrangements as a result of the YORKSHARE promotion varied from 2% to less than 0.5%. Impacts on car use for the work journey were minor and the main result was an abstraction of public transport patronage. The indirect impacts of car sharing appeared to be unimportant. The paper reports on a detailed analysis of costs and benefits and includes comments on the proper role of ridesharing promotion within transport policy.