Ngai Ming Yip

Hong Kong as a global city? Social distance and spatial differentiation

This paper draws on on-going work on Hong Kongs socio-spatial structure to explore the extent to which it fits the dominant image of the global city. While there is a considerable literature on Hong Kongs changing social structure, there is relatively little on the spatial dimensions of social difference and division. The paper situates the available commentaries and analyses of Hong Kongs income, class and employment structure within the global cities debates. It then analyses census data at the tertiary planning unit level (TPU) to explore the spatial dimensions of social distance in Hong Kong. The conclusion focuses on the distinctive mediations which have shaped the socio-spatial structure of the territory. The integrative role of public housing is argued to be of particular importance in this context.

Neighbourhood and Neighbouring in Contemporary Guangzhou

There is now a substantial literature on various aspects of contemporary Chinese urbanization. There are, however, few recent studies of Chinese cities which examine social change and social interaction at the level of the urban neighbourhood. This paper seeks to fill some of this gap in current knowledge. It draws on a social survey of three contrasting neighbourhoods undertaken in Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta, one of the most economically dynamic and rapidly urbanizing areas in the world. The paper explores inter alia the meaning of neighbourhood, sense of local belonging and community, and patterns and incidence of mutual assistance. The paper reflects on the extent to which market reforms are transforming patterns of local social interaction.

Housing Markets and the Global Financial Crisis

Contents: Preface 1. Households, Home Ownership and Neo-liberalism Ray Forrest 2. Effects of the Recent Credit Cycle on Homeownership Rates Across Households: What We Know and What We Expect Doug Duncan and Cesar Costantino 3. The Credit Crunch in the UK: Understanding the Impact upon Housing Markets, Policies and Households Peter Williams 4. Housing in Iceland in the Aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis Jon Runar Sveinsson 5. Housing Wealth, Debt and Stress Before, During and After the Celtic Tiger Michelle Norris and Nessa Winston 6. Housing in the Netherlands Before and After the Global Financial Crisis Richard Ronald and Kees Dol 7. Housing Policy and the Economic Crisis - Case of Hungary Jozsef Hegedus 8. The Impacts of the Global Financial Crisis on Housing and Mortgage Markets in Australia: A View from the Vulnerable Mike Berry 9. Rebuilding Housing Polices in Response to the Current Crisis? Is Home Ownership the Solution? David Thorns 10. The Global Financial Crisis and its Impact on Households: The Case of Urban Vietnam Hoang Huu Phe 11. Housing Policy Issues in South Korea Since the Global Economic Crisis: Aspects of a Construction Industry Dependent Society Soo-Hyun Kim 12. Towards a Post-Homeowner Society? Home Ownership and Economic Insecurity in Japan Yosuke Hirayama 13. Business Nearly as Usual: Global Financial Crisis and its Impacts on the Households in Hong Kong Ngai Ming Yip 14. The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Chinas Housing Market Jian Ping Ye and Chao Sun 15. Concluding Discussion - Where to Now? Ray Forrest

Urban housing reform and state capacity in Vietnam

Abstract Vietnam has emerged recently as one of the fastest growing economies and widely be perceived as the next transition tiger. State capacity, which is believed to be pivotal to the success of the NIC, is under scrutiny in Vietnam. This paper attempts to examine state capacity of Vietnam in the institutional, political, administrative and technical aspects employing examples in urban and housing development. This paper argues that despite the permeation of state machinery into every levels of society and creates an outlook of a strong socialist party state, state capacity in Vietnam is in fact rather weak. Although the country is striving hard in strengthen its capacity in various areas, such reforms are either yet to take root or being dragged by legacy of the old regime. The unique state-society relationship in Vietnam also shapes the trajectories of adaptation of state capacity in the course of rapidly changing economic and social environment.

Modes of condominium management: A principal-agent perspective

Purpose – Condominium is a dominant form of home ownership in metropolitan areas within Asia. Yet managing and up‐keeping such homes poses a challenge to most condominium owners, with larger condominiums equipped with sophisticated facilities becoming increasingly popular. This paper attempts to develop a model, based on a principal‐agent theoretical perspective, which provides a conceptually vigorous representation of condominium management modes: owner‐management; direct labour and third party agent‐managed modes.Design/methodology/approach – Parallel surveys were conducted in Taipei and Hong Kong to offer empirical evidence of the model.Findings – From the logistic analysis which this paper conducts, it is argued that not only does the choice of management mode reflect the quest for better management service: the mediation effect of agency costs between the lay members of home owner organisations and their leadership, as well as issues between the owners and the professional management agents, is also ...

Tenant participation and the management of public housing ‐ The Estate Management Advisory Committee of Hong Kong

Hong Kong has developed one of the world’s largest initiatives of user participation in public service in the public rental housing sector. This paper analyses the development and the impact of such an initiative in tenant participation. Whilst the housing managers and tenant representatives were by and large receptive of such an initiative, tenants were in general more apathetic. Involving tenants in public housing management can also be perceived as a strategy of the landlord in bridging the gap between expensive paternalistic management and the legitimate expectation of the tenants. It can also be viewed as a measure to mitigate the internal conflicts within the Housing Department as a tool to enhance the effectiveness of the management service. Yet, recent development in the public housing sector in Hong Kong may bring fundamental changes in both the provision and management of public housing. This creates uncertainty regarding the further development of tenant participation.

Is ‘gentrification’ an analytically useful concept for Vietnam? A case study of Hanoi

Despite the rapid transformation in the urban landscape of Vietnam, a simple and uncritical application of the ‘gentrification’ concept out of the specific spatial and temporal context of the country is problematic. Not only does the phenomenon progress in a highly compressed temporal scale compared with similar processes in cities in the Global North, it is also embedded within a paradigmatic shift of the entire socio-economic system. This paper attempts to explore the process of urban redevelopment in Vietnam and critically examines whether this concept, with its origin from the Global North, is capable of offering a conceptually robust lens through which the processes and outcomes of redevelopment can be consistently analysed. This helps to shed light on our understanding of the usefulness of the concept of gentrification in Vietnam and in transitional economies in Asia in general.

Cohort Trajectories in Hong Kong's Housing System: 1981–2001

A households progression through a housing system depends not just on the current social, economic and policy context but also on past housing experiences and circumstances. Different birth cohorts, because of their location in a specific socio-economic and policy environment, may have distinct residential trajectories. Five waves of Hong Kong Census data are used to trace tenure change of different birth cohort groups from 1981 to 2001. The paper shows that it was the new and expanding middle class entering the labour market in the early 1980s, which were the most likely to enter, and benefit from a booming private housing market. However, the public homeownership sector, which encompasses schemes whereby the supply and price are controlled by the government, offered more uniform assistance to other birth cohorts. Moreover, this state-assisted sector played a particularly important role in sustaining the growth of homeownership when housing was least unaffordable and also during the recession following the Asian Financial Crisis.

The Future for Reluctant Intervention: The Prospects for Hong Kong's Public Rental Sector

The growth and resilience of Hong Kongs public rental sector has occurred in the context of an apparent guiding political ethos of minimal and reluctant intervention. This paper offers an account of why this has occurred. A brief account of economic change and housing policy development over the last three decades is followed by an analysis of changes in the social role and social composition of the tenure. This discussion is complemented by some new data on current popular attitudes towards public rental housing in Hong Kong. The paper then explores various theoretical perspectives to provide an explanation of why it has remained as a substantial part of Hong Kongs housing system and points to the key drivers that will shape its future role and trajectory. The empirical data are drawn mainly from an analysis of five waves of the census and a survey of 3000 adults across all housing sectors.

Housing in Taiwan: State Intervention in a Market Driven Housing System

Abstract This paper traces the development and problems of state intervention and market provision of housing in Taiwan in the context of her socio-economic and demographic changes in the last few decades. Although housing in Taiwan is mainly market driven, the market does not appear to be functioning in a mature manner as one may expect. On the other hand, state intervention, which is being depicted as marginal in housing, has been more proactive and influential. The paper concludes that despite the current housing system in Taiwan which suggests Taiwan to be offering a sharply contrast model from other Asian Tigers in state intervention in housing, the strategies she adopted in the beginning phase of housing development was in fact similar to that employed by other Asian Tigers. Yet, the unique socio-economic and political conditions in Taiwan have driven her away from a state-led trajectory in housing development to a market driven system.