Yung Yau

Domestic waste recycling, collective action and economic incentive: The case in Hong Kong

Abstract Efficacy of waste recycling is one of the key determinants of environmental sustainability of a city. Like other pro-environmental activities, waste recycling cannot be successfully accomplished by just one or two people, but only by a concerted effort of the community. The collective-action dilemma creates a common underlying difficulty in formulating workable solutions to many environmental problems. With a view to the non-excludability of the outcome, rationality drives people to free-ride efforts of others in waste recycling. To solve this free-rider problem, some scholars suggest the use of economic incentive. This article attempts to study the impacts of reward schemes on waste recycling behaviour of residents in 122 private housing estates in Hong Kong. The study is differentiable from the others as the latter mainly focus on domestic waste recycling in low-rise low-density housing while this one looks into the same in a high-rise high-density residential setting. According to the results of analyses on a set of aggregate data, reward schemes are found to have a significant positive relationship with the per-household weight of recyclables collected, keeping other things constant. The research findings suggest that economic incentives do work in promoting waste recycling in Hong Kong. Practical and policy implications follow.

A survey of the health and safety conditions of apartment buildings in Hong Kong

Abstract A high-density built environment poses challenges to the idea of sustainable development in respect of health (e.g. SARS outbreak) and safety (e.g. fire and structural problems). To examine the seriousness of the high-density problem, this study aims to survey the health and safety performance of apartment buildings in a densely populated city, Hong Kong, using a simplified assessment scheme. An assessment scheme based on a hierarchy of building performance indicators concerning the quality of: (a) architectural design, (b) building services design, (c) the surrounding environment, (d) operations and maintenance, and (e) management approaches was developed. One hundred forty (140) apartment buildings were surveyed and assessed through site inspections, desk searches, and interviews. A performance analysis was conducted to examine and compare the overall health and safety performance of the buildings. We found that there were considerable variations in health and safety conditions across buildings, even though they are located within a single district. Most of the variations in building health and safety conditions were attributed to differences in building management systems rather than building design. Enhancing strategic management approaches (e.g. a better delineation of owners’ rights and duties) appears to be the most critical factor that underperformers should consider in order to improve their buildings.

Collectivism and activism in housing management in Hong Kong

Abstract Management of apartment buildings is never straightforward because of the need for collective homeowner action. Mancur Olson suggests that a rational individual will not participate in collective action which provides no positive net benefit for him or her. Based on this premise, it would seem that rationality drives homeowners to free-ride on others’ efforts and that, as a result, no collective action will take place. However, some homeowners do actively participate in housing management, and it is worthwhile to examine why some participate and others do not. Building on the wide-ranging applications of the collective interest model (CIM) in explaining political participation and environmental activism, this paper expands its relevance to the arena of housing management. The explanatory analysis which is based on the findings of a structured questionnaire survey in Hong Kong corroborates the central propositions of the CIM and provides a theoretical account of housing management activism. In brief, housing management activism is a function of beliefs about personal and group efficacy, the value of the collective good, and the selective benefits and costs of participation. These findings have far-reaching implications for the formulation of government policies promoting homeowners’ active involvement in housing management in Hong Kong and other megacities.

Determining Optimal Building Height

The paper examines how building height is determined in the absence of building height regulatory restrictions. A model is developed for determining optimal height using simple neo-classical economic analysis; this is then tested using empirical data from Hong Kong. The results show that the observed building heights are consistent with the optimal height predicted by the model. In addition, it was also found that the point of optimality varied positively with the quality of the external environment. An important practical implication is that town planners and policy-makers can make use of the model as a benchmarking tool to assess and quantify the effect of imposing or relaxing height restrictions.

Achieving Sustainable Urban Renewal in Hong Kong: Strategy for Dilapidation Assessment of High Rises

Approximately 4% of the private buildings in Hong Kong are older than their design lives of 50 years. In addition to the engineer- ing factor, the lack of timely maintenance and proper management has led to a serious problem of building dilapidation in the old urban areas. On account of the high-rise high-density urban setting in Hong Kong, the problem has engendered severe safety and health hazards for the local community. Although different ways of urban renewal or regeneration exist to revitalize the urban environment, it appears that redevel- opment is most frequently used. However, the speed of dilapidation would probably exceed the economys capability of absorbing redevelopments. In addition, redevelopments have detrimental effects on the social fabric and create a large volume of demolition and con- struction waste that greatly surpasses the current landfill capacity in Hong Kong. A sustainable strategy for urban renewal is, therefore, urgently needed. This research aims to establish an existing profile of the building conditions in Hong Kong and evaluate the suitability of various urban renewal strategies for different buildings through the establishment of a structured building assessment scheme called the Dilapidation Index (DI). In total, 393 private residential buildings randomly selected from 4 districts in Hong Kong were assessed by using the DI. The results indicated that the assessed buildings in Sham Shui Po were more problematic than those in other districts. The results also suggested that physical conditions and management factors play nearly equal parts in differentiating the well-performing buildings from the dilapidated ones. The DI developed in this research is beneficial to different parties with an interest in the quality of the urban built environment because it can help people identify problematic buildings for further actions. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444 .0000104.

Are our residential buildings healthy and safe? A survey in Hong Kong

Purpose – The most fundamental requirement of a habitable building is that its occupants can live in it healthily and safely. However, given the proliferation of building‐related accidents recently in Hong Kong, the extent to which our buildings have fulfilled this basic requirement is doubtful. For the benefit of the entire society, more public information on building quality is needed. Aims to address this issue.Design/methodology/approach – This paper extends the Ho et al. assessment model to evaluate the combined health and safety performance of residential buildings in Hong Kong. The model consists of a set of performance‐based objectives and can be translated into a hierarchy of parameters concerning the quality of building design, building management, and the surrounding environment. A total of 99 residential buildings in two urban areas, namely Mongkok and Tsimshatsui, were assessed with the help of a simple and user‐friendly performance indicator called the Building Quality Index (BQI).Findings –...

Property price gradients: the vertical dimension

This is an empirical study on the pricing of two vertical property attributes: floor level and building height. Floor level is the vertical location of a unit in a multi-storey building; the extra price paid for a higher floor level is labelled a floor-level premium. Previous hedonic price studies unequivocally showed that the floor-level premium is positive, but they were silent on whether its magnitude varies with floor levels and with buildings of different heights. Indeed, building height is a feature of a building, not its constituent units, so it is not clear whether building height alone should affect the units’ prices. Based on a sample of highly homogeneous housing units in buildings of varying heights, we found that (1) the floor-level premium was not constant, but diminished as floor level increases; (2) there was no significant difference in the pattern of the floor-level premium between high-rise and low-rise buildings; and (3) there was a positive and significant premium for units in low-rise buildings over those in high-rise ones. These findings can help developers determine the optimal height and shape of their development.

Effects of building management regimes of private apartment buildings in Hong Kong

Purpose – There has been a growing public concern over the importance of building management in apartment buildings. However, peoples views toward the effects of building management on building performance have long been divergent due to a lack of empirical study. This study aims to empirically test the relationship between building management regimes and the conditions of private apartment buildings in Hong Kong.Design/methodology/approach – An assessment scheme was developed to assess the health and safety conditions of 134 apartment buildings. Multiple regression models were then applied to analyze the effect of building management regimes on building conditions. The optimal functional form of the regression models was selected using Box‐Cox transformation.Findings – The empirical results suggested that the presence of incorporated owners and property management agents (PMA) are significant factors in enhancing building conditions.Research limitations/implications – The sample was confined to single b...

An empirical study on the positive externality of building refurbishment

Purpose – The papers objective is to empirically study the effects of building refurbishment on the prices of the dwelling units in a contiguous housing estate in Hong Kong.Design/methodology/approach – In a congested living environment like Hong Kong, it is difficult, if not impossible, to have a view unobstructed by buildings. As such, the quality of views is dependent on the aesthetic quality of surrounding buildings. It is likely that poorly maintained buildings will impose negative visual effects on their immediate surroundings. Refurbishing these poor buildings should, therefore, reduce or even counter this negative externality. To study the positive externality brought about by building refurbishment, a hedonic price analysis was conducted on a set of panel data consisting of property transactions in a large housing estate located in Pokfulam. This estate was chosen because its adjoining buildings underwent refurbishment in 1998.Findings – The results showed that the refurbishment increased signif...

Property management as property rights governance: Exclusion and internal conflict resolution

Purpose – To re‐examine the role of property management from an institutional economics perspective.Design/methodology/approach – The role of property management is explored by asking why property management has emerged from the first principle. Then, an analytical framework for property management is put forward. Different dimensions of institutional arrangements, ranging from open access to communal private property or solely owned private property, are discussed in the real estate property context.Findings – The paper shows that a unique feature of property management is its role in excluding outsiders and resolving internal conflicts among the stakeholders of communal private property.Research implications/limitations – This approach opens up a new research agenda for property management. The adoption of different institutional arrangements in property management can be explained by further studies.Practical implications – The efficiency of different institutional arrangements for the governance of co...