This empirically-led residential field class will critically examine the ways in which Hong Kong has evolved to become a leading global city, as well as changing role within the Chinese economy. Focusing on both the historical and contemporary development of the city, the module will encourage critical insight into the lessons that can be learned from this unique city from an industrial and urban transition perspective incorporating economic, cultural, political, and environmental determinants. In particular, the aim of the module is to provide students with a detailed understanding of the development and regeneration policy issues of importance to a global city such as Hong Kong, and for students to the consider the strengths, weaknesses and barriers policymakers are facing. The FSV principally consists of visits to a range of key organisations involved in development policy, as well as a number of visits to cultural attractions in order to gain a wider perspective on the development and evolution of Hong Kong.

1. Apply key concepts to empirical material and practical cases.
2. Explore different cultures and compare them with their own cultural positions.
3. Devise and implement an appropriate strategy for the collection of field data using a variety of different methods.
4. Analyse field data and use evidence to define and explore contemporary problems facing cities and regions.
5. Explain processes of contemporary change in cities and regions by relaying the specific ways in which these work out in a particular place.
6. Identify and evaluate examples of innovative practices in managing change in cities and regions.
7. Examine the extent to which ideas, concepts and practices identified in one place can be effectively transferred to another place, and explain how such ideas, concepts and practices need to be adapted in different places.

The module will be delivered through a combination of lectures, a field study visit which includes the practice of field research methods, and presentations. Lecture slides and supplementary hand-outs will be made available on Learning Central (e-learning).

Students are expected to engage with compulsory guided reading associated with each topic to supplement and deepen the taught component.

1. Ability to mobilise theoretically-informed arguments and relate them to empirical material and observations from the fieldtrip.
2. Researching key processes at play in the field study destination.
3. Ability to assess the transferability and scalability of these processes to other places.
4. The use of qualitative methods and analysis in the field, including field observation and documentation skills.
5. Appreciation of the implications, in practice, of norms about respecting cultural and other difference.
6. Intercultural and professional skills in respect to interaction with individuals from other cultures.
7. Critical and reflective thinking.
8. Presenting empirical and theoretical material to convey a solid understanding of contemporary issues in development.

Students will be expected to demonstrate a conceptual and practical understanding of the key issues associated with aspects of contemporary development in the case study of Hong King. This is assessed through coursework which all students must undertake.

The mode of assessment for this module consists of one written research report assignment, which accounts for 100% of the total module mark. The research report must be based on research evidence from one of the research projects undertaken by the student during the Field Study Visit.

Type of assessment

%

Contribution

Title

Duration
(if applicable)

Approx. date of Assessment

Research Report Assignment.

100%

Assignment briefs to be provided

4,000 words

Spring

The opportunity for reassessment in this module

Students are permitted to be reassessed in a module which they have failed, in line with the course regulations. The reassessment will usually take place during the summer.

Through a combination of lectures and personal observations, students will develop a theoretical and empirical knowledge of urban and industrial transition in Hong Kong. Examples of specific sites that may be visited during the time spent in Hong Kong include the “Hong Kong Story” permanent exhibition, allowing students to familiarize themselves with the cultural and political recent history of Hong Kong; the Ngong Ping 360 district exploring its tourism, cultural heritage, and conservation; Hong Kong’s central planning department City Gallery, which an in-depth exploration of infrastructure development in Hong Kong; the Wan Chai district, which is one of the centre’s urban renewal projects and previously urban decay; Kowloon East, which is a regeneration area comprising the former Kai Tak Airport, Kwun Tong and Kowloon Bay Business Areas; Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway system, one of the world’s most developed public transport systems; the Mai Po nature reserve, a key feature of Hong Kong’s environmental policies; and Hong Kong’s Urban Renewal Centre, which has a responsibility for aspect of urban redevelopment, rehabilitation, heritage preservation and revitalisation.

Central to this module is the development of students’ ability to engage critically with the case study of Hong Kong through the lens of global city development and transition.

Chiu, S., & Lui, T. L. (2009). Hong Kong: Becoming a Chinese Global City. Routledge.

Background Reading and Resource List

Chiu, S. W., & Lui, T. L. (2004). Testing the global city-social polarisation thesis: Hong Kong since the 1990s. Urban Studies, 41(10), 1863-1888.

Choi, K. 2012. Disneyfication and Localisation: The Cultural Globalisation Process of Hong Kong Disneyland, Urban Studies, vol. 49 no. 2 383-397

Chu, Y. W. (2008). Deconstructing the global city: unravelling the linkages that underlie Hong Kong's world city status. Urban Studies, 45(8), 1625-1646.

Forrest, R., La Grange, A., & Yip, N. M. (2004). Hong Kong as a global city? Social distance and spatial differentiation. Urban Studies, 41(1), 207-227.

Raco, M. and Street, E. (2012) Resilience Planning, Economic Change and The Politics of Post-recession Development in London and Hong Kong, Urban Studies, vol. 49 no. 5 1065-1087

Sassen, S. (2001). The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton University Press.

Sassen, S. (2001). Global Networks, Linked Cities. Routledge.

Skeldon, R. (1997). Hong Kong: colonial city to global city to provincial city?. Cities, 14(5), 265-271.

Tao, Zhigang and Y. C. Richard Wong Hong Kong: From an Industrialised City to a Centre of Manufacturing-related Services, Urban Studies, 39, No. 12, 2345–2358.

Taylor, P. J. (Ed.). (2011). Global Urban Analysis: A Survey of Cities in Globalization. Routledge.

Zhang, J. 2012. From Hong Kong’s Capitalist Fundamentals to Singapore’s Authoritarian Governance: The Policy Mobility of Neo-liberalising Shenzhen, China, Urban Studies, vol. 49 no. 13, 2853-2871.

Zhao, S.X. and Tong, S.P. 2001. Unequal economic development in China: Spatial disparity and regional policy: 1985-95. Regional Studies 34(6): 549-561.