Prof. HE Ying from the Urban Studies Program, Department of Geography and Resource Management at the Chinese University of Hong Kong visited BUAA SEM and gave a seminar, “An assessment of Hong Kong's spatial planning in new towns from the perspectives of agglomeration economy, job accessibility, and travel behavioral outcomes”, on 20th July, 2019. The lecture was hosted by professor Tian Qiong. More than 30 people attended, including professors and students from School of Economics and Management, Beihang university.
Between the 1970s and 1990s, the Hong Kong government had developed a number of new towns to alleviate the pressure exerted on urban areas and to provide housing to a rapidly growing population. Yet, the impact of this town planning approach and its performance in terms of achieving more self-contained communities and influencing work-life balance has not been documented. This presentation consists two parts. Firstly,Prof.HE reviewed the development of Hong Kong’s new towns and examined the extent of agglomeration economy in new towns through the concept of sub-center. Secondly, she moved onto the assessment of Hong Kong’s spatial planning in new towns by testing some hypotheses that link the distribution of jobs and travel behavior of commuters. Based on the findings, she recommend a more proactive pursuit of establishing more self-contained communities in Hong Kong, which is expected to be able to improve both commuting experience and work-life balance particularly for new-town residents.
After Prof.HE's talk,she answered teachers'and students'questions. This seminar is fruitful and helpful.
Bio:Prof.HE Ying (Sylvia) is an Associate Professor in the Urban Studies Program, Department of Geography and Resource Management at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is an Associate Editor of Travel Behaviour and Society (SSCI journal). She is a board member and Honorary Secretary of the Hong Kong Society for Transportation Studies (HKSTS) and a member of the International Scientific Committee of Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS). Her publications appeared in leading transportation and urban studies journals such as Transportation Research A.
