Policy of green building promotion : an actor-relational anatomy in green building policy-making

Abstract

The revolution brought by sustainability is particularly noteworthy all around the world. Its wide acceptance among governments, industries and the general public affects the decision-making process, especially in policy-making. From a macro perspective, sustainability is a single vision with some uncertain form of complexity and dynamic. While from a micro perspective, it can be described as three interrelated components - economic, environmental and social aspects, whose disequilibrium can create extreme difficulties in achieving sustainability.

Although green building is a viable response to the concerns of sustainability in the building industry, its slow development reflects the difficulties in the promotion of sustainable practice. Politics, as the fourth domain of sustainability, is a crucial determinant in achieving sustainability. It is capable of independently describing and regulating the complex relationship among the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainability.

This research, from a policy perspective, aims to unfold the reasons thwarting sustainable movements in the building industry. It discusses the sophisticated influence of various stakeholders and local context in the policy-making process. The concept of stakeholder theory then develops into discussions of regionalism in influencing stakeholders’ campaigns, the crucial role of government, hidden interests, and changing standpoints of different stakeholders.

Two green building policy-making related public engagements in Hong Kong were selected as case studies. Through analysing the interests and influential power of stakeholders as well as the response from the government in the policy-making process, this thesis unfolds the complexity, dynamism and integration involved in the stakeholder campaign. It reveals that various stakeholders prolong and complicate the politics in the process and further demonstrates that the “supply and demand” relationship in regard to resources among stakeholders determines their power in policy making. Taken as a whole, the dissent in stakeholders’ opinions indicates that Hong Kong is not yet ready for a voluntary mechanism in promoting green building.

Besides the influence from stakeholders, this research addresses the importance of local context, such as local political, economic, social and technological conditions, which significantly impact policy choices. A comparative analysis of the green building policies of Hong Kong and Singapore reveals the power of different policy models. It demonstrates the effect of policy instruments and the decisive role of government in promoting green building. Although no standardized policy can be universally applied, in the nascent Asian green building market, government push is crucial for any market’s initial development.

In brief, this research provides a new base and approach in understanding the politics during the green building policy-making process. In addition, several progressive recommendations are made to future researchers and policy-makers.