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Article: Segregation legal and natural: An empirical study of the legally protected and free market housing ownership on the Peak

TitleSegregation legal and natural: An empirical study of the legally protected and free market housing ownership on the Peak
Authors
KeywordsAgglomeration
Crown Leases
Peak
Price control
Racial segregation
Zoning
Issue Date2011
PublisherPergamon. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/habitatint
Citation
Habitat International, 2011, v. 35 n. 3, p. 501-507 How to Cite?
AbstractThe phenomenon of protectionism in land policy has survived in the globalised age for various reasons. This case study on the destruction of racially discriminatory zoning in laissez-faire Colonial Hong Kong shows what could happen when protectionist measures are removed by the government. Approaching the reality of discrimination from Cheung's (1974) economic theory of price controls, this paper argues, on the basis of the records of official speeches and writings and a small sample of post-war assignments for housing lots, that the pre-World War II segregation law was motivated more by economic protectionism in favour of Europeans rather than by any social stigma against non-Europeans or genuine environmental externalities generated by Chinese housing. The paper approaches the same phenomenon from a new perspective and with a better method. It was revealed that natural or contractual, as opposed to legal, agglomeration could happen even under written discriminatory laws that allowed a degree of inclusion for the ethnic group that suffered discrimination. This revelation was based on an examination of the ethnicity of the original owners and subsequent purchasers of all identifiable 627 housing lots on the Peak in Hong Kong for 115 years from 1876 to 1990, as found in the 421 relevant Crown Leases and 1255 assignments. These housing lots fell into 23 street neighbourhoods and could be classified by altitude. The key findings lend support to the arguments that even if the post-war colonial literature evaded or even distorted the subject, there was no true racial animosity between European and Chinese citizens because the exclusionary laws were driven by economic protectionist motives and the repeal of the laws was socially and economically beneficial for both Chinese and Europeans. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/134454
ISSN
2023 Impact Factor: 6.5
2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 1.630
ISI Accession Number ID
References

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorLai, LWCen_HK
dc.contributor.authorKwong, VWCen_HK
dc.contributor.authorKwong, JWYen_HK
dc.date.accessioned2011-06-17T09:21:09Z-
dc.date.available2011-06-17T09:21:09Z-
dc.date.issued2011en_HK
dc.identifier.citationHabitat International, 2011, v. 35 n. 3, p. 501-507en_HK
dc.identifier.issn0197-3975en_HK
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/134454-
dc.description.abstractThe phenomenon of protectionism in land policy has survived in the globalised age for various reasons. This case study on the destruction of racially discriminatory zoning in laissez-faire Colonial Hong Kong shows what could happen when protectionist measures are removed by the government. Approaching the reality of discrimination from Cheung's (1974) economic theory of price controls, this paper argues, on the basis of the records of official speeches and writings and a small sample of post-war assignments for housing lots, that the pre-World War II segregation law was motivated more by economic protectionism in favour of Europeans rather than by any social stigma against non-Europeans or genuine environmental externalities generated by Chinese housing. The paper approaches the same phenomenon from a new perspective and with a better method. It was revealed that natural or contractual, as opposed to legal, agglomeration could happen even under written discriminatory laws that allowed a degree of inclusion for the ethnic group that suffered discrimination. This revelation was based on an examination of the ethnicity of the original owners and subsequent purchasers of all identifiable 627 housing lots on the Peak in Hong Kong for 115 years from 1876 to 1990, as found in the 421 relevant Crown Leases and 1255 assignments. These housing lots fell into 23 street neighbourhoods and could be classified by altitude. The key findings lend support to the arguments that even if the post-war colonial literature evaded or even distorted the subject, there was no true racial animosity between European and Chinese citizens because the exclusionary laws were driven by economic protectionist motives and the repeal of the laws was socially and economically beneficial for both Chinese and Europeans. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.en_HK
dc.languageengen_US
dc.publisherPergamon. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/habitatinten_HK
dc.relation.ispartofHabitat Internationalen_HK
dc.rightsNOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Habitat International. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Habitat International, 2011, v. 35 n. 3, p. 501-507. DOI: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2011.02.002-
dc.rightsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.-
dc.subjectAgglomerationen_HK
dc.subjectCrown Leasesen_HK
dc.subjectPeaken_HK
dc.subjectPrice controlen_HK
dc.subjectRacial segregationen_HK
dc.subjectZoningen_HK
dc.titleSegregation legal and natural: An empirical study of the legally protected and free market housing ownership on the Peaken_HK
dc.typeArticleen_HK
dc.identifier.openurlhttp://library.hku.hk:4550/resserv?sid=HKU:IR&issn=0197-3975&volume=35&issue=3&spage=501&epage=507&date=2011&atitle=Segregation+legal+and+natural:+an+empirical+study+of+the+legally+protected+and+free+market+housing+ownership+on+the+Peak-
dc.identifier.emailLai, LWC:wclai@hku.hken_HK
dc.identifier.authorityLai, LWC=rp01004en_HK
dc.description.naturepostprint-
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.habitatint.2011.02.002en_HK
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-79954421760en_HK
dc.identifier.hkuros185716en_US
dc.relation.referenceshttp://www.scopus.com/mlt/select.url?eid=2-s2.0-79954421760&selection=ref&src=s&origin=recordpageen_HK
dc.identifier.volume35en_HK
dc.identifier.issue3en_HK
dc.identifier.spage501en_HK
dc.identifier.epage507en_HK
dc.identifier.eissn1873-5428-
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000290833900009-
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdomen_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridLai, LWC=7202616218en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridKwong, VWC=37112422900en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridKwong, JWY=37112405300en_HK
dc.identifier.citeulike9008591-
dc.identifier.issnl0197-3975-

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