The revitalisation of industrial buildings in Hong Kong : modes and challenges of inter-organisational coordination

Abstract

Hong Kong is considered one of the most densely developed cities in the world. It is unsurprising to know that there is insufficient floor space for various sectors in the society and there is demand from the public to minimise the amount of vacant floor space in industrial buildings in view of the relocation of manufacturers towards Mainland China and other South-East Asia countries. According to the land lease of industrial buildings, the only permitted uses are manufacturing activities, meaning that any other uses, for example as restaurants, live music show venues, commercial purposes, etc. are against the land lease and could be subject to enforcement actions. As a result, the government rolled out the revitalisation policy with an aim to loosen the existing conditions in modifying a land lease. With the complicated interfaces between government departments, industrial building owners, the tenants and users, inter-organisational coordination appears to be a critical element in bringing success in implementation of the revitalisation policy. This project examines the modes of coordination of the above in the context of the revitalisation industrial buildings policy, with an attempt to gain insight into the underlying coordinative relationship among different actors. The analytical framework would first look into the different types of governance by Knill and Tosun (2012), applied through the nature of goods by Ostrom and Ostrom (1991), and modes of coordination by Powell (1990) and Peters (1998). Using the analytical framework as a set of lens, the revitalisation policy would be evaluated. Recommendations and way forward on similar policies would be given.