Housing Price Bubbles in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai: A Comparative Study

This study investigates whether there was a housing price bubble in Beijing and Shanghai in 2003. The existence of a bubble can be interpreted from (abnormal) interactions between housing prices and market fundamentals. This paper introduces an enhanced framework, with the combination of standard econometric methodologies: i.e., Granger causality tests and generalized impulse response analysis, and the reduced form of housing price determinants. A test case in Hong Kong, between 1990 and 2003, is included to test the reliability of our methods because Hong Kong has experienced the formation and bursting of a huge housing bubble around the year 1997. It is found that the pattern and magnitude of the estimated bubbles conform quite well to the discrepancies between the actual and predicted prices. Also, the findings suggest that there appeared a bubble in Shanghai in 2003, accounting for 22% of the housing price. By contrast, Beijing had no sign of a bubble in the same year. The bubble phenomenon, of course, should be taken with cautions. Nonetheless this study has laid the groundwork for further investigations in abnormal housing price phenomena in Mainland China.     

SDIs,tourism‐led growth and the empowerment of local communities in South Africa

Economic justice is the key aim of the tourism and/or agricultural development initiatives ‐ including the Wild Coast, Lubombo, Maputo, Coast2Coast and Okavango Upper Zambezi International Tourism SDIs. This article looks in more detail at the models and principles being adopted to achieve this in the tourism sectors of the SDIs, with particular reference to the Lubombo and Wild Coast initiatives. The article thus moves away from the general lessons learnt from international experiences to comprehensive guidelines for implementation and, towards the end, presents detailed checklists that can be used by practitioners of what the SDI technical team calls ‘empotourism’.     

Housing Reform in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, China

It has been widely suggested that housing reforms in China face many obstacles, such as the entrenchment of the work unit system and low affordability of households. Housing policy development is now an important area for research, resulting in a large number of publications inside China. Most of these, however, are related to Beijing and Shanghi only. The objective of this paper is to provide an up-to-date review of housing reforms in Southern China by examining the two wealthiest cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The study is baseed onan an alysis of the literature, government legislation documents, interviews with government officials and press articles.     

An Exploration of the Role Values Plays in Design Decision-Making

The paper explores the role of values in design decision-making through the eyes of key authors and a pilot study. ‘Knowing that’ and ‘knowing how’ in designing are reviewed and the problematic distinctions between ‘know how’; and skill noted. The effect of values on design decision-making is discussed and examples from the pilot study are presented together with a new categorisation strategy for values in design decision-making.