Rethinking the mechanism of the social impact assessment mechanism in HK

What is it about?

To what extent can Social Impact Assessment mechanism effectively mitigate the social impacts of urban renewal in Hong Kong? To answer this question, the author draws on a mixture of empirical and secondary materials to analyse the development, assessment procedures and report format of SIA in HK as a basis to evaluate the challenges of this mechanism.

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Why is it important?

We need to rethink the soical impact assessment (SIA) mechanism with the thinking on ‘right to the city’ and affected residents’ comments come together to inform reflections on SIA in HK. I argue that the SIA mechanism in HK remains technocratic in nature because it does not function effectively in addressing the needs of affected residents and resolving the deep-rooted conflicts between residents’ right of living and pro-growth development.