A social ecology of asian global cities a comparative study of singapore hong kong

Situating itself in the larger discussion on-going in social movements theory, this thesis aims also to contribute to the debate between resource mobilization theory RMT and new social

Chapter 1

Introduction: The Effectiveness of Green Organizations

INTRODUCTION

One of the fundamental prerequisites for the achievement of

sustainable development is broad public participation in

decision-making (UN CSD website, 2001; in King, 2004)

Emerging from the 1992 Earth Summit, the Agenda 21 document made specific mention of its recognition of the importance of civil society, as both distinct from the government, and as a vital player and partner in working towards sustainable development The UN recognized that without the voice of various NGOs representing the different aspects of civil society, sustainable development could not take place The Earth Charter was the first benchmark draft presented at Rio + 5, after consultation and reviews of previous charter initiatives with both government and civil society (Mottershead & La Grange, 2000) It represented the link between civil society and government in working towards sustainable development The environmental NGOs involved in these negotiations, had contributed to putting environmental concerns on the radar and illustrating how these issues affect peopleʼs daily lives, and what could be done to alleviate these problems

However, upon closer inspection, it appears that many of these environmental groups had emerged from countries with strong democracies and participatory traditions Asia, which has had a significantly weaker tradition of democracy, tends to display more feeble public voices and fewer NGOs (Hopkinson et al., 1997) To better understand how environmental groups can make a difference under these conditions, this thesis will therefore focus on comparing between the environmental movements in Asian global cities, Singapore and Hong Kong More developed countries with better networks and media have tended towards more complex and

successful interaction with government and society at large, thereby allowing for stronger presence of NGOs Many studies of social movements have attempted to highlight this importance of democratic civil society participation and community mobilization in helping to enable a change towards greater sustainable development However, although the USA has one of the strongest environmental movements and vibrant medias, it remains one of the most unsustainable nations and economies What then can be attributed to the success of environmental movements? What makes one movement, or environmental group more successful than another? This thesis will be looking at, and comparing green organizations in Singapore and Hong Kong such as to provide explanations to understanding this puzzle Being global cities, both have well-developed economies, well-educated citizenries and have the advantage of excellent networks However, as we shall discuss later, both citiesʼ environmental movements, and individual environmental groups have achieved varying levels of success What accounts for these differences?

Through analyzing the activities and programs of four green organizations, and

the lifestyles of their leaders – the Green Volunteers Network and Kampung Senang

in Singapore, and Friends of the Earth (Hong Kong) and Kadoorie Farm & Botanic

Gardens in Hong Kong – this thesis will draw upon comparisons between these

organizations to explain the conditions that give rise to their varying ecological efficacies Adopting a Bourdieusian approach, it will do so through the introduction,

and use of the concept of an ecological habitus and understanding of the field

conditions within which these groups/movements are positioned Situating itself in the

larger discussion on-going in social movements theory, this thesis aims also to contribute to the debate between resource mobilization theory (RMT) and new social

movements theory (NSMT) by introducing Bourdieuʼs concepts of social and cultural

capital to this theoretical discussion, and making use of these concepts to further

develop towards a synthesis of both traditions

THEORIZING THE GREEN MOVEMENT

Environmental movements are conceived as broad networks of people and organizations engaged in collective action in the pursuit of environmental benefits (Rootes, 1997; Diani, 1992) They are understood to be very diverse and complex: ranging in organizational forms from highly organized and formally institutionalized to radically informal, and in spatial scope from local to global, and nature of concerns from single issues to a full panoply of environmental issues (Rootes, 1999: 2) Whereas green parties and green organizations are fairly easy to delimit, the green movement is one that has been left deliberately vague and open to interpretation

There exists a wide range of sub-movements within the larger movement Table I

features a compiled (but non-exhaustive) list of the different sub-movements such as

to better illustrate the diversity and complexity

There have been two main traditions in social movements theory: resource mobilization theory (RMT) and new social movements theory (NSMT) Whilst RMT is largely based on the principle that social phenomena are the results of individual decisions and choices that have been developed from the fundamental premise of rational choice, NSMT is premised on the post-modern “cultural turn” Whereas industrial society was organized around manufacturing production, post-industrial society emphasizes knowledge, information and discourse management as the key resources (Nash, 2000: 110) For Touraine (1971), this leads to new forms of conflict, which are more cultural, than economic Class conflict, therefore, becomes replaced

by conflict over control of knowledge, through which new society is managed It is therefore highly dependent on the mass media through which appeals are made and

protests are staged It is also more oriented towards civil society than against the state – that is, championing directly for socio-economic rights that are more concerned with aspects of culture and lifestyles, and participation in symbolic protests Their suspicion of centralized bureaucratic structures has also had the effect of orienting their activities and missions towards changing public views – with more concern towards aspects of culture, lifestyles and participation in symbolic protests – rather than towards changing elite institutions and claiming socio-economic rights (Scott, 1990: Chap 1; Crook et al., 1992: 148) On top of this, these NSMs are also organized in non-hierarchical ways “Some aspects of the organization of NSMs do clearly distinguish them from formal political organizations,

to the extent that ʻnetworkʼ is often a better description than ʻorganizationʼ: they are often locally based or centred on small groups rather than nationally oriented, organized around specific issues rather than offering general solutions, experience vacillations of high and low activity rather than enjoying a relatively stable membership, and are run by fluid hierarchies and loose authority structures” (Nash, 2000: 104) However, these organizations are best viewed as a continuum of environmental action as there have been instances where political parties have been

formed such as to enact political action Greenpeace, for example, is one such NSM – in contrast, Friends of the Earth is run on the basis of local involvement of their

members in their own localities

Some theorists have explained NSMs through socio-economic reasons For Offe (1987), although there has been evidence of departure from direct class-based political action, he argues that a class dimension still exists – in that there is an obvious new middle-class concentration in the composition of these NSMs These movements, however, no longer make demands “on the behalf of a class” (1987: 77), but for injustices they perceive to be inherent in the current class structures and

contemporary capitalist systems Another popular socio-economic explanation for NSMs, which links it to the development in advanced capitalist societies, is offered by Habermas He sees NSMs as having emerged from the extension of commodification

of a consumer economy and increasing encroachment of bureaucratic welfare states into what was once considered “private life” For him, NSMs have emerged to protect and defend what he terms a “lifeworld” This “lifeworld” encompasses within it the space in which the values of a community and family thrive His solution therefore, is through “communicative rationality” (1988) sought by these progressive NSMs, to replace the older, non-rational system; and in turn, promote a more rationally ordered and participatory society Another explanation that has been put forth for the rise of NSMs is socio-cultural accounts based on generational factors Pakulskiʼs (1995) research, for example, shows that the social profile of members involved in the ecological movements of Europe, USA and Australia actually show great similarities with the general social profile of the under-40 age-group, in the population as a whole His research is thus in line with Inglehartʼs (1990) popular explanation of NSMs as a generational turn towards adopting more “postmaterial values”, due to this generation having enjoyed relative economic stability and security This generational group, is therefore described as privileging quality of life issues – more concern with promoting less formal, and more intimate relationships with others, the growth of personal self-esteem, and intellectual and aesthetic satisfaction – over those who have experienced socio-economic deprivation These accounts and explanations of NSMT largely build on evidence of, and try to point to class decomposition (Crook et al., 1992: 241-3)

RMT, on the other hand, takes on a more functionalist approach – they believe individuals are purposefully involved in collective action as a result of rational consideration of their own interests They, therefore, mobilize their available

resources in a manner that makes their participation rational for their own interests RMT has been subject to broad-ranging criticisms due to the awakening of interest in less rational aspects of individual motivation Oberschall (1973) has therefore responded by widely defining these resources to include material resources such as jobs and money, and non-material resources such as authority, commitment, friendship and skills Developing from traditional RMT, he argues that social movements might incur great risks and costs from individuals, but that the perceptions of these trade-offs are influenced greatly by the socio-cultural contexts that people are situated in This is particularly so when members of particular social groups find “normal” opportunities in wider society closed to them The benefits should they succeed, then appear very high and the costs relatively lower than rationally expected Unlike Olson (1968) who attempted to understand participation in terms of individuated motivations and risks, Oberschall proposes that people often live in communities in which collective action benefits the majority, thereby placing pressure on individuals to participate in working towards common goals

self-The professionalization of social movement organizations has also led to the development of career opportunities for individuals involved Zald and McCarthy (1987) have linked this to the increased wealth of the new middle classes who have largely spearheaded SMOs They, however, define resources more narrowly than Oberschall, and set it within the research agenda of RMT to develop understandings

of how traditional resources of legitimacy, money, labour and facilities can and have been mobilized The work of Zald and McCarthy (1987; 1988) had also made headway into situating SMOs in relation to wider political processes

It is recognized that as resources largely lie in the hands of established institutions, that it would be difficult to mobilize resources for causes that are deemed

threatening to the current social order It was Tilly (1978) in From Mobilization to

Revolution who developed this further, and brought in the role of the state This is of

particular importance to this study as Asian societies have long exhibited dominant state influence in all matters of their social life Tilly argued that as the most powerful actor in modern industrial societies, the state selectively represses or facilitates social movements and/or their activities according to the perceived interests of state elites Some SMOs are tolerated and even encouraged to the extent where they

become part of the polis, and gain access to the government Being fairly

non-threatening in nature, environmental movements in Singapore and Hong Kong have managed to gain this routine access to government As we shall discuss in later chapters, this brings with it, its own complications Tillyʼs work fits within RMT in so far as he is concerned with how resources are mobilized to deal with collective grievances, within a Marxist view As a result, his theory of political opportunity structures directs the focus fundamentally on grassroots resistance and movements Like Oberschall, this helps to situate individuals in socio-cultural contexts and communities which help individuals to develop and construct their own systems of meaning and value – that is, as RMT assumes that individuals get involved in SMOs based on the perceived value of their actions, that what is considered “valuable” or not, is in itself a cultural construction The socio-cultural contexts and relationships within which everyone is situated is therefore an important contributing factor to consider As a response to criticisms of RMT as being too atomistic and over-rationalist, RMT has attempted to develop along with the cultural turn, to provide better accounts of cultural subjectivity Adapting Goffmanʼs “framing theory”, scholars have tried to explain how actors simplify the world through selective encoding of events and experiences such as to negotiate meanings and commit themselves to SMOs and selected causes (Snow & Benford, 1992; Tarrow, 1992) However, in line with the fundamental belief in RMT, culture is still deemed by these theorists to be

simply a resource to be manipulated by actors, which is to be used rationally as a means to reach an end (McAdam et al., 1996) Framing is thus seen as “the conscious strategic efforts by groups of people to fashion shared understandings of the world and of themselves that legitimate and motivate collective actions” (1996: 6), which is effectively applied such as to mobilize support and resources

Efforts have also been made in social movements theory, to synthesize and reconcile both the RMT and NSM traditions Diani (1992) for example, argues that both traditions are now so close that it is possible to synthesize them without doing injustice to either This thesis situates itself in the RMT tradition, whilst proposing the importance of social relations/networks within existing grassroots communities as an important resource However, it also recognizes the importance of the cultural turn that has inspired NSM theory, and the importance of culture as a resource This thesis will be employing Bourdieuʼs (1979) concepts of social and cultural capital as components of a proposed “ecological habitus” which motivates and results in green social movements/behaviour This thesis proposes that “social capital”, and/or the social contexts and networks within which these social movements are able to draw support from, form vital resources that RMT should consider

behavior Bourdieuʼs (1979) concept of habitus helps us understand how structures

are internalized and embodied on an everyday level On the other hand, Bookchinʼs social ecological framework shows how the larger social organizational aspects of any given society affect environmental dispositions and behavior This research will

attempt to marry Bourdieu and Bookchin, by introducing the concept of the ecological

habitus – which, can be understood as a set of durable but mutable dispositions

towards the relationship between human and nature, and between humans within nature; that results in corresponding behavior It aims to understand how an

ecological habitus is formed and experienced by people, and how the cultivation of cultural- and social capital can effectively alter or maintain the ecological habitus

Bookchinʼs (1993) proposition to help improve levels of social ecological balance as

a means to promote environmental sustainability is for society to be reorganized into eco-friendly communes, which will be managed as municipalities Citizens themselves would deal with property in such communes - instead of elite social groups or individuals, so as to avoid bureaucracy and hierarchy This would lead to the inseparability of collective/personal, public/private and political/social interests1, and a re-awakening of our natural spirituality The development of eco-citizenship represents a new strategy for adaptation in an environmentally threatened world However, this shift would require more than just mere political and top-down changes Such change would require a cultural shift in society (Inglehart, 1990: 3) Bourdieuʼs proposed “forms of capital” (1986) is useful here, as the development of

eco-citizenship would require, firstly, a well established level of social capital and

networking amongst members This would lead to recognition of the importance of other agentsʼ function in, and contribution to the cultural and social fabric, instead of

1

These municipalities would then go on to form networked confederations that will be able to form powerful oppositions to the nation-state and their capitalistic interests

focusing on the competition the other poses Secondly, an “aesthetic” appreciation of

the environment would also require for a form of cultural capital to be cultivated This

“culture” is one founded on appreciation for a shared life-world, and a commitment to the reproduction of the cultural fabric necessary for the perpetuation of it

It is important here, for us to define more carefully, the concept of social and

cultural capital as they are used in this thesis The concept of social capital has been

well established in the social sciences, however, it has undergone many permutations of meaning (Coleman, 1987; Putnam, 2000; Lin, 2001) In keeping with

the proposed Bourdieusian approach, when referring to social capital, this thesis

means for it to be understood as “the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition" (Bourdieu, 1986: 296)

This study has operationalized social capital by borrowing concepts from

social network analysis In order to measure the level of social capital each GO

possesses, focus is concentrated on (1) the nodes in each organization, and (2) the

quality of links/ties they have both in and out of the organization The structure and

composition of ties between the vital nodal points, both within and outside of the organization, and the level of centralization/decentralization and structural cohesion

of ties will be able to measure the level of social capital being built These ties

commonly take the form of, firstly, inter-organizational links/networks, such as collaborations or close partnerships with other organizations (international, regional

or local) ; and, secondly, intra-organizational density of links between core members and normal members3

To measure the varying level of social capital that has been cultivated by the

different GOs, we have split the different levels of social capital into 5 different levels (5 points ranging from -2 to +2) Based on the variables of (1) number of nodes in each organization, and (2) quality of the links that span from these nodes, we will accord half a point for each increase and decrease in the levels of social capital of each GO; based firstly on the point at which they had started out, and the variations over time This way we are able to measure in a quantifiable and systematic way, the variables that contribute to the varying levels of social capital

Cultural capital is here, defined as the ability of organizations to construct,

organize and communicate their organizational culture and image, in a manner that appeals to, and mobilizes support Their ability to draw upon cultural knowledge and

vocabulary in an effective way - such as to construct and manage their organizational image, and aims, through the ecological habitus that is being promoted by their leaders – results in varying levels of support and success A GO that is able to effectively draw upon cultural vernacular to appeal to the lifestyles and sensibilities of the community will be able to mobilize more support for their activities and programs The higher the level of overlap with the everyday habits and lifestyles of the community, the more it encourages adoption of the ecological habitus that is being promoted by the GO; and vice versa

2

These inter-organizational networks however, have to fulfill the requirements of having been activated within the past year, either through formal meetings or collaborations on projects/activities – so as to ensure that it is valid, and not a dead link

3 To avoid the mistake of using mere number of members as a measure of capital, attention has to be paid to the density and quality of links (i.e frequency of actual involvement of ordinary members/meetings/correspondence) so as to provide a more reliable measure of actual, mobilizable

social capital in their membership

To measure the cultural capital of each GO, we will take into account the

variables of (1) level of response from their target communities, and (2) their ability to further develop the ecological habitus being championed and promoted by the GO, such that it becomes more accessible and has greater compatibility with the lives of the community There will also be 5 levels (5 points ranging from -2 to +2), which can

be accounted by each variable being accord half a point for each increase and decrease in the levels of cultural capital of each GO; based firstly on the point at which they had started out, and the variations over time (These measurements will

be illustrated in Figure B.)

Social and cultural capital are related and overlapping concepts that can potentially lead to the mutual reinforcement of one another, and need to be understood as such The ability to harness cultural capital would lead to more people, and groups of people becoming involved in the GOʼs activities, thereby, leading to increased social capital; whilst, increased social capital would enhance cultural understanding and enable the more effective use of cultural capital The following is a graphical representation of the relationship between social and cultural capital, and the effect it has on the ecological habitus

Figure A Graphical representation of relationship between social- and cultural capital; and its contribution to the ecological habitus

Social

Capital

A – Sufficient amount of both social and cultural capital to complement and reinforce

positive ecological dispositions, so as to lead to a green ecological habitus

B – Cultural capital without sufficient social capital leads to a lack of networks/avenues

for successful mobilization of capital

C – Social capital without cultural capital does not necessarily channel capital and

resources towards green activity (eg businesses have ample social capital, but low cultural capital; therefore, still ecologically unsound)

Cultural Capital

This thesis conceptualizes the “ecological habitus” on two different levels: that

of the individual, and that of the green organization As a habitus is a disposition formed from the internalization of oneʼs position in a given structure and system, each personʼs ecological habitus will be unique unto him/herself These dispositions, however, are prone to alteration and change should effective influence be persuasively exacted Green organizations commonly possess an organization identity/image – that guides their organizational goals and growth trajectories In Castellʼs (1997b) discussion of environmental movements, he categorizes them based on their constructed identities – and their respective goals and adversaries Building on this method of categorization, this thesis has chosen twelve prototypical categories, based on noticeable global trends/types of environmental organizations

and campaigns (see list of definitions –Table I) Of the twelve, six categories were

chosen based on the importance and level of representation that these types of GOs have in both Singapore and Hong Kong These GOs were then carefully placed into the categories most matching with their organizational missions/characters, and from these lists, fourteen GOs (seven from Singapore and seven from Hong Kong) from 6

different categories were chosen as a study sample (see Figure B) This thesis has

constructed a social map of green organizations based on the twin concepts of

social- and cultural-capital The categories of SMOs have been charted onto the map

according to the varying levels of social- or cultural-capital these particular types of

organizations are seen to possess Although this framework has narrowed the number of variables that affect the ecological habitus down to a simple few, it is understood that other factors such as the overall size, history of organization, organization budget and their alliances with external agencies also affect their levels

of success These will be taken into account and addressed further on in the analysis

When seeking to join a social movement/cause, it can be assumed that potential members seek to join a green organization, which furthers particular causes that they deem to be in line with their own beliefs, and ecological habitus Members of the same green organization can therefore be said to presumably share certain similarities in dispositions that motivates their continued participation in a particular movement/cause At the level of the organization then, the organizational image being propounded by its leaders/core members can therefore be said to reflect these similarities in their dispositions – therefore, representative of a sort of organizational habitus This thesis therefore focuses on understanding the ecological habitus of the leaders and core members of the chosen green organizations so as to better understand the ecological habitus that is being promoted by these particular organizations The identity and goals of these organizations, and their ability to relate and convey these to attract membership and support is reflective of their cultural capital, and ability to cultivate their social capital and networks

Table I Typological Table of Various Ecological Habitus & their Principles

Figure B Map of the Social Space of GOs

METHODOLOGY

This thesis reports on data that was collected using various in-depth, qualitative research tools A qualitative approach has been adopted based on this

researchʼs objective of understanding the quality and construction of the ecological

habitus as it is being, concurrently lived by, and altered by its agents worldviews and

dispositions – as based on their accumulated capitals

Whilst all environmental organizations and sub-movements begin with some

level of social- or cultural-capital, the levels and compositions differ However, these

compositions are not stagnant, and are prone to changing their trajectories over time The infusion of a new spiritual entrepreneur into a movement/organization for example, would greatly increase the level of cultural, and overall amount of capital, or vice versa Also, groups/sub-movements, which are able to build and harness a good social network over time, would also increase their amount of social, and overall capital As the social and cultural entrepreneurships that inspire the environmental NGOs are not stagnant entities, this map was constructed to, not only be able to accommodate organizations, which correspond to the conceptual placing and distribution of the prototypical map, but also those which display changes and development of organizational capital over time It was, therefore, constructed to be a

“three-dimensional space” – “a space whose three fundamental dimensions are defined by volume of capital, composition of capital, and change in these two properties over time (manifested by past and potential trajectories in social space)” (Bourdieu, 1979: 141)

This research process was split into two major phases:

Firstly, after having identified twelve more prominent movements in Singapore and Hong Kong4 - which, form the 12 groups in the typographical GO chart –basic exploratory interviews and focus-group discussions were conducted with the initial

shortlist of GOs (see attached list – Appendix 1) The interviews were largely held

with the opinion leaders in the groups, and focus-group discussions done informally through participant-observation and involvement in their meetings/outings5 Although the formal interviews were recorded and transcribed, due to the informal nature of the focus-group discussions, these were not recorded A researcherʼs log, however, was kept and updated after each discussion/outing – and, although, the thesis is unable

to cite verbatim quotes based on these discussions, due care was taken to record the discussions and on-goings down Analysis of the dynamics between members, as displayed in unspoken body-language and speaking tones were also carefully observed

In the second phase, based on this initial exploratory phase, and background information gathered from secondary research, the sample was further fine-tuned down to four GOs based on their compatibility for comparative analysis In particular, this thesis had chosen to focus on comparing the categories of broad-based

“sustainable development” driven GOs against those of more grassroots bound conservationist” groups The GOs from these different categories tended to make use of social and cultural capital in different ways, which yielded a specific and observable pattern of differences in results That is, the grassroots-bound GOs – in

“place-







4

The typographical table of movements are, understandably, in no way exhaustive in describing the multiplicity of environmental sub-movements globally However, they were chosen based on a review of all the identifiable shortlist of environmental organizations in Singapore and Hong Kong These categories were the ones, which showed the most representation; and hence adopted as part of the framework.

5

Due to anonymity clauses undertaken in research, we are not able to discuss more explicitly who was involved in these interviews These opinion leaders and authority figures in the GOs would otherwise be very easily identifiable Due care was taken, however, to ensure that the authority figures that were interviewed and approached were systematically held constant across the GOs.



this case, Kampung Senang in Singapore, and Kadoorie Botanic Garden & Farm in Hong Kong - have lodged themselves into already existing grassroots communities and infrastructure, which allow them to make use of the reserves of social capital pre-existent in these networks and relations This also enables them to better apply cultural knowledge in an effective manner, which allows them to communicate and construct their organizational image such that it is more compatible with the communityʼs lifestyles and habits Broad-based sustainable development-oriented organizations – such as Friends of the Earth (Hong Kong) and Green Volunteers Network – however, tend towards more loosely organized forms of social networks, which lean towards the style of new social movements They apply social capital in a more globally oriented manner, relying on the cultural turn that emphasized post-materialist values to mobilize support The cultural vernacular and the way in which it was applied, such as to mobilize support and build on their social capital displayed different styles of operation, which yielded varying results Whilst the more grassroots-oriented GOs focus on influencing their neighbouring communities, sustainable development-oriented GOs are more system-focused in their approach – that is hoping to bring about ecological balance through broad-based changes that come from systemic alterations

Due to the historical and political contexts of Singapore and Hong Kong, within which these GOs are situated in, a large number of the Hong Kong GOs tended to have longer histories These will be addressed further in Chapter 2 These two categories of environmental sub-movements were chosen in particular, firstly, because of their positions in the larger movements in each city, and their ability to represent the variables that this thesis wishes to test – those of varying social and cultural capital, and their impact on ecological efficacy of GOs Secondly, due to the time and resource constraints that the fieldwork of this research had to work within,

the ability to gain routine access to the activities and meetings of these GOs was also factored in as a concern in selecting the organizations to be studied in more detail

Out of the twelve categories shown in Table I, 6 are illustrated in the map in

Figure B as these typographical categories are the ones which showed more overlap,

and which tended to work in tandem with the sustainable development and grassroots, place-bound conservationists

In this second phase of research, in-depth participant-observation was carried out with the GOs over periods of one to three months – based on the regularity of their activities, and availability of their members Further in-depth interviews were carried out with their opinion leaders, and informal focus group discussions and interviews were carried out during participation in these activities These activities and interviews will be discussed in greater depth in the following chapters

On top of this, the way in which the society is organized also has an impact

on the level of ecological efficiency displayed in the lifestyle and habits of communities It reviewing organizational and social movement efficacy in both Singapore and Hong Kong, Hong Kong had revealed a more robust and successful green movement In the course of fieldwork, through the ethnographic experience and in reviewing the literature, it was discovered that the role of the state in social organization and urban planning contributed to the differing levels of success in the GOs and general green movement in the two cities

HYPOTHESES: EFFECTIVENESS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

to the patterns of socio-cultural organization brought about by state policies and positions; (2) that place-bound conservationist / social ecological approach to social mobilization is more effective than systems-based sustainable developmental

FOE (HK)

Kadoorie Botanic Garden

& Farm

Green Volunteers Network Kampung Senang

Effectiveness of GOs (Based on Organizational Identity / Ecological habitus)

Effectiveness of

GOs (Based on

Cross-Country

Comparison)

approaches Kadoorie and Senang have managed to achieve greater success at mobilizing social support and harnessing their social and cultural capital as they are able to plug into existing social networks through planting themselves into existing grassroots communities FOE (HK) and the Network however, lack the same effectiveness, as they are unable to properly organize their cultural capital to affect

as much social support The effectiveness of a GO, thus, lies fundamentally in their ability cultivate social capital The effective use of cultural capital is thus a means through which they can improve their social capital, through which they are able to achieve greater levels of success and effectiveness in their programs Whilst Chapter

2 will address hypothesis (1), and do a cross-city analysis/comparison through understanding and explaining the overall effectiveness of the national movements in both Singapore and Hong Kong in relation to the role of the state and the political opportunity structures they provide, Chapter 4 will address hypothesis (2) more directly, by explaining the varying effectiveness of particular types of GOs based on their success at cultivating and harnessing social capital Chapter 3 will provide deeper ethnographic descriptions and examples of the ecological habitus of the four GOs which this thesis has chosen to focus on, and through these descriptive illustrations and explorations prove these hypotheses, whilst introducing the importance of understanding the value of “social capital” as a vital resource in RMT The concepts of ecological habitus and social and cultural capital as they are used in this thesis, will form vital conceptual tools

Chapter 2

A Cross-City Comparison of Green Movements: Social Organization, Political

Opportunity Structures & The Politics of Urban Planning

INTRODUCTION

This chapter will discuss the differences in the green movements in Singapore and Hong Kong Hong Kong has displayed a significantly stronger and more robust environmental movement than in Singapore This chapter will explain this difference through discussing the different ways in which the political processes

of urban planning play out – and the socio-cultural and socio-economic dynamics that contribute, and result from these plans – and affect the structures of political opportunities that are available for social movements to manoeuvre within Singapore, with its almost watertight concept and urban planning has provided its populace with little room for discontent The governmentʼs seemingly seamless planning, therefore, provides little political space or opportunity for social movements

to develop more successfully, as the satisfactory standards of living make it difficult for movements to mobilize resources and support Hong Kongʼs longer colonial history of a more laissez-faire approach to urban planning, has on the other hand, allowed for social movements and civil society to take on and play a more definitive and active role On top of this, the governmental provision of public housing and the differing patterns of home ownership, and the ownership and jurisdiction over land also play important roles

UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCES: POLITICAL PROCESSES OF URBAN PLANNING

Whilst all the GOs have in general shown movement, and general improvement in terms their collective volume of capital (social + cultural), the

changes reflect different types of development in terms of composition of capital A comparison of the maps of the GOsʼ positions within the green social space reveals a fundamental difference in terms of how the GOs in Singapore and Hong Kong are clustered Whilst the GOs in Singapore are more scattered around the social space

of the green movement, and less well integrated as a movement, the GOs in Hong

Kong tend to show more coordination and overlap This in turn reinforces their social

capital, and cultural capital as it provides an important network, thereby,

strengthening the movement in Hong Kong as a whole, as opposed to Singapore It

is therefore, important to understand the factors that influence these different patterns of development The following sections in this chapter will illustrate how urban planning, and the political processes which determine it, play an important role

in influencing and affecting the directions in which the green movement and GOs can develop The different approaches of the Singaporean and Hong Kong government can be seen through their urban planning and social organization These in turn create different structures and pockets of political opportunities, which GOs can make use of, and/or effectively function within

Urban planning is the careful planning of space and the physical environment that takes into account its affects on the social, cultural and economic life of a society The political processes of urban-planning involve the dynamic interlocution between legal structures, historical circumstances, cultural contexts, the corporatization of local communities and their ability to organize resistance, and the stateʼs directions In light of the advent of “sustainable development” becoming a central issue in modern society, contemporary city planning needs to seek to balance the conflicting demands of social equity, economic growth, environmental sensitivity, and aesthetic appeal Both Singapore and Hong Kong enjoy the benefits of being important nodal points in a network of global cities, through which information and

capital constantly flow (Castells, 1998a) Their positions as Asian global cities, thus, form an important component of their urban planning, and need to be understood as such This tendency has caused much of Singapore and Hong Kongʼs urban planning to be driven by economic fundamentals such as to support further the economic improvement on which the success stories of both “Asian Tiger economies” are built However, globalization has tended towards greater social inequality and polarization, thereby, threatening social sustainability (Sassen, 2001; Wong & Yap, 2004) “Accompanying growth are the reward and outcome of tangible material incentives and motivation leading to rising automobile use, consumerism and waste, environmental damage and greater commuting distances” (Wong & Goldblum 2008: Introduction); cities are increasingly being designed primarily for car users and not for pedestrians The objective of urban planning for sustainability is to counter the adverse effects of modern developments through systematic and organized land use activities Within cities, there are now increased movements towards promoting “liveable communities” and “participatory planning”, which are aimed at enhancing the liveability of neighbourhoods, preserving and/or restoring natural environs and the sharing of authority in decision-making (Wheeler, 2004: Chapter 1) Globalization leads to increased interconnectivity, and hence, adds complexity to urban planning Growth and development incur costs in terms of resources – the environment being one of them Without remedial measures to safeguard environmental integrity, sustainable development would not be tenable Especially in land-locked and population-dense cities such as Singapore and Hong Kong, basic issues of how to ensure adequate housing and transportation for a heavy population, and balancing the needs of this human capital against that of the need for commercial and industrial space makes planning imperative For economies and cities to be sustainable, it is necessary to ensure social sustainability whilst

maintaining optimum efficiency “Participatory planning” is necessary for enhancing sustainable development and ecologically sound urban planning This has been more successfully incorporated into the politics of urban planning in Hong Kong – by way

of the strong village system and corporatization of local communities This enables them to organize and build more substantial grassroots resistance This village resistance adds political complexity and intricacies to the urban planning processes –

of which, Singapore does not experience

Land use planning in the developmental states of Hong Kong and Singapore have generally been held as exemplary throughout the rest of Southeast Asia, but the Hong Kong experience differs from the Singaporean one, in that whilst the Singaporean government have gained renown for the continuity of, and consistency

of their concept and urban planning (Wong & Goldblum, 2008: 7), the British authorities in Hong Kong were reluctant planners with a more laissez faire approach The general sentiment was to “build now and plan later” Town planning was done sometimes even ignoring the outline plan for the colony that had been prepared by Sir Patrick Abercrombie in 1948 (Davis, 1965; Home, 1997; Lea, 1999) Singaporeʼs sustainability planning has been well reflected by its economic-centred national planning programs; and have reputably maintained consistency to the Singapore Concept Plan (1971; 1991, 2001), enabled in large due to the same government having been in power since Singaporeʼs conception as a nation-state Hong Kongʼs green and urban planning, however, have often been reactionary That is, whilst Singaporeʼs efforts at ensuring sustainable and orderly urban planning have been concerted and pre-emptive, Hong Kongʼs earlier attempts at urban planning were largely responses to problems as they came up On top of this, the 1997 handover of Hong Kong, from the British authorities back to the Peopleʼs Republic of China had also meant a large disjuncture in the social and cultural fabric As we shall discuss

further, this, along with Hong Kongʼs colonial governmentʼs first decision to leave the village communities in the New Territories to organize and develop along their own socio-cultural trajectories, and the subsequent strong representation of the village community in politics, has contributed to creating larger pockets of political opportunities and spaces for GOs and social movements to work within

Urban Planning in Singapore

The cornerstone of Singaporeʼs physical landscape change is its

planning Modern Singapore is a planned city, the result of what

McGee (1972) calls ʻdeliberate urbanizationʼ where urban growth

has been deliberately managed and made as productive as

possible according to its governmentʼs conceptions of economic,

political and social well-being of its inhabitants Its leaders learnt

at a very early stage that urban planning rather than laissez-faire

policies would help channel the degenerative forces of rapid

urbanization into a preferred spatial pattern (Yuen, 1998: 1)

Singapore and its leaders have managed to show foresight in successfully providing adequate housing and infrastructure to its population, whilst balancing this concretization and built-up environment against its “garden city” project Its otherwise harsh, urban landscape is well planned such that it gains relief through being punctuated by state-managed greenery Singaporeʼs government, headed by the political juggernaut - the Peopleʼs Action Party (PAP) – has long subscribed to what Goh (2000) has termed the “political economies of survival” Engaging the strong use

of the rhetoric of survival, the PAP has utilized Singaporeʼs diminutive size, lack of natural resources or hinterland, to project the image of Singaporeʼs vulnerability This was motivated by an instrumental rationality and “obsession with ʻthings that workʼ and a ʻdoom-and-gloomʼ apocalyptic prognosis of the adversities that strike Singapore if the economy underperforms” (Koh, 2007: 181) According to Birch (1993), the creation and maintenance of “reality-myths” which employ such “doom-and-gloom” sentiments allows the state to more effectively practice their policies of control without inviting too much questioning or opposition

Singaporeʼs urban planning is guided by comprehensive frameworks: the Concept Plan (1991; 2001) is a strategic and long term land use plan which guides development over a period of 40 to 50 years and is commonly revised every ten years; whilst the Master Plan (2003; 2008) is a translation of this into more detailed developmental guides for a period of 10 to 15 years, and is revised every five years (URA Skyline, 2008) The first Singapore Concept Plan was drafted in 1970, with the assistance of a United Nations team, in a bid to help guide the countryʼs longer-term development At that point, it was a planning blueprint geared towards meeting the national goals of modernization and raising Singaporeʼs economic standing; underlain in respect of industrialization, public housing, infrastructure and the building

of a modern central financial district In 1991, the Concept Plan was revised significantly to reflect new goals and challenges, and again in 2001 with a promise to build a city in which its people could “live, work and play” The focus of the 2001 Plan was based on a target population of 5.5 million Land scarcity remained the core element around which the Plan was built The Master Plan more specifically focuses

on issues of zoning and land development, with the 2008 version showing a greater trend towards decentralization of the urban core, through creation of satellite industrial/commercial centres in the suburban areas This is expected to reduce travel distances and ease the pressure on major transportation arteries, whilst moving towards great social and cultural sustainability by ensuring various vibrant community/neighbourhood hubs within Singapore

This move towards decentralization and greater variation is also reflected in the expected composition of housing types; with the trend moving further towards Corbusian-style vertical expansion, with more diversity provided by its Design and Build Scheme, which allows for more aesthetic variation by inviting private architectural firms to handle these projects Singaporeʼs public housing scheme,

spearheaded by the Housing Development Board (HDB), has been adopted by many developing nations as an example and model for successful urban planning that incorporates the social and economic dimensions With almost 85% of the population living in public housing (Singstats, 2005: Household Indicators), HDB buildings and flats form a ubiquitous and defining component of the Singapore skyline and urban plan Despite the recent problems and criticisms of the ethnic quota policies, and the governmentʼs inability to control the inflation in cost of public housing6 – resulting in the rising un-affordability of HDB flats, Singaporeʼs HDB housing is still one of the better thought through public housing schemes This public housing scheme began

as a way to manage high-density living and provide basic housing needs to Singaporeans, but at the same time had evolved into a sophisticated socio-cultural and socio-economic political tool The governmentʼs control over society was founded on competence proven through the provision of standard and comfortable quality of life The housing shortage was solved through mass resettlement

exercises, from kampung type settlements, into quality public housing thus fulfilling

the public aspirations of upward social mobility (Goh, 2007: 316) The construction of

a well-managed image of an increasingly middle-class society makes the social issues of poverty and welfare less tangible, as at 92%, Singaporeans boast one of the highest rates of home ownership in the world (Singstats, 2005: Household Indicators) The HDB scheme ties issues of land scarcity, social security, and concerns over economic sustainability together through its integration with the Central Provident Fund (CPF) The CPF is a social mechanism put in place by the state to ensure compulsory savings for its citizens such that these funds can be utilized for their own retirement plans, so as to avoid the state assuming responsibility of providing welfare The CPF also forms a central component of

6
Straits Times, 29th Dec 2009, 21st Jan 2010, 1st Feb 2010, 2nd Feb 2010, 3rd Feb 2010


Singaporeʼs Home Ownership scheme as the funds in the CPF can also be utilized towards the payment of mortgage loans This, therefore, at once provides a roof over Singaporeanʼs heads, compulsory savings and social sustainability, whilst ensuring that they have a vested interest and commitment to Singapore as locked down through their homes These HDB apartments, however, sit on 99-year leasehold land that ultimately returns to the stateʼs Urban Redevelopment Authority This together with the Land Acquisition Act, which allows the Authority to repossess land for further development, also ensures the state always maintains their control over the supply of land available In recent times, the governmentʼs HDB has run into a lot of criticism,

as price of public housing has become increasingly inflated, making it unaffordable for the local citizenry There have been grievances about the governmentʼs inaction

in helping to regulate the market and prices However, the privatised nature of housing sales - albeit, though still indirectly controlled through HDB, as transactions are still subject to HDB laws and approvals - has made it difficult for the government

to step in to truly regulate the market

Singapore has been split up in 55 urban planning areas and 5 planning regions Each HDB estate has also been carefully planned to contain its own town central with amenities such as bus stations, train stations, food centres and shopping malls within easy reach Singapore is organized into different towns and constituencies, each with its own council, which helps to oversee issues within their jurisdiction Transportation is also well catered for and towards these towns In fact,

as reflected in Masterplan 2008, it is expected that Singaporeʼs railway network will double its current reach by 2020 More public transport interchanges are going to be built to accommodate the expected swell in population to 5.5 million This, together with Singaporeʼs development of new regional and sub-regional commercial centres – away from the City core, into the further Western and Eastern regions come the

construction of Jurong Lake District and Tampines Commercial Centre, respectively - allow for high intensity developments without resulting in a gridlock, which would otherwise be caused by increased vehicular traffic The governmentʼs implementation

of a vehicular “Certificate of Entitlement” also imposes restrictions and control on ownership of private vehicles The certificate is controlled for price such as to impose

an indirect control measure on the number of private vehicles on public roads The railway network is expected to accommodate to Singaporeʼs compact urban environment which “conserves our limited land resources, optimises the provision of infrastructure and keeps our city walkable” (Skyline, 2008) To mitigate the ʻurban heat island effectʼ that results from too much heat being absorbed from the heavily built-up environment, more measures have also been put in place to encourage urban greenery such as sky gardens and rooftop greenery

In a bid to improve greenspaces in Singapore, the Masterplan 2008 also showcases the project to build a 150 kilometre green belt/connector that will enable people to walk around the island, thereby making the island fully accessible by foot These are attempts to enable more leisure/green spaces and to improve the cityʼs sustainable development In the Singapore Green Plan 2012 – the plenary document outlining Singaporeʼs efforts at improving sustainability - “sustainable development” is defined as the ability “to conserve, and to balance… It means striking the right balance with Nature, giving it the care and respect due to ensure that it does not give

up on us” (2002: 14) An essential concern of the SGP 2012 is the demarcation of areas for purposes of nature conservation in Singapore, which ties in with issues of zoning The National Parks Board in Singapore is largely responsible for the care and maintenance of nature areas and parks As it stands, Singapore boasts 1,924 hectares of parkland, 70 kilometres of park connectors and 5 areas gazetted as Nature Reserves (SGP 2012, 2006: 48) The Masterplan 2008 hopes to increase this

total conservation area These parks and nature reserves also double up and are used as leisure areas such that parkland is not merely for conservation purposes, but also utilized and have a use value for its citizens to use as community areas, or sports In the drafting of the SGP 2012 (2006), the Nature Society (2001) has criticized this, as these so called “nature conservation areas” are then not truly set aside for mere conservation purposes, but only if they are ascertained to have use value However, these moves have provided the people with a comfortable standard

of living and are enjoyed as part of leisure options The stateʼs measures at urban planning, and city maintenance are recognized as exemplary and have given the citizenry little excuse to perceive of any problems

Urban Planning in Hong Kong

Modern statutory planning of Hong Kong has been carried out following the guidelines laid down under two pieces of legislation: the Town Planning Ordinance (enacted 1939) and Country Parks Ordinance (1976), and their amendments Whilst the Country Parks Ordinance deals with more than 70% of the total land in the territory – gazetted as conservation areas – the Town Planning Board deals with the land outside of what has been designated “park” area, and is served by the Planning Department The planning system comprises of both development strategies at the territorial level, and district/local levels In October 2007, the findings of latest review

of territorial development strategies, Hong Kong 2030: Planning Vision and Strategy (HK 2030) were promulgated, with sustainable development adopted as its over-

arching goal In reviewing the language and semantics of the HK 2030 study, many

of the same concerns over Hong Kongʼs diminutive size, vulnerability and land scarcity are strikingly similar to Singaporeʼs The government of both Singapore and Hong Kong subscribe to similar rhetoric and principles of economic-centred development that take precedence over their urban planning policies Concern,

however, has been expressed in HK 2030, over the increasingly competitive culture that this has been breeding, and the breakdown of community ties that it leads to Efforts are now being made by the town planning departments and the government

to ensure more efficient land use

Hong Kong, too, features a fairly successful public housing program It was, however, borne out of very different circumstances than Singaporeʼs, and has been far less comprehensive as a scheme Whilst, about 47.8% put up in public permanent housing, only 18.4% of these are owner-occupiers, whilst close to 30% of the population continue to rent these houses from the housing authority (HK Housing Authority Statistics, 2008) In fact, up until the mid-1950s, housing in Hong Kong was provided almost entirely by the private sector Large-scale government intervention was only initiated after a fire occurred in the Shek Kip Mei Squatter settlement in

1953, which left close to 40,000 people homeless This led to the government having

to intervene to resettle squatters into public rental housing By 1971, the resettlement estates housed close to a third of Hong Kongʼs population However, the emphasis was on construction of, and providing housing that required minimal subsidies from the government – translating into rudimentary accommodation (Castells et al., 1990; Hopkins, 1971; La Grange, 2001) Since the 1980s though, the Hong Kong government had sought to privatize the public housing sector, with the political reintegration of Hong Kong with China in 1997 giving an opportunity for them to introduce a range of housing reforms, such as to allow for more direct fiscal assistance to help Hong Kongers purchase their own house, instead of the physical construction of public flats Public housing in Hong Kong, especially in terms of space allocation, has been notably low in accordance to international standards – the median living space per person was only at 9.6 square metres in 2001 (Housing in Figures, 2001) Overall, the quality of public housing is considerably low when

compared to Hong Kongʼs high per capita income, often displaying bleak living environments and monotonous, impersonal built form (La Grange, 2001: 332) However, despite the physical structures themselves being problematic, Hong Kongʼs public housing scheme has provided some relief to the sharp income divide in their society as it has provided a large proportion of low income families with affordable, if rudimentary, housing (Lui, 1997) However, despite the low standards of this public housing, the low-cost of renting these from the government when compared to the high prices of purchasing one, gives people little incentive to participate in the buying and selling on the real estate market The Hong Kong Housing Authority thus remains one of the biggest landlords, making the real estate market fairly small as compared to Singaporeʼs Despite Hong Kongʼs image of providing a supposed free-market, laissez-faire economy, these mechanisms contribute to a lack of a truly free-market in terms of housing The government, therefore, ends up taking on a larger welfare-state character as a majority of the population still continues to rent their homes from the government at a rate that the government has to continually subsidize Hong Kong has been moving steadily towards increasing their number of private home developments, as a means of reducing the reliance on public rental flats The cost of buying a private home, however, is also costlier than the affordable rent of public housing There is, therefore, little incentive for Hong Kong citizens to purchase a home

Most of these public housing estates are located in the New Territories in Hong Kong, and outside of the already overcrowded city centres Much like in Singapore, this influences one of the trends that can be observed to be encouraged

in HK 2030 - that of the continued decentralization of commercial centres and job opportunities This was started by the colonial regime along with their public housing schemes, which they hoped would be an incentive for people to move into these less

occupied areas and to promote less daily commute Hong Kong, is however, served

by a very reliable and efficient railway system These railway lines have formed major and important arteries in the city, transporting millions of people and helping to ease the surface traffic in an already overcrowded and land scarce city In fact, as Augustin-Jean (2005) points out, the 1997 handover and Hong Kongʼs subsequent reintegration with China, followed by the deconcentration of Hong Kongʼs industries

to China, have actually caused the government to intervene most obviously in the realm of their transportation networks – the railway in particular - such as to ensure that development within the territory is maintained, rather than better integration with the Peopleʼs Republic of China; because of projected internal economic problems that over-integration might cause

The construction of new towns and estates away from the urban core of Hong Kong helped to solve one problem of squatters and overcrowding, however, it also caused another problem People now had to commute greater distances daily, between their living and working lives This had started becoming a problem since the colonial era, and by the 1960s, the Hong Kong authorities had started conceiving

of the importance of having an efficient subway system The first line finally opened

in 1979 (Leeds, 1998) as an important aspect of urban planning in an ideologically non-interventionist government At the same time, the government had entered into negotiations with private bus operators to upgrade its network “A major improvement occurred with the gradual electrification and double tracking of the old Kowloon Canton Railway (KCR), which serves the new towns of Shatin, Tai Po, Fanling and Sheung Shui in the New Territories” (Augustin-Jean, 2005: 9), and finally terminates

at Lo Wu along the Chinese border The railway system was developed under the same land policies as public housing estates and with indirect subsidies This brought issues of zoning into concern, because as the railway system expanded it

began eating into village and conservation spaces In the 1980s, the government began to formulate a Territorial Development Strategy (TDS) However, “it was basically a Hong Kong-centred plan and had failed to give due to the evolving regional context, especially between Hong Kong and southern China” (Ng, 1992: 102) The decongesting of old urban cores that started with the construction of public housing meant that the authorities had to also interfere much more in the economic field than they had desired to For example, due to the growth of the export economy, port expansion became necessary The future of the Kai Tak airport also needed to

be addressed, due to increasing air traffic In 1989, these demands were met by the government in the form of the Port and Airport Development Strategy, which factored into account these matters, together with the impending 1997 handover to Communist China This Strategy was expected to provide Hong Kong with first class infrastructure to meet the demands of the 21st century An important part of this plan was the relocation of the Hong Kong international airport to Chep Lak Kok on Lantau Island, and the construction of the roads, bridges and railway to ensure accessibility

of these areas This was met by some serious protest by conservationists and environmental activists as it threatened to eat into conservation land on Lantau Island Also, the construction of the infrastructure necessary to support this move also meant having to resettle some villages into new areas, and disrupting community ties and village micro-systems Another big construction move that had been met with great social protest was the expansion of the KCR line and the construction of the Lok Ma Chau line One of Hong Kongʼs most well-known and widely publicized environmental battles was fought over the Long Valley Marshlands

in the New Territories, due to the proposed construction of an extension of the train lines The proposed Lok Ma Chau spur line would have cut across the home of over

210 bird species – providing an area of important habitat and bio-diversity As a

result, the GOs in Hong Kong responded by campaigning against the decision to build over the marshlands; instead, proposing either flyovers or constructing an underground channel instead, so as to preserve the ecological integrity of the marshlands Several GOs had collaborated on the project to ensure the conservation

of the marshes (Time, 2000) "Protests made Hong Kong officials suspend the

permit… although ecological support rarely won economy in Hong Kong”i (Education Bureau HK, 2001) However, their efforts ran into conflict with several issues Firstly, their proposals to build either under or around the marshland meant both engineering challenges, and the need to convince the government to increase their budgeting Secondly, they also ran into problems with the local farmers in the Shueng Shui area, who believed they had clashing social values and different material interests from the environmental groups This, therefore, led to shows of anger and opposition by the village community – one good example being an incident that occurred in October

2000 where a group of local residents had deliberately destroyed the wetlands and drove the birds living there away (Wong & Wan, 2008)

This ability of local/village communities to organize their self-interests, and to resist the central authorityʼs urban planning is a result of the colonial authorityʼs decision to allow the villagers in the New Territories to maintain socio-cultural independence, and to allow them to develop a strong corporatization of villager communities that gives them greater representation even in the legislature The large number of seats that village representatives hold translates into a certain respect towards village interests On top of this, the development of the rights of first-born sons of indigenous villagers of land ownership (the right to build a 700 square foot, 3-storey house in their indigenous village) has also given these village communities considerable power As, although land in Hong Kong belongs to the state, this is an exception to the rule This adds an interesting dimension to the politics of urban land-

use and planning in Hong Kong On top of this, the return of Hong Kong to China, and the shifting of their manufacturing industries to the Pearl River Delta area in the Mainland meant that there was heavy everyday traffic between the Mainland and Hong Kong This caused new problems for the transportation infrastructure, which was met by these new developments Along with the 1997 handover, and the changing role of the state in urban planning, this brought with it, many different pockets of political opportunities for the environmental movements to move into The wide basket of issues and grievances enabled the environmental movement greater basis for mobilization of support and resources The next section will discuss these,

in comparison with the situation in Singapore

POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURES & RESOURCE MOBILIZATION IN SINGAPORE AND HONG KONG

The fundamental difference between the political processes of urban planning

in Hong Kong and Singapore seem to be the extent to which authority is centralized and coordinated Singaporeʼs planning appears to be more watertight, and coordinated – with the state possessing great control, and experiencing little opposition from the people Comparatively, Hong Kongʼs urban planning processes are more complex The ability of village communities to organize themselves gives more power to the people, and helps to decentralize the stateʼs authority on the matter – thereby, allowing for more participatory planning Concomitantly, the unique political history of Hong Kongʼs colonial regime and subsequent 1997 return to China also created an important political space for social movements to capitalize on The resurgence and re-politicization of a Hong Kong identity and solidarity, led to an environment, which facilitated a stronger cultivation of Hong Kong-based social and cultural capital Along with the rich and already existing social capital and networks that had been developing in the village communities, GOs could more readily

capitalize on the availability of these resources These patterns of the politics of urban planning are also reflected in the literature of both Singaporeʼs and Hong Kongʼs experiences

Two main trains of inquiry had characterized scholarly interest in the environmental-management and -politics of Singapore through the 1980s to 1990s That is firstly, interest in its environmental policy and green/urban-planning Singaporeʼs pristine and manicured city environment, with its minimal level of visible pollution has been lauded both, by its leaders and by admirers worldwide as a sign of its success in managing environmental challenges that come along with the level of rapid urban development characteristic of Asian global cities Interest in how Singapore is able to preserve itself as a “garden city” despite its rapid urban development has thus been responded to, by scholarly considerations/explanations

of the mechanisms of its careful environmental management (Ooi, 1995; Hui, 1995; Cheung, 1995; Cheong-Chua, 1995; Tan et al., 1995; Aziz, 1995) Secondly, attention was also paid to understanding how, and by whom environmental agendas and areas of concern are determined (Kong, 1994; Koh and Ooi, 2000; Rodan, 2003) Social engineering has been applied to ensure citizen acquiescence to a communitarian ideology that helps prevent a “tragedy of the commons” type situation (Savage & Kong, 1993) It was largely acknowledged that, unlike the situation in many other cities/countries, where environmental concerns were largely championed, and brought to the political fore by civil society groups, that the Singaporean government had taken the lead in environmental prudence and management At the very peak of industrialization and air pollution in the 1970s, the government had set

up not only the Anti-Pollution Unit, but also the Ministry for the Environment (1972) This, coupled with their careful urban planning – provision of well demarcated industrial and public housing estates with modern sewerage and sanitation - and their