The Evolution, Characteristic and Insight of the Provision Mechanism of Local Public Amenities in Hong Kong
Zhang Qi, Wang Siqiang, Zheng Zhenhua, Huang Jianzhong
Abstract：
The provision of urban public amenities is one of the core issues of the “government-marketsociety”tripartite collaborative governance in urban operation. How to stimulate social capital investment and balance equity, efficiency and benefit under the macro-control and leadership of the government has received continuous attention. Over the past 100 years since the opening as a commercial port, Hong Kong has constantly reformed and improved the supply mechanism of public amenities responding social and economic development and local demand. Currently, it has established a mature and efficient supply mechanism involving multiple entities. Based on literature review and field investigation, this paper reviews the historical evolution of the supply mode of various public amenities, including sanitation, culture and sports, elderly service and health care, etc. It summaries the main characteristics of current supply patterns and strategies, including “district-based” administrative guidance, multi-channel appropriation of financial assistance, hierarchical and collaborative governance between space and society, multi-suppliers of social welfare, and hospital clusters by location for “all-round medical care”. Meanwhile, through reviewing the experience and challenges of governance entities, space configuration, supporting mechanism, this paper also provides the following policy implications for the mainland cities: establishing prudent special financial funds and efficient feedback mechanism, defining the participatory field of social entities and optimizing the allocation mechanism, integrating the hierachicalization of spatial allocation and social demand, balancing spatial intensification and meticulous management, ensuring the regulative effect of relevant laws and ordinance.