Dr Ling Hin Li (Associate Dean & Associate Professor, Faculty of Architecture, University of Hong Kong)
The prolonged disparity in socio-economic outcomes for rural and urban residents in China in the process of urbanisation has made the authority realise that land-based local finance is no longer an option. Coordinated Urban – Rural Development (CURD) strategies arise to set a level playing field by giving the rural residents comparable welfare status as their urban counter-parts’ one. But most importantly, CURD policy packages bestow rural residents with property rights over their farmland so that they utilise it in a more profitable manner without having to leave their land. Our initial case study of Chengdu illustrates the rationale of the CURD model and the outcomes are promising.
Dr. L. H. Li, a land policy analyst, is currently the Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) in the Faculty of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong. Dr. Li is also an Associate Professor, and the Programme Director of the BSc in Surveying in the Department of Real Estate and Construction, the University of Hong Kong. A Fulbright Hong Kong Scholar in 2006, Dr. Li has a wide range of research interests in social and economic aspects of land use policy, more specifically in the areas of urban land regeneration; impact of the built environment and urban development and currenly is working on rural land reform in China. Dr. Li has written extensively on land use policies in Hong Kong and in Mainland China with more than 40 papers published in various international and professional journals, together with five academic books.