Social Movements and Policy Change

This concluding chapter explores the development of different social movements and the push for environmental policy change. It profiles three powerful advocates for change – the organizer, Angelo Logan, in Los Angeles; the inside-outside player and policy leader, Christine Loh, in Hong Kong; and the champion of a place-based resistance and activism – the late Xiao Liangzhong. It evaluates the differing roles of social movements and protest actions, their ability to bring about change, and the search for an alternative politics that is at once local and global.

Transportation in the City

This chapter describes and analyzes how Los Angeles became an auto-dominant region, how Hong Kong built a much admired rail passenger system, and how China, in rapid fire succession, witnessed a massive increase in car use and metro development. It identifies the air quality, land use, and mobility shifts associated with these changing transportation systems. It describes how Los Angeles seeks to lessen its car dependence with its new push for rail and increased bike use and walkability strategies; how Hong Kong struggles with congestion due to increased car ownership and car use while still relying on the link between its metro and rail system and concentrated real estate development near metro stops; and how China’s cities, such as Shenzhen, race ahead with new metro and high speed rail development while confronting the environmental problems and challenges related to its enormous growth in car use and the erosion of its Bicycle Kingdom reputation.

Moving Forward Together: An Introduction

This chapter serves as an Introduction to the book. It discusses the book’s origins and the connections between the authors and their respective organizations – the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute and Civic Exchange. It describes how Los Angeles and Hong Kong and several Chinese cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou have emerged as global cities, the urban development strategies they have pursued, and the urban environmental challenges they face. It answers the question, why a book about Los Angeles and Hong Kong and their connection to China and identifies for all three places the six urban environmental areas that will be analyzed – ports and goods movement, air quality, water supply and water quality, the food environment, transportation, and open and public space.

Spaces of the City

The chapter analyzes and compares the different uses of urban space – whether public space, open space, or privatized space -- in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China. It contrasts the modernist spatial strategies that cater to the automobile and traffic flow and the desire for speed with an alternative view about a more walkable, bikeable, and transit friendly urban environment. It compares the immigrant and different ethnic experiences – a Latino immigrant urbanism in Los Angeles, elderly women dancing in the streets of the city in China, or the immigrant communities constructed in the village-in-the-city enclaves in places like Shenzhen and Guangzhou. It describes the rise of the gated communities in all three places in contrast to the growing advocacy around the right to the city for everyone.

Water for the City

This chapter describes the history and current state of water supply development and the water quality issues that Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China have needed to address. It identifies the efforts to undertake long distance imported water transfers and their environmental impacts; water quality problems from surface and groundwater sources, and water management issues, including a discussion of water privatization efforts and increased bottled water sales. It analyzes different river systems and watershed basins and various dependencies on non-local sources, such as Hong Kong’s dependence on water from Guangdong waters, Los Angeles on water from Northern California and the Colorado River, and China’s coastal regions and regions in the north on various transfers from where water is more plentiful to where it is scarce. It also looks at the water quality-water supply relationship and how polluted sources have led to a loss of supply.

The Food Environment

The Food Environment encompasses how food is produced and processed, how and to where it is transported, and where and how it is sold and consumed. The chapter evaluates the environmental issues along each of these food system pathways. These include the shifting patterns of agriculture in Los Angeles (and California), Hong Kong, and Mainland China; the rise of food retail as a central force in the food system; and the changing patterns of consumption, including the rise of a fast food culture. It also explores the search for alternatives through such initiatives as farm to school and community supported agriculture and the cultural and ethnic traditions and food culture that have survived the rise of industrial food and fast food. It examines the problems of food safety and food insecurity and the increasingly global character of the food system, including the global food production and retail companies.

Breathing Air

This chapter analyzes the history and current state of air pollution in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China. It describes the health and environmental impacts from various pollution sources, and includes a particular focus on diesel and particulates. It identifies the research and action that has been undertaken in all three places, how they differ and how they overlap, and the policy agendas and initiatives to eliminate, reduce or control air pollution that have been developed. It also explores cross-border pollution issues, particularly between the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong, and how policy changes in one place (e.g., Los Angeles) have influenced the other places (e.g., Hong Kong and China). It also identifies where policy changes have been successful and where they remain incomplete or poorly implemented.

The Global Goods Movement System

The chapter describes the history and current issues associated with the large container port facilities in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China. It describes where and how goods are transported from the places where they are produced to their final destination. It analyzes the environmental and health impacts that have developed along this goods movement pathway. Through research and action, pressure has increased to mitigate port and goods movement environmental and health impacts, including most prominently air pollution. That in turn has led to some modest, though important policy changes towards greener operations and where actions in Los Angeles have influenced Hong Kong and vice versa, how both have influenced China’s own policies and operations. The book also identifies and analyzes new trends that are emerging, including the increase in size of the largest container ships, the consolidation of the shipping industry, particularly among Chinese state-run companies, and new and expanding port operations due to the enlargement of the Panama Canal.