Commentary on Michael Pacione's 'Urban Liveability: A Review'

From an exploratory factor analysis of the 2001 Hong Kong census, it was found that after the political changeover, the underlying determinants of the social dimensions were education, ethnicity, age, occupation, housing, and household size characteristics, with education being the most important, reflecting a new division of labor that has created occupational polarization and income inequality. When compared with factor analyses of the 1971 and 1981 data, a high degree of continuity is present in the social landscape. However, cluster analysis based on these determinants revealed a significant spatial mixing of population with different demographic, social, and economic characteristics, so much so that the distinction between the traditional rural areas (the New Territories) and the traditional urban areas (Hong Kong Island and Kowloon) has become blurred. Nonetheless, a strong spatial polarization has also emerged. The driving force of this spatial integration and demographic/socioeconomic change was the population decentralization policy and the new airport construction which have transformed Hong Kong into an efficient, unified, polycentric city, an international financial center that services the global economy.     

CHRISTALLER CENTRAL PLACE STRUCTURES: AN INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. By Nurudeen Alao, Michael F. Dacey, Omar Davies, Kenneth G. Denike, James Huff, John B. Barr, M. J. Webber.

Book reviewed in this article:
THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT OF TOURISM ON PACIFIC COMMUNITIES. Edited by Bryan H. Far-rell.
A NEW KIND OF SUGAR: TOURISM IN THE PACIFIC. Edited by Ben R. Finney and Karen Ann Watson.