GEOG1002 Hong Kong: Land, People and Resources 2023-2024

GEOG1002 Hong Kong: Land, People and Resources

Department of Geography
The University of Hong Kong
2023-2024 Semester 1

1. Teaching team

Course teacher and coordinator

Dr Ka Ho Tsoi (Lectures 1–3, 6–12)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong
Room 1025, 10/F, Jockey Club Tower, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Email: kahotsoi@hku.hk

Course teacher
Mr Aaron Wong (Lectures 4–5)
UG Demonstrator, Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong
Room 1048, 10/F, Jockey Club Tower, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Email: tlwaaron@hku.hk

Teaching assistants
Mr Roland Cheng
Teaching assistant, Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong
Room 1048, 10/F, Jockey Club Tower, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Email: hlroland@hku.hk

Mr Marcus Yip
Teaching assistant, Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong
Room 1048, 10/F, Jockey Club Tower, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Email: marcyip@hku.hk

2. Course objectives
After an introduction to the major physical features, a range of contemporary issues such as
demographic structure and changes, economic development, industrialization, urbanization,
housing and planning will be examined. It will conclude with a discussion on Hong Kong’s
future development problems and their possible solutions. This is an independent course which
can be taken by students from various disciplines.

3. Teaching timetable

3.1 Lectures
The lectures will be held on between 12:30 pm and 2:20 pm on Mondays. The lecture venue is
MWT7 (Meng Wah Complex). Please refer to the timetable below:

# Lecture topic Date

1 Course introduction 4 Sep 2023
2 City development and land-use zoning 11 Sep 2023
3 Coursework introduction and writing skills 18 Sep 2023
Guest lecture (delivered by Mr Tommy Chan, PhD Candidate,
School of Geography and Environment, University of Oxford)
4 Physical landscape 25 Sep 2023
2 Oct 2023 (Public holiday)
5 Environment and resources management 9 Oct 2023
6 Population and employment [venue changed to CCYC501] 16 Oct 2023[1]
23 Oct 2023 (Public holiday)
7 Mobility and transportation 30 Oct 2023
8 Public transport and transit-oriented development 6 Nov 2023
9 Trade and logistics 13 Nov 2023
10 Energy and environment 20 Nov 2023
11 Cultural heritage 27 Nov 2023

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12 Quality of life, liveability and wellbeing [venue changed to 4 Dec 2023[2]

CCYC501]
[1] make-up class during the reading week [2] make-up class during the revision period

3.2 Field trip (optional)

A field trip will be organized to Po Shan Drainage Tunnel - Landslide Sci-Tech Chamber during
the semester, which aims to provide students an opportunity to further explore the human-
environment interactions in Hong Kong.

Date: 27 Oct 2023 (Friday)

Time: 2 – 4 pm
Venue: Po Shan Drainage Tunnel - Landslide Sci-Tech Chamber

The registration details and logistic arrangement will be announced in due course. The field
trip is entirely optional and there will not be any assessment.

4. Course learning outcomes

Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) Alignment with Programme

Learning Outcomes (PLOs)*
1 2 3 4 5 6
1) 1) analyze the key processes of city development in  
Hong Kong
2) 2) describe the major physical environmental features  
in Hong Kong and examine human-environment
interactions
3) 3) identify the key development issues in Hong Kong,  
including population, land use, transportation,
logistics, energy and cultural heritage
4) 4) evaluate potential strategies to address those   
development issues and promote sustainable
development in Hong Kong
5) 5) integrate the perspectives from land, people, and    
resources to critically reflect on ways to promote Hong
Kong as a liveable city
6) 6) develop skills in problem identification, data  
organization, and effective writing

*Geography Major Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)

PLO1 critically analyse the geographical aspects of the relationship between people and the
natural environment;
PLO2 demonstrate and develop an understanding of how these relationships have changed
with space and over time;
PLO3 identify, collect and utilize primary and secondary data to investigate and analyse the
issues and problems facing people, places and society;
PLO4 integrate, evaluate and communicate information from a variety of geographical and
other sources;
PLO5 participate in promoting social, economic and environmental sustainability at the local,
regional and global scales; and
PLO6 effectively apply a range of transferable skills in academic, professional and social
settings.

5. Assessment
50% coursework (one term essay); 50% examination

5.1 Coursework
Write a term essay with a maximum of 2,000 words (excluding tables, figures and references)
a given topic. The topics will be announced in Lecture 3.

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Deadline for submission: 17 Nov 2023 (Friday), 5 pm

Please refer to the coursework requirements below.

5.1.1 Referencing style
In writing a term essay, references should be properly cited and pursued systematically. Having
proper in-text citation and a full reference list are essential. The presentation of complete and
accurate citations is an important component of scholarly work. For the term paper, you can
use either the APA style reference (https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-
guidelines/references/examples) or the Harvard style reference
(https://www.geog.hku.hk/intro-to-undergraduate-curriculum). Remember to keep your
reference style consistent. Also, please note that we do not accept the use of a numbered
reference system.

5.1.2 Format
As a general guideline and for easier marking, please use a font size of 12 pt. and a single-line
spacing.

5.1.3 Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a very serious academic offence. The Department views plagiarism and breaches
of copyright very seriously. Any confirmed cases of plagiarism will result in a “F” grade for the
assignment. Therefore, you are strongly advised to read the booklets “What is Plagiarism”
(http://www.hku.hk/plagiarism/) and “Plagiarism and How to Avoid It”
(http://www4.caes.hku.hk/plagiarism/). All assignments will need to be submitted to Turnitin
for plagiarism checking. It is your responsibility to make sure that all references are properly
cited in the coursework. Please make good use HKU Library resources (https://lib.hku.hk/) to
search for academic literature.

5.1.4 The use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)

We encourage the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to facilitate learning and
research. Based on the recent university policies, HKU will provide students 500,000 tokens
per month to access any topic they like on ChatGPT 3.5 (https://chatgpt.hku.hk/) and DALL•E
2 (https://dalle.hku.hk). However, it is important for students to uphold academic integrity
when using any GenAI tools. Whenever you use the materials provided by GenAI in your
coursework, you need to have proper declaration and citations of the respective tools. To
emphasize, applying the materials directly (or indirectly with paraphrasing) generated from the
GenAI tools without proper citations can potentially contribute to plagiarism. Students may
face disciplinary actions as a consequence.

5.1.5 Submission procedures

Students are required to hand in their course assignments (both a hardcopy and a softcopy) on
or before the submission deadline. According to the departmental guidelines, failure to observe
this requirement will result in a reduction in coursework marks. For late submissions, there is
a 5% reduction per calendar day from the total mark of each item of coursework. For instance,
an assignment, which is handed in two days late, will get a 10% reduction. Moreover, any
assignment submitted ten calendar days after the deadline will not be accepted for assessment
and will therefore be awarded a zero mark.

a) Hardcopy submission
Please print your assignment double-sided for hardcopy submission. Students must follow the
specific submission procedures and put their course assignments in the ‘Assignment Collection
Box’, which is placed in Room 1048, 10/F, The Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus.
Submission of assignments to the Department should be made at the following office hours –
during weekdays: 9 am – 1 pm and 2 pm – 5 pm. When submitting the hardcopy, there is no
need to attach the Turnitin Report.

b) Softcopy submission (through Turnitin)

Following the university regulations, all coursework needs to be submitted to the Turnitin for
checking plagiarism. A Turnitin drop box will be created in the course Moodle. You can only

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upload your essay to Turnitin once. Hence, please make sure that the uploaded document is the
final version of the term paper.

5.1.6 Coursework marking

We aim to return all the marked assignment within 2–4 weeks of the submission deadlines.
Specific comments with each term paper will be provided. Also, holistic feedback on the overall
performance of the class on each assignment will be posted on Moodle after 4 weeks of the
coursework deadline.

5.2 Examination
There will be a 2-hour examination. The date and venue of examination will be announced by
the Examinations Office during the semester. The final format of the examination will be
announced in the last two lectures.

5.3 Grade descriptors

Some general descriptions of different grades are summarised below.
Grade Descriptions
A • Deep understanding and comprehensive knowledge
• Demonstrate strong analytical abilities
• Well-focused and coherent argument with a good structure
• Extensive use of literature and other supporting materials
• Well-written and a good use of academic terminology
B • A general understanding in the field of knowledge
• Demonstrate good analytical abilities
• Generally logical and structured arguments
• Good use of literature and other supporting materials
• Well-written and an appropriate use of academic terminology
C • A general understanding but with signs of confusion and errors
• Mainly descriptive with only little evidence of analytical thinking
• Reasonable arguments but without a clear structure
• Limited use of academic literature
• A lack of academic terminologies
D • Presence of multiple errors in the field of knowledge
• Limited background knowledge and understanding
• Lack of a clear structure
• Almost no use of academic literature
• Poor writing style
F • Partial or very short answer to the questions
• Presence of a lot of errors in the field of knowledge
• Irrelevant discussion of the topic
• Lack of a clear structure
• Entirely no references used in the essay
6. Suggested references
There are three recommended reading items for this course:

Dudgeon, D. & Corlett, R. (2004) The Ecology and Biodiversity of Hong Kong. Friends of the
Country Parks/Joint Publishing Company (HK) Ltd.
Mottershead, T. (2004) Sustainable Development in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong
University Press.
Yeung Yue-man (ed.) (2007) The First Decade; The Hong Kong SAR in Retrospective and
Introspective Perspectives. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.

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Apart from the above suggested references, students are encouraged to read the references on
different topics. Relevant references will be provided at the end of each lecture, and most of
them will be uploaded on the course Moodle for easier reference.