Governance of built-heritage in a restrictive political system: The involvement of non-governmental stakeholders

Abstract

Built-heritage conservation has increasingly become Hong Kong people's urgent concern since the years leading up to the territory's change of sovereignty from Great Britain to China, under political rules in which development takes priority over conservation. Built-heritage is a symbol of cultural identity and thus Hong Kong people's awareness of the importance of preserving them (Henderson, 2008). NGOs' sense of urgency in getting involved in built-heritage conservation also stems from operating within a political system which Scott (2010) describes as having a restrictive policy-making process, lacking in responsiveness to public demands and expectations. NGOs have three basic functions, namely, service provision, advocacy, and monitoring. Two case studies are used to illustrate these functions. The findings indicate that NGOs are most intensely involved in advocacy. NGOs involved in service provision have been selected through tightly-controlled processes. NGOs' monitoring activities were very limited. I argue that NGOs' role in built-heritage conservation is limited due to the restrictive political system. However, NGOs demonstrated insistent and resilient opposition to any top-down approach to decision-making, a sign that leads to the belief that despite of and because of the nature of the political system, NGOs' involvement in built-heritage is not only likely to intensify but also expand with government increasing the openness of the policy process to contain public pressure.