Liqun Xiang, Yongtao Tan, Xin Jin and Geoffrey Shen
This study aims to identify the stakeholders and critical factors (CFs) of promoting age-friendly communities (AFCs), discuss the relationship between the stakeholders and CFs and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify the stakeholders and critical factors (CFs) of promoting age-friendly communities (AFCs), discuss the relationship between the stakeholders and CFs and develop a preliminary framework for the briefing stage of promoting AFCs in urban China.
Design/methodology/approach
Stakeholders and CFs were identified through literature review and document analysis. The Delphi method was used to screen the extracted stakeholders and CFs. The focus group methodology was applied to obtain evaluation matrices of relationships between stakeholders and CFs. A two-mode social network was formed to analyse the evaluation matrices generated.
Findings
Results of the analyses indicate that local governments and policymaking institutions, together with project investors, obtained high prioritisations in the stakeholders' group, whilst senior citizens and caregivers appear to rank last. For CFs, communities' environmental factors receive the most attention from stakeholders.
Research limitations/implications
Results of the analyses can only show similarities of the participating stakeholders' opinions on their concerns, and provide researchers and practitioners with initial ideas on analysing stakeholders and CFs at the briefing stage of promoting AFCs. For a specific project, the concerns and prioritisations would change. Diverse voices are necessary and case studies are in need.
Practical implications
Challenges in promoting AFCs in urban China are discussed, and a preliminary framework of the briefing stage is developed for practitioners to follow when promoting AFCs.
Originality/value
This study discusses which CFs should be considered priorities and what consensuses are generally reached by stakeholders. CFs are utilised to interpret stakeholders' relationships, influences and concerns on AFC projects when conducting the social network analysis (SNA).
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Liqun Xiang, Ann T.W. Yu, Yongtao Tan, Xuezhu Shan and QiPing Shen
This study aims to identify senior citizens’ requirements related to “embedded retirement facilities (ERFs)”, which are small-scale, multi-functional and community-based care…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify senior citizens’ requirements related to “embedded retirement facilities (ERFs)”, which are small-scale, multi-functional and community-based care facilities for senior citizens in mainland China, and to discuss whether senior citizens’ perceptions are influenced by their backgrounds.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire type of research was administrated to gain senior citizens’ rankings of services that should be provided by ERFs. Non-parametric statistical models were applied to analyse the collected data.
Findings
Results reveal that health care services for senior citizens are considered the most important. Requirements regarding rehabilitation and entertainment and daily life assistance are ranked second and third, respectively. Culture-related activities are the least important. Differences in the senior citizens’ background also influence their choices.
Research limitations/implications
This research is based on a questionnaire survey completed in northeast China. Opinions from other areas of mainland China will be collected in the future study. Furthermore, the key items identified in this research, which was completed by participants from the built environment discipline, can be further elaborated by combining interdisciplinary feedback.
Practical implications
This study explores services that are supposedly provided by ERFs. Findings will provide useful perceptions from senior citizens and will enable decision makers to prioritise services for senior citizens.
Social implications
Although senior citizens are the end users of ERFs, their needs are easily overlooked. This study calls attention to their needs from ERFs, and the results are likely to serve as references for stakeholders in building improved facilities.
Originality/value
ERFs have been provided in mainland China to cater to senior citizens’ needs since 2014. However, few studies have identified senior citizens’ requirements for provided services. The survey-based results of this work will serve as references for various stakeholders in making enhanced decisions.
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Liqun Xiang, Yongtao Tan, Geoffrey Shen and Xin Jin
The applications of multi-agent systems (MASs) are considered to be among the most promising paradigms for detailed investigations and reliable problem-solving methods, and MAS…
Abstract
Purpose
The applications of multi-agent systems (MASs) are considered to be among the most promising paradigms for detailed investigations and reliable problem-solving methods, and MAS applications make it possible for researchers and practitioners to better understand complex systems. Although a number of prior studies have been conducted to address complex issues that arise from construction projects, few studies have summarised the applications and discussed the capacity of MASs from the perspective of construction management. To fill the gap, this paper provides a comprehensive literature review of MAS applications from the perspective of construction management.
Design/methodology/approach
Web of Science and Scopus are the most commonly used international databases in conducting the literature reviews. A total of 86 relevant papers published in SCI-Expanded, SSCI and Ei Compendex journals related to the application of MASs from the perspective of construction management are selected to be analysed and discussed in this paper.
Findings
Based on the 86 collected publications, the utilisations of MASs to support the management of the supply chain and the improvement of project performance are identified from the perspective of construction management, the characteristics and barriers of current MAS applications are analysed, a framework for developing agent-based models to address complex problems is proposed, and future research directions of MAS applications are discussed.
Originality/value
This review can serve as a useful reference for scholars to enhance their understanding of the current research and guide future research on MASs. The proposed framework can help build agent-based models to address complex problems in construction management.
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Outlines and analyses critically the changing nature of the administration and management of universities, particularly in Australia. Special attention is given to the emerging…
Abstract
Outlines and analyses critically the changing nature of the administration and management of universities, particularly in Australia. Special attention is given to the emerging corporate and commercial character of universities, taking into account principles of economic management. Changes in economics as taught at university‐level are discussed along with the declining status of many economics departments. Strategies which I have used to counteract threats to university economics are outlined. Just as globalisation has been increasingly stressed in recent years as an imperative for business, it has become a dominant theme of Australian universities, partly for commercial reasons. This “new” emphasis is, however, ironic, as explained. Following some critical comments on the approaches of Australian universities to internationalization, the essay outlines some of my substantial international activities in the last two years.
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The paper's aim is to estimate the benefits and costs of China's affordable housing program, as well as to provide recommendations to this housing policy.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper's aim is to estimate the benefits and costs of China's affordable housing program, as well as to provide recommendations to this housing policy.
Design/methodology/approach
The Cobb‐Douglas utility function is employed to estimate the net benefits of the affordable housing policy. Both of the sunk costs and current costs are computed, and an improved housing affordability index is used to measure the levels of housing affordability in cities in China.
Findings
The total net benefits of this policy are estimated to range from $234,176.7 million to ¥271,020.4 million. The costs are divided into sunk costs and current costs, computed to be ¥447,598.63 million and ¥328,685.21 million, respectively. The supply size of affordable dwellings is far from adequate due to the low level of housing affordability in China.
Research limitations/implications
The data in this study is insufficient and some information such as the income of occupiers has yet to be estimated. However, if more individual data was available, the conclusion would be confidential.
Practical implications
From this paper the policymakers may understand how to estimate the welfare efficiency of affordable housing policy, adjust the participant regulations and determine the supply of affordable houses.
Originality/value
This paper estimates the benefits and costs of China's affordable housing program as the first study in this area. The Cobb‐Douglas utility function was used in the analysis of China's housing policy.
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Hui-Wen Deng and Kwok Wah Cheung
The National People’s Congress (NPC) of People’s Republic of China, the highest organ of state power, is popularly seen as a rubber-stamp entity. However, it has been…
Abstract
Purpose
The National People’s Congress (NPC) of People’s Republic of China, the highest organ of state power, is popularly seen as a rubber-stamp entity. However, it has been substantially evolving its roles to accommodate the governance discourses within China’s political system over the decades. This study aims to explore the changes of governance discourse of the NPC within China’s political system through which to offer a thorough understanding of the NPC’s evolving substantial role in current China.
Design/methodology/approach
This study deploys a historical approach to explore the changes of governance discourse of the NPC that has seen a growing importance in China’s political agenda, as argued by this study.
Findings
The authors find that the NPC has been substantially evolving its role within China’s political system in which the Chinese Communist Party has created different governance discourses. Besides, the NPC and its Standing Committee have asserted its authority as a substantial actor within China’s political system. The NPC is no longer functioned as a rubber-stamp institution, though it is still popularized as a rubber stamp by many scholars.
Research limitations/implications
This study is a historical elaboration on the development of NPC under three governance discourses. It might be, to some extent, relatively descriptive in nature.
Originality/value
This study, therefore, sheds some light on a revisit on the governance discourses in current China.