Soc Indic Res (2012) 106:523–543

DOI 10.1007/s11205-011-9820-y

Social Mitigation of the Impact of Urban Renewal

on Residents’ Morale

Chau-kiu Cheung • Kwan-kwok Leung

Accepted: 27 February 2011 / Published online: 11 March 2011

 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Abstract Residents in the site of urban renewal suffer from its disturbance particularly
during its demolition phase. One possible way of mitigating the suffering is assistance from
kin and neighbors. The possibility rests on need fulfillment theory, which posits that
needed assistance is salutary. To examine this possibility, the study surveyed 437 residents
staying around urban renewal sites in Hong Kong. Results lent support to the hypothesized
mitigation regarding neighbors’ help but not kin’s help. Instead, the kin’s support exhibited
a significantly main positive effect on a resident’s morale. Furthermore, quality in
neighborhood amenities but not in the residential environment showed a significantly main
effect on morale. Results imply the merit of sustaining amenities quality and kin and
neighbor assistance for mitigating the demoralizing impacts on residents during urban
renewal.

Keywords Urban renewal
Social mitigation
Need fulfillment

1 Introduction

Urban renewal typically involves the redevelopment of aging or dilapidated buildings,

improvement of environmental quality, and resettlement of households (Planning and
Lands Bureau 2001). It is increasingly common in modern societies to improve urban
quality of life (Goodman and Monti 1999). Urban renewal typically proceeds with the
demolition of old buildings and the construction of new ones, and this processes are
disturbing to residents in the site of urban renewal, who have not yet moved away (Barrow
2000; Ungar 1998). Such disturbance typically takes the form of a reduced subjective
quality of life resulting from the deteriorating quality of the residential environment and its
amenities during the process of urban renewal. The deteriorating environment encom-
passes the atmosphere, noise, sanitation, safety, land use, open areas, and housing main-
tenance; whereas the amenities comprise structures/facilities for shopping, recreation,

C. Cheung (&)
K. Leung

City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China
e-mail: ssjacky@cityu.edu.hk

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transportation, neighbor relationship, social order, and economic activity (Fisher and
Freudenburg 2004; Dittman and Goebel 2010). The disturbance tends to be an imprinted
suffering, because residents eventually need to move out of the site of urban renewal and
would not enjoy the fruit after the renewal. Identifying ways to mitigate such disturbance
during urban renewal is therefore important, especially when urban policy is accountable to
the disturbance (Geronimus 2000; Interorganizational Committee on Guidelines and
Principles for Social Impact Assessment 1994). One of these ways is likely to reside in the
residents’ social capital or assistance received from kin, neighbors, and other informal
parties. It is because social capital or social support in general mitigates stress of various
kinds (Chaskin et al. 2006; Putnam 2002). This possibility prompts the present study to find
empirical evidence for the mitigation processes that stem from the assistance received by
the residents from their kin and neighbors. These mitigation processes would involve main
and buffering effects relating to the assistance on the one hand, and neighborhood quality
(in the environment and amenities) and financial resources (i.e., family income and home
ownership) on the other (Woldoff and Ovadia 2009). Whereas main effects refer to
unconditionally salutary effects, buffering effects refer to salutary effects happening in the
presence of dire conditions. The test of the buffering effects particularly sheds light on the
thesis of need fulfillment as well as on the thesis of cultural fit. Simply put, the thesis of
need fulfillment posits that assistance is beneficial to the person under stress or in need of
help (Diener and Lucas 2000; Sirgy 2001), while the thesis of cultural fit suggests that the
needy person is more accustomed and receptive to assistance (Jennings 2004; Lessler et al.
2000; Sherraden 1991). As such, the present study aims to illustrate the empirical and
theoretical cases for the mitigation of stress through help from kin and neighbors.
The need for research about the mitigating role of help from kin and neighbors evolves
from the unsettled view about the role of social capital, especially regarding its interplay
with financial capital. Capital generally refers to resources that are convertible to alter-
native resources and benefits (Krishna and Uphoff 2002; Sherraden 1991). The currency of
financial capital is money or other financial assets. In comparison, that of social capital is
help or social support through social relationships. At issue is the role of social capital:
whether complementing or replacing financial capital in the provision of benefits. The
complementarity view suggests that social capital particularly privileges the well off, as it
is difficult for the poor to maintain and benefit from social capital (Morrow 1999). In
contrast, the replacement view contends that social capital does not introduce additional
benefits to the well off as the benefits of financial capital and social capital acts as a
substitute for each other. This view holds that social capital is mostly beneficial to the poor
because of their need for help (Grootaert and van Bastelaer 2002; Riedl and van Winden
2004). Resolving the controversial issue about who benefits from social capital and support
is necessary to endorse the plea for building social capital among neighbors (Aldridge and
Halpern 2002; Narayan and Cassidy 2001).
Processes involved in the study deal with the relationships among quality in the resi-
dential environment and amenities, assistance received from kin and neighbors, and
morale, the latter of which refers to the satisfaction with current and upcoming life (Kozma
et al. 1991; Wen et al. 2010). Essentially, morale is an aspect of subjective well-being that
anticipates favorable consequences (Efklides et al. 2003). The essential concern of the
study is in sustaining the morale of residents in places undergoing urban renewal and,
specifically, in mitigating the negative social impact of the urban renewal process. Such an
impact is likely to stem from the deteriorating level of quality in the residential environ-
ment and its amenities resulting from urban renewal. To mitigate this negative impact, help
from kin and neighbors is therefore useful. Furthermore, assistance from kin and neighbors

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interacts with the resident’s financial resources to assuage the negative impact. In turn, the
help may be a response to the low quality of the environment and its amenities. These
intertwining relationships are the foci of examination under the setting of urban renewal in
Hong Kong.

2 Relevance of the Study in Hong Kong

The present study of Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, is likely to
produce knowledge useful to other places, especially for other modern societies because of
their structural similarities (Priemus 2004). Meanwhile, urban renewal is clearly a pro-
nounced endeavor in Hong Kong as in other modern societies. The endeavor evolves from
the recognition of the aging of urban areas in terms of the prevalence of buildings that over
30 years old (Planning and Lands Bureau 2001). Many of such buildings are substandard in
maintenance and structure, because they have muddled through since the time when urban
development standards in Hong Kong were not high. So far, the Urban Renewal Strategy
Study of Hong Kong has identified 200 priority projects for renewal, covering about 55
hectares of land. About 27% of private buildings are susceptible to maintenance problems.
The aging and crowded buildings are responsible for the poor environmental conditions in
Hong Kong (Adams and Hastings 2001; Chiu 2000; Forrest et al. 2002; Kwok 1999). Aside
from the primary purpose of improving the environment, a strategic goal of urban renewal
in Hong Kong is to improve the efficient use of energy (e.g., electricity) and resources.
However, urban renewal in Hong Kong is fraught with controversies about its adverse
environmental and social impacts, especially when urban renewal is in progress (Adams
and Hastings 2001; Stern 2003). Such social impacts tend to be more severe for disad-
vantaged residents (Ng 2004). Finding ways to mitigate the impact on residents who have
fewer financial resources is therefore important.
Regarding social support from kin, neighbors, and other forms of social capital, Hong
Kong appears to be similar to some other modern societies in terms of the decline of
support (Egerton 2002; Holliday and Tam 2001; Putnam 2002). Meanwhile, Hong Kong
residents generally have limited access to government support due to its liberal and
individualist ideology, shared with many Western societies (Epstein 1997; Holliday 2000).
The government of Hong Kong, as with its many counterparts in the West, endeavors to
promote social capital in the community in order to facilitate mutual aid (Forrest et al.
2002; Hawe and Shiell 2000; So 2003). Consequently, social capital and support will have
a role in Hong Kong that is similar to that in many other modern places. This similarity
would be conducive to cross-referencing with regard to social support in the present study.

3 Hypotheses

The premise is that urban renewal, during its phases of demolition and rebuilding, decays
the quality of the neighborhood undergoing renewal, including that of the residential
environment and its amenities, and that this decay is demoralizing to residents. Such decay
primarily springs from engineering works that contaminate the environment and demolish
or obstruct amenities, which exacerbate poor living conditions. To counteract the
demoralizing impact, help received from kin and neighbors would be useful, especially
under conditions of lower neighborhood quality and lower levels of financial resources
(Young and Willmont 1957). Such help tends to be a response to the lowered neighborhood

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quality. The help supposedly sustains a resident’s morale unconditionally and condition-
ally, depending on the low levels of neighborhood quality and financial resources
(including family income and home ownership). Such sustenance of the morale reflects the
stress-buffering effect of social support, wherein urban renewal poses the stress and kin
and neighbors provide the social support. Furthermore, low neighborhood quality in the
environment and amenities would indicate a particular need for stress buffering. Social
support would also be more crucial when the resident has a lower level of financial
resources required for buffering the stress. This conditional effect would uphold the thesis
of compensation and substitution between the benefits of social support and financial
resources (Schmid 2000). Specifically, five hypotheses spring from this assumption:
Hypothesis 1: A resident’s perceived quality of the environment and its amenities during
urban renewal raises the resident’s morale.
Hypothesis 2: The help received from kin and neighbors raises a resident’s morale.
Hypothesis 3: The help received from kin and neighbors raises a larger extent of the
morale of a resident with lower perceived quality of the environment and amenities.
Hypothesis 4: The received help from kin and neighbors raises the morale of a resident
with lower family income and is not a homeowner.
Hypothesis 5: A resident’s perceived quality of the environment and amenities during
urban renewal raises the help received from kin and neighbors.
The first hypothesis stems from theory and research about the influence of environ-
mental quality on a resident’s quality of life. This stems from research finding that one’s
material living conditions determines one’s quality of life (Diener and Oishi 2000; Sirgy
2001). Specifically, the influence of objective living conditions, income, economic
development, and the fulfillment of one’s basic needs by factors at both the societal and
individual levels are vital (Diener and Biswas-Dierner 2002; Hagerty 1998; Radcliff 2001).
Its essential premise suggests that the satisfaction of inborn needs for air, water, food,
clothing, shelter, and other life-support resources is most crucial for the person’s quality of
life. To the extent that these life-support materials come from one’s living environment, the
living environment also exerts a great influence on the person. During urban renewal that
proceeds in phases, the quality of the environment is likely to deteriorate, typically
manifested by air and noise pollution and the accretion of toxic materials and refuse (Beck
1999; Stern 2003). Such an environment tends to impair one’s physical and mental health
(Aday 1993; Berry and Welsh 2010). Health can have a spillover effect on one’s subjective
quality of life such as morale (Cebula 2005; Davis 2000). Ample evidence has been
available regarding the adverse effect of environmental problems on a resident’s subjective
quality of life (Inglehart 1990; Lam et al. 1999; van Praag and Ferrer-I-Carbonell 2004).
Besides contamination in material resources, quality in amenities for shopping, transpor-
tation, and recreation also suffer during urban renewal. Conceivably, many amenities
closed down and had their services limited and blocked because of urban renewal.
Amenities are also important in supplying resources for residents and are thereby vital for
their quality of life (Parkes et al. 2002; Stanley and Smeltzer 2003; Varady and Raffel
1995). Notably, amenities that support residents’ consumption are especially consequential
to residents’ quality of life (Ackerman et al. 1997; McCrea et al. 2005). It is because
consumption sustains the residents’ material as well as social life quality (Holstein and
Gubrium 2000). Besides, amenities for transportation are also important for the residents’
work, leisure activities, and other aspects of social life (Kunz and Born 1996; Nam 2005).
These social activities in turn are instrumental to a subjective quality of life (Argyle 1999;
Lloyd and Auld 2002; Roberts et al. 2001).

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Hypothesis 2 draws on theory and research about the contribution of informal social
support to subjective quality of life (Diener and Fujita 1995; Krause 1990), especially one
that is under stressful conditions (Cohen and Wills 1985). Urban renewal typically rep-
resents a stressful condition due to its environmental deterioration at the time of renewal
and the need for residents to move. Residents in the site of urban renewal would thereby
benefit from the buffering effect of social support, which appears as a main or average
effect. Social support can spring from kin and neighbors. Kin members are likely to help
each other (Tsai 2006; Uslaner 2002). This is at least due to the consanguineous reason to
proliferate the extended family and the social norm of familism (Killian and Ganong 2002;
Kurgzban and Leary 2001; Levin 2004). Help from kin can appear in diverse forms
including intimate and emotional support (Feeney and Collins 2001). In addition, neigh-
bors are also an important source of support due to their proximity and thereby timely
availability. During urban renewal, neighbors can offer immediate assistance concerning
home removal and collective action to fight for their interest (Mesch 1996). Support from
neighbors appears to be conducive to one’s subjective quality of life (Farrell et al. 2004;
Ross et al. 2000).
Hypothesis 3, which is about the greater benefit of help received from kin and neighbors
to the resident perceiving a lower quality of the environment and its amenities, embodies
the buffering effect of social support for alleviating stress. As such, lower environmental
and amenity quality would represent higher stress, which provides a better target for social
support. The stress-buffering effect of social support capitalizes on the thesis of need
fulfillment in that social support is beneficial when it fulfills one’s need for alleviating
stress (Diener and Lucas 2000; Sirgy 2001). Conversely, social support would not be
salutary in the absence of stress and the need for its reduction, owing to the law of satiation
or diminishing marginal utility (Lane 2000; Molm 1997).
Hypothesis 4 suggests that help from kin and neighbors is more salutary for a resident
with fewer financial resources. This hypothesis recognizes the substitution between social
capital and financial capital in producing outcomes (Schmid 2000). The compensatory
thesis argues that: (1) social capital and financial capital may serve the same goal of
promoting one’s quality of life but through different ways, and (2) social capital and
financial capital interfere with each other in the process of promoting quality of life. For
instance, both social support and financial resources, through hiring services, can help
residents move homes in an independent way. However, the presence of social support and
the hired service may not make the moving better and faster due to the incompatibility
between the two. The incompatibility would occur when the hired service has its own rules,
vehicles, and equipment that prevent its collaboration with social support for home
moving. Such an instance also reflects the thesis of need fulfillment. When help is already
abundant from a source, additional help is no longer beneficial. Furthermore, an oversupply
of resources would attenuate performance, thus creating a problem in management (Jex
1998). The opposite case suggests that a resident with fewer financial resources is more
receptive to and benefits more from other people’s help. This case endorses a cultural fit
thesis, which posits that poor people are inclined to rely on external help (Jennings 2004;
Lessler et al. 2000; Sherraden 1991). The thesis implies that as poor people are likely to be
accustomed to receiving assistance, they can maintain their morale without the feeling of
indebtedness and inferiority (Greenberg and Westcott 1983).
Hypothesis 5, which is about the negative effect of quality in the environment and
amenities on help received from others, purports that low environmental and amenity
quality is a stressful factor that motivates the resident to seek help from others. Obviously,
seeking help is a result of stress, which in turn indicates a need for action (Vogel et al.

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2006; Wills 1987). Besides, stress can activate support even without the recipient asking
for the support (Monroe and Steiner 1986; Weinstein and Ryan 2010).
The tests for the hypotheses need to incorporate control factors composed of back-
ground characteristics including sex, age, residence type, marital status, education, social
class, and financial resources. These factors may commonly influence morale, quality
perceptions, and help received from kin and neighbors. These influences are in need of
control when examining the effects of morale, quality perceptions, and help reception.
Research evidence about the common influences of background characteristics includes:
(1) Sex makes a difference in the morale and social support received (Lloyd and Auld
2002; Peiro 2006). (2) Age exhibits effects on morale and satisfaction with the neigh-
borhood (Harris 2001; van Praag and Ferrer-I-Carbonell 2004). (3) Education tends to
affect morale, satisfaction with the neighborhood, and social support received (Muffels and
Fouarge 2004; Motel-Klingebiel et al. 2009). (4) Financial resources tend to determine
morale, satisfaction with the neighborhood, and social support received (Graham and
Pettinato 2002; Smyth et al. 2010). (5) Marital status clearly affects help that is available
from kin and even from neighbors and influences morale (Peiro 2006; Georgellis et al.
2009).

4 Methods

A survey obtained data from 437 residents in all the five ongoing urban renewal sites in
Hong Kong available during the period. These residents represented a random sample,
based on the sampling frame of addresses in the sites of urban renewal. As the survey took
place during the process of urban renewal, it approached all households that were not yet
moving away. It could not contact households that had moved out. Some households stayed
and other had moved away because the urban renewal project typically proceeded in
phases, progressing from one part to another of the renewal area. Within each of the
households, the survey solicited responses from residents aged 16 and above. Obtaining
support from the authorities responsible for the urban renewal, the survey procedure
involved dispatching an invitation letter to each household prior to the survey. Trained
interviewers then visited the households in pairs and obtained the residents’ informed
consent to participation in the study. Eventually, a face-to-face survey of 33.1% of the
original households was completed. This was the lower bound of the response rate because
many households had moved away before the survey. It was actually difficult to ascertain
the number of households that declined to participate in the survey because of commu-
nication problems in the renewal area as well as in other aging areas in Hong Kong. For
instance, households in such an aging area often shared uncovered mailboxes, from which
any passerby could pick up letters.
The resultant sample of respondents had roughly equal numbers of men (52.8%) and
women (47.2%). The respondents had an average age of 53.2 years and have lived in Hong
Kong and the neighborhood for an average of 36.4 and 25.2 years, respectively (see
Table 1). The majority of them lived in a flat (64.5%) and was married (73.8%). Half
(50.2%) of the respondents resided in purchased properties, and they were homeowners.
Relatively more respondents were retirees (50.2%), whereas 20.6% were unemployed,
16.4% were blue-collar or service workers of the working class, and 10.0% were managers,
professionals, or clerical workers of the middle class. In addition, 47.3% of the respondents
had a family income below HK$8,000 (US$1,026), less than half of the median family
income in Hong Kong. These class and income data indicated that the respondents were

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Table 1 Means and standard deviations (N = 437)

Variable Scoring M SD

Morale 0–100 (very little–very much) 53.5 11.7

Amenity quality during renewal 0–100 (very little–very much) 60.6 13.7
Environmental quality during renewal 0–100 (very little–very much) 34.9 15.0
Amenity quality before renewal 0–100 (very little–very much) 66.9 10.2
Environmental quality before renewal 0–100 (very little–very much) 45.4 13.6
Help from kin 0–100 (very little–very much) 48.2 21.8
Help from neighbors 0–100 (very little–very much) 34.6 21.6
Age Years 53.2 17.4
Education level 1–8 3.0 1.5
Living in a flat 0, 100 (no, yes) 64.5 47.9
Living in a room 0, 100 (no, yes) 16.1 36.8
Middle class occupation 0, 100 (no, yes) 10.0 30.0
Working class occupation 0, 100 (no, yes) 16.4 37.1
Student 0, 100 (no, yes) 7.9 27.1
Unemployed 0, 100 (no, yes) 20.6 40.5
Retired 0, 100 (no, yes) 52.0 50.1
Homemaking 0, 100 (no, yes) 19.4 39.7
Family income 1–12 4.6 2.9
Home bought (homeownership) 0, 100 (no, yes) 50.2 50.1
Married 0, 100 (no, yes) 73.8 44.0
Female 0, 100 (no, yes) 47.8 50.0
Acquiescence 0–100 (very little–very much) 51.5 4.7
Size: project area Sq. m2 5,640.7 3,223.3

The levels of education were (1) below primary, (2) primary, (3) junior high, (4) senior high up to Grade 11,
(5) matriculation, (6) non-degree postsecondary, (7) bachelor’s degree, and (8) graduate school
The levels of family income ranged from (1) below HK$2,000 to (12) HK$60,000 or above
Middle-class occupations were professional, associate professional, managerial, supervisory, clerical, and
disciplinary (e.g., police, customs officers) occupations
Working class occupations were all other lower rank occupations
Subjective quality of life and environmental quality ranged from 0 to 100
All other characteristics were dichotomous or dummy variables, with a score of 0 for ‘‘no,’’ and a score of
100 for ‘‘yes’’

generally low in terms of socioeconomic status. Overall, the respondents were residents in
urban renewal sites ranging from 250 to 8,900 m2 in size with an average of 5,640 m2.

4.1 Measurement

Measures of morale, neighborhood environmental and amenity quality during urban

renewal, and help received from kin and neighbors relied on ratings based on multiple
items on a five-point rating scale. These items evolved from the literature review, personal
interviews with some residents in the urban renewal sites, and a questionnaire pre-test with
some residents. The rating scale yielded scores ranging from 0 to 100, with 0 representing
the lower level (none), 25 for the second level (low), 50 for the third level (average), 75 for

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the fourth level (high), and 100 for the highest level (absolutely high) (Zagorski 1999).
This scoring would ease the interpretation of scores. For instance, it would be easier to
make sense of a difference of 10 points on a 0–100 scale than a difference of 0.4 points on
a five-point scale.
Morale referred to a positive outlook about life. It adapted items from some existing
instruments like ‘‘not worrying about the future,’’ ‘‘having no worry,’’ ‘‘life is satisfac-
tory,’’ ‘‘life is relaxing,’’ and ‘‘having enough friends’’ (Andrews and Robinson 1991;
Sauer and Warland 1982). The respondent rated the degree of each of the items from ‘‘very
little’’ to ‘‘very much.’’ Two of the items originally employed negative phrasing and
required reversed coding to align the scores. The reliability (a) of the five-item composite
score was .502.
Environmental quality in the neighborhood during urban renewal tapped quality in
atmosphere, noise, land use, open areas, greenery, sanitation, indoor and outdoor housing
maintenance, sewage, environmental safety, and overall quality (Fisher and Freudenburg
2004; Riad and Norris 1992). That is, the questions asked each resident to rate every aspect
of environmental quality during the renewal (i.e., ‘‘How good is the quality of …?’’). The
reliability (a) of the 11-item composite score was .905. These same items also retro-
spectively measured environmental quality perceived before urban renewal to yield a
reliability coefficient (a) of .863.
Amenity quality in the neighborhood during urban renewal tapped quality in shopping,
recreation, transportation, neighbor association, social order, and economic activity in the
renewal site (Fisher and Freudenburg 2004; Riad and Norris 1992). That is, the questions
asked each resident to rate every aspect of amenity quality during the renewal (i.e., ‘‘How
good is the quality of …?’’). The reliability (a) of the six-item composite score was .725.
These same items also retrospectively measured amenity quality perceived before urban
renewal to yield a reliability coefficient (a) of .518.
Help received from kin incorporated that from kin living together (including the spouse)
and not living together. The items asked about the amount of help received from the two
sources concerning urban renewal (i.e., ‘‘How much help did you receive from kin …?’’).
They produced a composite measure yielded a reliability coefficient (a) of .645.
Help received from neighbors incorporated that from neighbors required to move and
that from neighbors not required to move due to urban renewal. The items asked about the
amount of help received from the two sources concerning urban renewal (i.e., ‘‘How much
help did you receive from neighbors …?’’). They produced a composite measure yielded a
reliability coefficient (a) of .813.
Acquiescence was a control factor used in the analysis of relationships among variables
in order to control the tendency to rate all items highly. This was simply the average of the
original or non-reversed scores of all rating items (Zagorski 1999), including those of
morale, neighborhood quality, and help from kin and neighbors. In the context of analysis,
the presence of acquiescence as a control factor was useful to minimize bias due to the
common method of rating.

4.2 Analytic Procedure

A linear regression analysis for a mixed-effect model was pertinent to analyzing data
clustered by the five urban renewal sites (Hedeker et al. 1994). The sites represented a
random factor, as the sites counted as a sample of all possible sites. More importantly,
there was no definite reason to specify any difference among the sites; therefore, the sites
did not compose a fixed factor. In other words, differences among the sites were random or

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due to the sampling. Treating the sites as a random factor in the mixed-effect model
avoided the undue distortion of the effects of neighborhood quality, assistance, and other
fixed factors. Besides, the analysis estimated variations in each of the fixed effects across
the five urban renewal sites. These were additional random factors representing variations
due to the interaction between a fixed factor and the urban renewal site. The interaction
happened across levels and involved the resident and the neighborhood levels.
The main effects of kin and neighbor help as estimated by regression analysis showed
the direct effects of the help, whereas the interaction effects of the help with neighborhood
quality indicated the buffering effects of the help. For the ease of interpretation, the
analysis employed standard scores of variables to identify standardized effects. The use of
standard scores also offered the advantage of avoiding the problem of multicollinearity
involving interactive or product variables and their constituents (Aiken and West 1991).
These interaction terms entered the mixed-effect model of regression analysis simulta-
neously to assess their unique effects.

5 Results

According to residents, the quality of the environment and its amenities tended to dete-
riorate due to urban renewal, such that environmental quality declined from an average of
45.4 before renewal to 34.9 (t = 17.2, p \ .001) during renewal while amenity quality
deteriorated from 66.9 before to 60.6 (t = 10.3, p \ .001) during renewal (see Table 1).
Consequently, environmental quality was particularly low. This finding sustains the central
assumption of the study. The deterioration of environmental and amenity quality was likely
to impose stress on residents. Eventually, the residents’ morale during renewal, on average,
was not high (M = 53.5, on a 0–100 scale).
Morale, informal help, and neighborhood quality had only weak correlations among the
three sets (see Table 2). Notably, morale correlated only significantly with help from kin
(r = .127) and perceived quality in amenities (r = .220). Moreover, morale, informal help,
and neighborhood quality had very few significant correlates in common, which were
limited to retiree status, urban renewal site area, and acquiescence. Correlations involving
morale, informal help, and neighborhood quality were generally weak. Apart from those
correlates with acquiescence, the strongest correlations were between help from kin and
help from neighbors (r = .460) and between environmental quality and amenity quality
(r = .337).

5.1 Predicting Morale

Perceived amenity quality during urban renewal displayed a significant positive effect on
morale. In comparison, environmental quality during urban renewal did not. This finding
held in analyses, either including help from kin and neighbors as predictors see Models 1
and 2 in Table 3. Furthermore, there was no significant variation in the effects of
environmental quality and amenity quality on morale across urban renewal sites (see
Table 4). For instance, the variance component that indicated variations in the effect of
environmental quality across renewal sites was .002, which was small and insignificant.
Hence, the lack of a significant effect from environmental quality was not due to
mediation through the help received from kin and neighbors. The finding lends partial
support to Hypothesis 1.

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Table 2 Correlations
Correlate Morale Kin help Neighbor help Environmental Amenity
quality quality

Help from kin .127** 1.000 .460*** .007 -.070

Help from neighbors .019 .460*** 1.000 -.065 -.093
Environmental quality .062 .007 -.065 1.000 .337***
Amenity quality .220*** -.070 -.093 .337*** 1.000
Age (years) .020 -.007 .058 .151** .115*
Education level .051 .027 .005 -.109* -.098*
Living in a flat .042 .078 .003 -.044 -.052
Living in a room .108* .050 .062 .174*** .078
Middle class occupation .019 .065 .081 -.057 -.157**
Working class occupation -.043 -.107* -.053 -.097 -.051
Student .052 .079 .056 -.091 -.010
Unemployed -.112* -.047 -.036 -.028 -.026
Retired .098* .034 .134** .107* .118
Homemaking -.060 -.066 -.220*** -.062 -.151*
Family income .067 .023 -.050 -.113* -.034
Home bought (homeownership) .040 .085 .046 .087 -.064
Married -.005 .060 -.010 .053 -.011
Female .063 -.002 -.064 .008 -.020
Acquiescence .222*** .154** .216*** .405*** .426***
Size: project area .147** -.116* -.156** .154** .197***

* p \ .05; ** p \ .01; *** p \ .001

Help from kin manifested a significantly main positive effect on morale (b = .129, see
Table 3) but help from neighbors did not (b = -.065). These effects did not show sig-
nificant variations across urban renewal project sites (see Table 4). As such, the finding
gives partial support for Hypothesis 2.
Help from neighbors exhibited a significantly negative interaction effect on morale
when coupled with amenity quality during urban renewal (b = -.134, see Table 3). The
negative effect meant that help from neighbors was more salutary to the resident perceiving
a lower amenity quality. In contrast, the interactions involving help from neighbors and
environmental quality and help from kin and environmental and amenity quality did not
result in significant effects on morale. These interaction effects did not have significant
variations across urban renewal project sites (i.e., no variance component was significant,
see Table 4). Overall, the finding offers some support for Hypothesis 3.
Help from neighbors generated significantly negative interaction effects on morale
when coupled with family income (b = -.178, see Table 3) and home ownership (b =
-.163). In contrast, the interactions between help from kin, family income, and home
ownership did not add significant effects to morale. These effects did not have significant
variations across project sites. The finding accords partial support for Hypothesis 4.
Dwelling in a room or a flat as compared with a bedspace or a part of a room showed a
positive effect on morale (b = .198 and .139, see Table 3). Generally, a better dwelling
space was conducive to morale.

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Social Mitigation of the Impact of Urban Renewal 533

Table 3 Standardized estimates predicting morale, and help from kin and neighbors
Predictor Morale (1) Morale (2) Kin help Neighbor help

Regression coefficient
Environmental quality -.096 -.071 -.018 -.152**
Amenity quality .184** .183** -.155** -.191***
Neighbor help – -.065 – –
Kin help – .129* – –
Neighbor help 9 environmental quality – .031 – –
Neighbor help 9 amenity quality – -.134* – –
Kin help 9 environmental quality – .028 – –
Kin help 9 amenity quality – .048 – –
Neighbor help 9 family income – -.178** – –
Kin help 9 family income – .023 – –
Neighbor help 9 homeownership – -.163** – –
Kin help 9 homeownership – .014 – –
Age .033 .024 -.064 .070
Family income .013 .004 -.018 -.117
Education .080 .066 .000 .029
Middle class .014 .007 .015 .073
Working class -.011 -.011 -.132* -.017
Flat .139* .112 .234*** .142*
Room .198** .183** .169** .146*
Homeownership .005 -.012 .000 .002
Married -.024 -.058 .094 -.013
Female .074 .079 -.019 -.048
Acquiescence .176** .164** .206*** .338***
Variance component
Residual .886 .816 .849 .790
Project (site) .000 .000 .068 .036
Likelihood ratio chi-square 1,187 1,151 1,178 1,145
Akaike’s information criterion (AIC) 1,219 1,203 1,210 1,177
Reference categories were not working, bedspace or part of a room, rented residence, being married, and
being male
There were three models for the three outcomes. The analysis of morale involved two models: (1) without
kin and neighbor help and their interactions and (2) with kin and neighbor help and their interactions
* p \ .05; ** p \ .01; *** p \ .001

5.2 Predicting Help from Kin and Neighbors

The quality of the neighborhood environment and its amenities displayed some negative
effects on receiving help from kin and neighbors. Three of the four concerned effects were
significant and ranged from -.152 to -.191 (see Table 3). These suggested that lower
quality in the neighborhood would lead to the receipt of more help from kin and neighbors.
The only non-significant effect was that of environmental quality on help from kin.
Moreover, variations in the effects were not significant across urban renewal sites (see
Table 4). The finding about significant effects of neighborhood quality thereby supports

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Table 4 Variance components indicating variation in the effects among urban renewal sites
Predictor Morale Kin help Neighbor help

Environmental quality .002 .000 .020

Amenity quality .015 .000 .000
Kin help .000 – –
Neighbor help .000 – –
Neighbor help 9 environmental quality .012 – –
Neighbor help 9 amenity quality .000 – –
Kin help 9 environmental quality .007 – –
Kin help 9 amenity quality .000 – –
Neighbor help 9 family income .000 – –
Kin help 9 family income .000 – –
Neighbor help 9 homeownership .000 – –
Kin help 9 homeownership .001 – –
Age .000 .000 .000
Family income .000 .000 .035
Education .000 .001 .000
Middle class .013 .000 .000
Working class .000 .033 .000
Flat .000 .000 .002
Room .000 .008 .007
Homeownership .000 .015 .001
Married .014 .005 .000
Female .000 .000 .000
Acquiescence .000 .001 .000

Reference categories were not working, bedspace or part of a room, rented residence, being married, and
being male
Variance components were the random-effect part of the mixed-effect model in regression analysis
* p \ .05; ** p \ .01; *** p \ .001

the fifth hypothesis concerning the activation of informal help by low neighborhood
quality.
Dwelling in a room or a flat as compared with dwelling in a bedspace or a part of a room
showed some significant effects on help received from kin and neighbors (see Table 4).
Moreover, help from neighbors was more for the resident who was older and had a lower
family income. The resident with a working-class occupation received less help from kin.
None of these background effects exhibited significant variations across urban renewal
sites.

6 Discussion

The results lend partial support to the hypotheses. Supported findings include the positive
effect of amenities during urban renewal on morale (Hypothesis 1), the positive effect of
help for kin on morale (Hypothesis 2), the negative effect of the interaction between

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amenity quality and help from neighbors on morale (Hypothesis 3), the negative effects of
interactions between help from neighbors, family income, and home ownership on morale
(Hypothesis 4), and the greatest effects of environmental and amenity quality on help from
kin and neighbors (Hypothesis 5). Despite these, the hypotheses do not obtain full support
because of findings about on the non-significant main effects of environmental quality on
morale, help from neighbors on morale, effects of the interaction between help from kin
and neighborhood quality on morale, interaction between help from kin and family
resources on morale, and the effect of environmental quality on help from kin. The
presence of significant and non-significant effects is worthy of further discussion.
The discrepant effects of environmental quality and amenity quality during urban
renewal on morale reflect the stronger supposed impact of amenity quality on livelihood.
This stronger impact may be attributed to merits of amenities in the (1) satisfaction of basic
physical needs, (2) ease of mitigating the stressful impact of low environmental quality,
and (3) informal and professional social support or resources. In the first place, residents
need to have access to amenities selling bottled water and places providing life-support
materials. Amenities are therefore more important than the natural provision of the envi-
ronmental resources. This is especially the case for urbanites in areas undergoing renewal
and who are adapted to life within congested, dilapidated environments and business
activities (Ackerman et al. 1997; Katz-Gerro 2002). Furthermore, such residents may not
have a strong need for post-materialist properties such as environmental quality, because
their relatively low socioeconomic status maintains their need for material things (Clark
and Inglehart 1998; Inglehart 1997). The residents’ major concern is therefore more likely
to enjoy a physically and socially good life by relying on amenities (Diener et al. 2003;
Oishi et al. 1999). Secondly, the residents have no means of improving quality in ame-
nities, which are public goods produced by collective means or by authorities. This reflects
the demoralizing effect of uncontrollability (Cole and Pargament 1999; Hardi and Weiner
2000). Thirdly, amenities offer cognitive and social resources to help residents cope with
stress from urban renewal directly through association with counselors and neighbors or
indirectly through the provision of transportation. Such resources not only sustain the
residents’ short-term livelihood needs, but also empower them against environmental stress
(Diener and Fujita 1995; Granzin and Haggard 2000). Hence, such inputs to empowerment
are clearly salutary (Diener and Lucas 1999; Brockmann et al. 2009). At least, shopping
amenities would contribute to the residents’ morale as shopping itself is a means of therapy
for distressed residents (Diener and Biswas-Dierner 2002). These inputs, in contrast, are
unavailable from the built and natural environments.
Help from kin appears to be salutary unconditionally, whereas help from neighbors
tends to be salutary only under conditions of low levels of amenity quality and financial
resources. Such a finding indicates that the benefit of kin’s help is more pervasive than that
of neighbors’ help. This difference may be attributable to the credit of kin’s help in (1)
providing intimate, emotional support; (2) offering assistance that fits the recipient need;
and (3) inducing no sense of indebtedness or inferiority. Firstly, intimate, emotional
support is more available from kin than from neighbors (Feeney and Collins 2001; Schuster
et al. 1990). Such support is important because it is especially salutary (Bloom et al. 1991;
Granzin and Haggard 2000). As both emotional support and morale fall into the emotional
dimension, it is congruent with the emotional aspect of quality of life. This sharing of the
dimension enhances the influence because of the principle of congruence (Ajzen 1988;
Diener and Lucas 1999). As such, emotional support available from kin such as reassur-
ance and stress relieving is best for resolving emotional problems. Secondly, assistance
that fits the recipient’s need is crucial for satisfying the recipient (Andrews and Withey

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1976; Radcliff 2001). Such assistance is more likely available from kin than from
neighbors due to intimacy and familiarity with the recipient (Lee et al. 1991). Thirdly,
receiving help from kin is more likely than receiving help from neighbors and is free of the
obligation for reciprocation or a feeling of patronizing. This is because of the evolutionary
basis for mutual assistance among kin members (Kurgzban and Leary 2001; Stein 1999).
Conversely, the generation of feelings of indebtedness and inferiority would take a toll on
morale (Barnes and Janet 2003; Greenberg and Westcott 1983).
Help from kin offered a significant positive effect on morale. However, it did not
interact with neighborhood quality and financial resources to engender significant effects
as help from neighbors did. In contrast, the conditional benefit of help from neighbors
appears to support the theses of need fulfillment, replacement or competition, and cul-
tural fit underlying Hypotheses 3 and 4. With regard to the thesis of need fulfillment,
help from neighbors tends to be beneficial when it is required to mitigate stress due to
low amenity quality and inadequate financial resources. This may happen when the
neighbors’ help compensates for the decline in amenity quality, including the neighbors’
association. The replacement effect is also possible when neighbors’ assistance com-
pensates for the lack of hired assistance due to inadequate financial resources. This can
happen when neighbors are available to provide the resident with a timely and instru-
mental assistance such as that in home moving (Spelman 2004; Young and Willmont
1957). Conversely, neighbors’ assistance would be redundant to residents who can afford
to hire services. This resembles the case where many cars drive from a multilane road to
a single-lane road, which leads to a slowing down and a traffic jam. Such a bottleneck
problem may occur when both the neighbors’ help and the hired help are likely to serve
the same instrumental goal (Shaw 2005). Furthermore, the neighbors’ help may be more
salutary to residents with fewer financial resources because these residents tend to be
accustomed to a culture of receiving help without feeling indebted and stigmatized
(Hirschl and Rank 1999; Kunz and Born 1996; Lindsey 2004). These favorable condi-
tions for interaction effects involving neighbors’ help may not hold for kin’s help. The
reason for the lack of interaction effects due to kin’s help may be the multiplexity or
variety of kin’s help. Accordingly, kin’s help can be beneficial in many ways including
emotional, instrumental, informational, and other means (Feeney and Collins 2001;
Schuster et al. 1990). Such multiplexity avoids a clash with other sources of support.
Essentially, the contribution of the multiple functions of kin’s support is that it endorses
the task-specific model of social support, which suggests that kin’s support is different
from others and therefore contributes a unique and additive part to the recipient (Litwak
1985; Silverstein et al. 2003). Furthermore, its contribution may not depend on low
amenity quality because kin’s help can be salutary in many ways other than reducing
stress due to urban renewal (Diener and Fujita 1995; Hofferth et al. 1999). As neighbor
help did not show a significant main effect on morale, kin help would already be the
main source of contribution among kin and neighbors.
Kin’s help does not seem to be responsive to environmental quality during urban
renewal, although it does appear to respond to low amenity quality. The unresponsiveness
of kin to low environmental quality may be due to the futility of kin assistance in
improving the neighborhood environment. This reflects the influence of the belief in
efficacy of action including helping (Bolland and McCallum 2002; Greenslade and White
2005). In contrast, the kin may provide effective assistance in compensating for low
amenity quality. Furthermore, the belief in collective efficacy may lead residents to call for
neighbors’ assistance in the case of low neighborhood quality (Fahmy 2006).

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Social Mitigation of the Impact of Urban Renewal 537

6.1 Further Research

The present findings definitely require further research for corroboration, generalization,
and substantiation. As the findings evolved from a cross-sectional study, they are not
certain about causal relationships among morale, quality perceptions, and help from kin
and neighbors. Moreover, because the study involves residents affected by urban renewal
only in five sites in Hong Kong, the findings are limited in generality. The limitations in
causal inference and generality necessarily call for prospective research covering residents
in more places, including those in the West, to examine the generality and its limit.
Prospective research is particularly desirable in order to examine changes before, during,
and after urban renewal and to grasp the long-term impact of the renewal. Accordingly, a
further study will be able to assess the enduring benefit of informal social support. In
designing the further research in multiple sites, it is important to assess and analyze
contextual factors that differentiate different sites in different sociocultural contexts. A
notable focus would be to examine if factors differentiating the Hong Kong context from
others result in any difference from the findings in the present study. For instance, further
research can scrutinize the contextual influence of a dense population and environmental
problems on the effects of informal social support on morale. Further research can also
benefit from the use of reliable and valid measures by integrating indicators collected from
multiple sources. Such measures would guarantee sensitivity in detecting significant
relationships among measured factors because an error in measurement would weaken the
apparent relationships.
More importantly, further research is obliged to substantiate the present findings by
investigating the causal mechanisms mentioned in the above discussion. These mecha-
nisms would involve assessments of need fulfillment, uncontrollability, and empowerment
concerning low neighborhood quality and its mitigation, types of support, compatibility
and specificity of various types of support, feelings of indebtedness and inferiority,
receptivity to other people’s help, and beliefs in personal and collective efficacy con-
cerning assistance. Such assessments are necessary to enable the analysis of the mediating
and moderating effects proposed by the causal mechanisms. Of particular concern would
be the interaction effects involving kin’s support, neighbors’ support, and hired support for
illuminating the task-specific model and bottleneck model. Alternative, notably qualitative
methods, other than the statistical analysis of survey data, are helpful in the illumination of
details.

6.2 Implications

To sustain the morale of residents affected by urban renewal, two mitigation measures
worth considering are the mobilization of support from kin and neighbors and the reduction
of the deterioration of amenity quality in the area under renewal. Kin’s assistance deserves
maintenance and promotion by people concerned with the preparations for urban renewal
as the assistance generates an unconditional benefit to the morale of residents affected by
the renewal. Accordingly, residents with different levels of neighborhood quality per-
ception and financial resources can benefit from kin’s help. Help from kin is therefore
salutary even for those not distressed by the deteriorating neighborhood quality. The
natural support system provided by the residents’ kin is more helpful than neighbors’
assistance, which is generally not salutary and is salutary only under the conditions of low
amenity quality and low financial resources. Thus, promoting neighbors’ help to poorer
residents under the stress of poor amenity quality is justifiable. This implication endorses

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the assertion that social capital is particularly beneficial to poor people (Grootaert and van
Bastelaer 2002; Riedl and van Winden 2004). It is also in accordance with the public
policy of promoting social capital among poor people (Hulse and Stone 2007). Social
capital among neighbors, particularly those without homeownership, high family income,
and access to quality amenities, is therefore worth preservation in the relocation of resi-
dents due to urban renewal. Help from kin and neighbors, therefore, can be a means of
mitigating the adverse social impact of urban renewal. Promotion of help from kin and
neighbors is especially necessary for residents with younger age, living in a part of a room,
and a blue-collar occupation, because of their deficit in receiving the help.
A more fundamental concern than the mitigation of the negative impact of urban
renewal is the prevention or remediation of deteriorating amenity quality due to urban
renewal. While deteriorating amenity quality would lower the residents’ morale, a decline
in environmental quality would not. As such, the negative impact of urban renewal on the
residents’ morale does not stem from the negative impact on the physical environment. The
social impact of urban renewal is therefore distinguishable from the environmental impact
and these impacts would require different ways of resolution. To prevent or mitigate the
social impact, sustaining quality in amenities or the social environment is crucial. In
contrast, the maintenance and management of environmental quality is less helpful than are
those of amenities to sustain residents’ morale during urban renewal. This implication is
consonant with emphasis on the maintenance of amenities in long-term urban planning,
because of the entrenchment of consumer society (Glaeser and Gottlieb 2006; Storper and
Manville 2006). Accordingly, urbanites are reliant on amenities to support their livelihood,
notably during the stress of urban renewal.
At the society or community level, promotion of social capital is justifiable for alle-
viating the demoralization due to urban renewal. Social capital derived from neighbors
would compensate for the lack of financial capital to benefit the needy. Besides, consol-
idating extended kin networks is an important component of strengthening social capital.
Development of kin and neighbor network echoes the approach to social capital building in
urban renewal policy (Hall and Hickman 2002). Apart from building informal networks,
urban development requires the supply of quality amenities that are immune to the impact
of urban renewal. One possibility is to foster the establishment of amenities in structures
and places unaffected by urban renewal, such as installing amenities in newly built
commercial centers (Kelly and Becker 2000). Such installations need to precede urban
renewal in order to make amenities available to the residents facing renewal.

Acknowledgments This paper evolves from the research project (#9040778) funded by the Research
Grant Committee of Hong Kong.

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