# Liber Research Community

Liber Research Community is a non-governmental organization in Hong Kong that focuses on researching land and development policies.

## History

The group was created in 2009 by postgraduates, including Chan Kim-ching, who studied geography and planning.
In 2017, it released a report of about 9,800 houses in the New Territories that were suspected to be involved in the illegal trading of ding rights. In 2020, it found 800 more village houses that were suspected to be illegally traded within the past 2 years.
In 2018, it published a research report stating that the government had underestimated the amount of brownfield sites in the New Territories, with the government estimating 1,300 hectares, and Liber Research Community finding 1,521 hectares. Additionally in 2018, it found that around 300 hectares of government land was underutilized.
In 2019, it released research where HK $9.4 billion of stamp duty was exempted in the past 10 years, when property buyers used companies to buy and sell properties via shares transfers.
In 2021, it determined that nano flats, defined as units below 260 square feet, accounted for 13% of all new units in 2019, and were the result of government policies, including the reduction the amount of windows required in an apartment. SCMP later released an opinion piece based on the research, stating that construction of nano flats should be curbed.
In May 2021, it released a report titled Research Report on Development Potential of Vacant Small House Land, which determined that of a total of 3,380 hectares of village-type land, 1,548.8 hectares were idle and privately owned, with a separate 932.9 hectares of idle land belonging to the government. It determined that of the 1,548.8 hectares of privately owned idle land, 149.1 hectares appeared to be scheduled for illegal development of small houses, where collusion between developers and villagers was likely.
In June 2021, it released Missing Brownfields- Hong Kong Brownfields Report 2021, a collaborative report with Greenpeace East Asia where together, they found a total of 1,950 hectares of brownfield sites, 379 more hectares than the government was previously able to locate.

## Research topics

According to its website, it lists 5 primary research areas:
* Hong Kong Land Research
* Housing Policy Research
* Open Government Research
* Food Safety Research
* Hong Kong-China Relation Research

## Publications

Research Reports :
| # | Year | Name |
| 1 | 2013 | Myth and Reality: Land Problem in Hong Kong |
| 2 | 2014 | Tyranny of the land leasing: Case Study on the Short-Term Lease Arrangement in Mashipo, Hong Kong |
| 3 | 2015 | No Place for Home: New Perspectives For The Long Term Housing Strategy in Hong Kong |
| 4 | 2015 | Hydroponics in Focus: A Study on Hong Kong’s Emerging Hydroponics Industry |
| 5 | 2016 | Brownfield Sites in Hong Kong 2015: tracing causes, distributions and possible policy framework |
| 6 | 2017 | Leasing for the Few: Exploring Short Term Tenancy Sites by Tycoons in Hong Kong |
| 7 | 2018 | Research report on abuse of small house policy by selling Ding Rights |
| 8 | 2018 | A Study on the Development Potential of Brownfield in the New Territories |
| 9 | 2018 | Your Real Choice: Honest Consultation on Land Supply |
| 10 | 2018 | Tracking the tax dodgers: a study on avoidance of residential property tax by share transfer in Hong Kong |
| 11 | 2018 | Missing Option: Research on Temporary Use and Vacant Government Land in Hong Kong |
| 12 | 2018 | Study on the Ownership of Fish Ponds in North West New Territories |
| 13 | 2018 | Brownfields in Time: Tracing the course of Brownfields expansion in the New Territories |
| 14 | 2020 | Abuse of the Small House Policy: Revisited 2020 |
| 15 | 2021 | A decade of compression- Hong Kong nano-flat study 2010-2019 |
| 16 | 2021 | Research Report on Development Potential of Vacant Small House Land |
| 17 | 2021 | Missing Brownfields- Hong Kong Brownfields Report 2021 |
Books :
| # | Year | Name | ISBN |
| 1 | 2013 | 不是土地供應 - 香港土地問題的迷思與真象 | 978-988-12005-0-1 |
| 2 | 2016 | 棕跡 | 978-988-14095-2-2 |