Amazing pictures of high-density in Hong Kong
I came across an interesting collection of photos of high-density housing in Hong Kong (thank you, Spacing Toronto), some very aesthetic pictures. I haven’t spend much time in Hong Kong, and don’t understand the city as I wish I did, but these pictures made me think of something. When discussing the past, present and future of Toronto, the issue of density is omnipresent; personally I am a big fan of higher density in general, for many reasons. It provides access to services, cultures and amenities in an easily accessible, walkable climate that is easy to serve efficiently with public transit. It also reduces the amount of agricultural or forested land that is paved over. However, many would point to the coldness of the towers at Bay street, and contrast them with the nice houses that line many of Toronto’s downtown streets, their obvious point being that they don’t want to live in a cold city.
Yet, what struck me is that there are few cities as “in your face” and “hot”, with a bustling, teeming life on street level that can be quite exhausting when you first arrive. I am not suggesting turning Toronto into Hong Kong right away (then again…), but perhaps this provides a different model of densification than do the corporate offices on Bay street, and the condos on Front street.
Stian
August 11th, 2009 @ 8:53 am
I’m not sure this amount of high-density development would fly quite so easily, nor in a same trajectory in a North American environment.
There is an idiosyncratic cultural propinquity of Chinese which allow for a *relatively* crimeless co-existence. For example the long-running de-facto political anarchy of the historical Kowloon City in Hong Kong points to a more unified and articulated social conscience which prevented it from collapsing upon itself. It was demolished out of Crown interest of political stability.
The long and arduous process of fostering and buttressing community consciousness would be crucial creating a STRONG sense of civicism, which is loaded with contradictive tensions in the face of individualism, absolute privacy, economic self-interest but political apathy en-masse. Otherwise you get the sort of efficient (which is arguable in itself) and ‘cold’ Bay St development you mention, transferred into residential zones.
The economic and political problem is certainly cultural.