General / Off-Topic It certainly isnt a Fantasy city

[Minti2]

I was just reading article about how many people/family's live in the tiniest rooms in Hong kong.
Its a far cry from city planning we all hope for the future that aspire to basic human needs and wants, these pics are like the ones we envisage in a dystopian era but are now.

I knew other citys like Tokyo have similar problems, maybe its the way it will go with many large city's due to increased population, being selfish am glad i live where i do, if my house(ex council) was placed there in Hong Kong it would probable serve several family's homing needs! mind boggling.

Ps i do know how overcrowded it is in the world, but the pic of so many high rises in a small space below still surprised me.

 

[Ashley Barley]

That's an amazing picture, urbanisation and how settlements evolve is something I find extremely interesting. I actually spent a good chunk of my infanthood in Hong Kong (although I don't remember a huge amount), the main driving factor of population density in settlements for Hong Kong and Japan comes down simply to a lack of land. Hong Kong is an extremely small place and whilst in land-terms Japan is quite large, 70% of the country is too mountainous for development.

You'd probably find reading about Kowloon Walled City interesting; it is a location in Hong Kong that was demolished in the 90's but in its time it was the most densely populated human settlement in the world (over 33,000 people in an area less than 7 acres in size!). It was also situated in something of a loop-hole, which meant that it did not come under the jurisdiction of either Hong Kong or China and was therefore completely ungoverned.

This lack of governance meant that a lot of fugitives and criminal organisations used to set up shop there, and the city is widely considered to be the inspiration for a lot of the visions of dystopian cities that are seen in popular fiction (particularly anime). There was no established infrastructure (such as rubbish removal), utilities were mostly tapped illegally from nearby grids, and given how dense it was combined with its high-rise skyline very little natural light reached down to ground level- so it was also very dark.

Here are a few pictures:

 

[Cathy]

Wow - incredible how that first of the three pics looks like someone carved it. Here, and no further... like someone baked it in a big rectangular cake tin. And it sank a little in the middle.

 

[Minti2]

@Ashley Barley...They are amazing pictures of Kowloon, its like its own walled fortress set in another city.
From your description and having a look online about it, its definitely not somewhere i would feel safe looking around, maybe some amazing photo opportunity's mind if it were still standing.

I can see how the place may have had influence to sci-fi films, from that third photo of the alleyway it could almost be a scene from Blade-runner (maybe i wouldn't want to wander there!) in the films they always look more cooler, real life tends not to be that way!

I looked on Amazon, and found there are a few books about Kowloon before it was pulled down, will see if i can get one for my Kindle app, be interesting to read more about life there and hopefully some more photos to look at to, cheers for the lead.

@Cathy, yeah agree strange picture but fascinating, i like reading up on factual life on places like this, again makes me thankful i live where i do after reading

 

[Ashley Barley]

Wow - incredible how that first of the three pics looks like someone carved it. Here, and no further... like someone baked it in a big rectangular cake tin. And it sank a little in the middle.

It was developed right up to the boundary of the jurisdiction, not a scrap of space wasted! I believe the bit in the middle (where it is sunken) is either a temple or a school.

@Ashley Barley...They are amazing pictures of Kowloon, its like its own walled fortress set in another city.

Incidentally I believe it was originally a fortress, which is probably also the cause of its unusual boundary laws.

 

[Slawkenbergius]

I stumbled on an interesting story recently about houses being illegally built on rooftops in China.

 

[Perseus]

Totally surreal - fascinating and humbling at the same time.
Houses on the roof, I can't decide if they are madness or genius. It looks so wrong but it seems so right.

 

[Sir.Tj]

That's fascinating, can you imaginge what the reaction would be if it started happening here in the UK?

 

[Cathy]

Hmm, can't see any garages... wonder why?

 

[Minti2]

Some nice eye openers for sure Slawkenbergius, the add-on mountain one in Beijing looks stunning, but how the hell did he get so much rock up there without anyone noticing? lol

Isnt it somewhere in America(might be New York) where the disused tram lines outside have been converted into long garden/public pathways? i remember seeing pics that looked lovely.

 

[Sir.Tj]

but how the hell did he get so much rock up there without anyone noticing? lol.

 

[Minti2]

@T.j Lmao! ive now got that theme tune going off in my head to!

 

[Sir.Tj]

@T.j Lmao! ive now got that theme tune going off in my head to!

So have I now.

 

[Frank]

Hmm, can't see any garages... wonder why?

Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.

 

[Sir.Tj]

Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.

Great Scott!!



But You really can't believe how they can get away with it for so long. Has any ever caused a collapse of a building?