2

3INDEX3 Index

5 The city of today - introduction

7 7 billion and counting9 Were now seven billion13 The endless city

15 The Peoples Republic of China

17 The development in China20 Measuring growth21 Why the productivity boom

23 The Pearl River Delta

25 Full speed ahead31 Shenzhens rapid growth33 - 47 Impressions from Pearl River Delta

49 Hong Kong

51 Brief introduction to Hong Kong55 Hong Kongs past / Land reclamation67 High density - small footprint71 Worlds most concentraded and vertical city73 Vertical expansion / Definition of ground in HK75 Multiple layers77 Kowloon Walled City

79 Traditional Housing: The Pang Uk Settlements

81 Tai O Village83 Pang Uk - Houses

87 The Hong Kong tower typology

95 Land reclamations

97 Shortage of buildable land

99 Visiting family Wong

105 Interview with Catherine Wong

109 Vertical and volumetric - Concluding the Hong Kong analyze

115 Isnt there a better way? - Concluding the issues119 Erasing traditional structures121 Lack of living quality123 Lack of community spaces125 Shortage of buildable land127 Access to water129 Podium - tower typology

131 Hypothesis

133 Reference Projects and Concepts134 Metabolism135 Kyonori Kikutake 137 The Skyhouse139 Arata Isozaki - Clusters in the Air141 Herman Hertzberger - Centraal Beher143 El Lissitzki - Cloud Iron145 Constantin Nieuwenhuys - New Babylon

147 Project site

149 Overview151 Site outline153 Building pattern155 Green pattern157 Transportation network159 Density161 Reclamation163 Terrain heights

165 Basic design strategy

171 Applying of concept on site173 Altering currnet building situation175 Replacing Building with Park177 Extension of Land and Park179 Extended Park above Water-surface to create Continuum181 Lower Levels: Programatic Topics - Sequence183 Connection to Public Transportation Network185 Grid187 Cores / Supporting Structure189 Artificial Landscape Platform195 1st Platform Level197 2nd Platform Level199 3rd Platform Level201 Apartment Boxes203 Public Livingrooms205 Public Balcony207 Access to Water209 Overview Rendering211 Lower Level Rendering213 Connection to City - Rendering

215 Plan Drawings

249 Section

253 Energy, Water, Light

257 Light and Shadow259 Sunlight Diagram261 Access to Light in Lower Levels

263 Porosity and access to natural daylight

265 Area plan271 Phasing

275 Zoom-in

279 Apartment Layout Type I281 Facade Mockup283 Construction Principle - Section 285 Plan Apartment Block - Type I287 Plan Apartment Block - Variation as Office289 Elevation Apartment Block - Type I291 Section Apartment Block - Type I293 Apartment Layout Type II295 Plan Apartment Block - Type II297 Duplex Apartment Principle299 Elevation Apartment Block - Type II301 Section Apartment Block - Type II303 Project Data

305 Model Photographs

323 List of References

41950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

2030

developing countries

The worlds changing urban population

By 2005, 70 percent of the urban population lived in cities in developing countries. Expected to increase to 80 per cent by 2030, this share is more than double what it was in 1950.

developed countries

Diag.001 Diag.002

0

+2

-20 10 20

20urban population in mio.

average urban growth in percent (2000 - 2005)

Thailand

IndiaVietnam

Bangladesh

Afghanistan

China

Indonesia

PhilippinesIran

JapanMexico

Saudi ArabiaKuweit

Singapore

Germany

Brasil

Russia

USA

Hong Kong

100

300

500

30 40 50 60 70

AsiaEurope

AfricaNorth AmericaLatin America

80 90 100%

+4

+6

1 billion +

100 million +

50 million +

25 million +

10 million +

1 million +

< 1 million

5is growing.

According to calculations by the United Nations in 2006, the world-wide urban population has reached 3.3 billion which means that more than half of the world population are living in cities then in rural areas.We can experience this trend since around 30 years since an unusual expansive form of urbanization and a rapid growth of cities worldwide has emerged. We can speak now of both the urbanization of the entire globe and the globalization of urbanism as a way of life.

The urban-rural tipping-point was reached in 2006, however, is just one measure of a much more extensive, focused and accelerating urbaniza-tion process that has been spreading over the entire Earths surface for at least the past 30 years. The urbanization of the world has brought with it new terms to describe what were conventionally called cities and metropolitan regions.

The term world city emerged early in the 1960s to reflect the increas-ing global influences on urban life.

In the early 1990s, the concept of the global city began to be widely used for the most influential financial command centers of the global economy. More recently, the worlds largest agglomerations have taken on several additional descriptions. The term which is used most often is the global city region, defined as a new metropolitan form charac-terized by sprawling polycentric networks of urban centers clustered around one or more urban cores, as seen for example in the Pearl River Delta in southeast China with its growing cities which can be seen almost as one big mega city which forms and defines several centers like Guangzhou, Shenzhen and as its forerunner in terms of urbanization and development, Hong Kong.

The urban development in the Pearl River Delta is special in many ways. Due to its historical context, the situation emerged that Hong Kong, as the tipping point and entry gate to the whole region, even as a gate to whole China, developed in an extensive level since the 1970 while other cities in the region where just about to expand as Den Xiaoping introduced his policy of opening up to the western markets and started the Great Leap Forward

This rapid expansion allowed prosperity and development to the cities, they began growing in an enormous pace. Shenzhen for example grew from about 30.000 inhabitants in the beginning of the 1980s to around 10.000.000 today.This development and growth lead to problems, due to the enormous need for living space and due to the high number of rural workers moving to the cities to find work in the many factories in the Pearl River Delta, the cities explode and grew in an almost unplanned matter.Situations we can witness today in Guangzhou or Shenzhen are already on an much further developed level in Hong Kong. The urban develop-ment in terms of building density and use of land is one of the most extreme worldwide.

The main goal for this project for me was to discover and to analyze the current situation in Hong Kong as a forerunner to the worlds growing mega cities.

My proposal aims at reaction directly to the result of my investigation. By traveling to the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong I collected first hand information and was lucky to have opportunities to talk to many people with very different backgrounds. Based on this research I could draw a picture of the situation there today and develop a design proposal trying to tackle some main issues of modern living conditions in a mega city like Hong Kong.

With this book i want to explain the process of my research work and the design definition that followed based on the collected information.

the city of today..

6legendurban agglomerations

> 10,0 million

5,0 - 10,0 million

3,0 - 5,0 million

2,0 - 3,0 million

1,0 - 2,0 million

million cities2006: 408 million cities

77 billion and counting..For the first time in human history, one half of the worlds population will be urban. In 2006 the United Nations stated that the historical change took place and the human race, which started out as collectors and hunters, will turn into an urban species. Humans retreat from the given nature and move into their own creation, the city. From ancient Rome, Worlds first million-city in 5 BC it took almost 1800 years till it got with London and Beijing some successors at a time when industrialization gave the ultimate start signal for rapid urbanization. Today well served and perfectly organized city agglomerations in Europe reached the point of saturation and are loosing out on urban population (e.g. Vienna -55.000 inh./year) while the most underdeveloped and congested South Asian and African cities still experience a demographic explosion. The developing countries are catching up fast with the western developed world and are now overtaking world domi-nant economies like the U.S or Europe. The biggest and fastest growing Country is still China with its massive growth rates over the past 30 years and developing speed that is still ungraspable if you havent witnessed it with you own eyes.

legendurban agglomerations

> 10,0 million

5,0 - 10,0 million

3,0 - 5,0 million

2,0 - 3,0 million

1,0 - 2,0 million

million cities2006: 408 million cities

8

9Were now seven billion

Seven billion people live on next Monday on the planet - and the End of growth is still a long way, says the new World Population Report of the UN. Poor countries fight hunger and poverty, while rich countries such as Germany grow old.Only twelve years it took to make another billion people around the world bring Only in 1999 the global population had exceeded the threshold of six billion. On Monday, the prognosis of the United Nations is the limit for the seventh Billion. Whether it will actually occur as white, of course, no one. The Census Bureau of the U.S. Government example assumes that the seventh billion until the end of March is probably reached in 2012. At 31October would therefore still missing about 30 million. Equally good is possible that it already now more than seven billion there. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has Despite all, at 31 October set - suitable to the World Population Report 2011, the was published on Wednesday.It includes all the opportunities and problems to read that the explosive Population growth in recent decades brings. Humanity is growing accordingly, currently around 80 million per year, which corresponds roughly to the population of Ger-many.The UNFPA estimates that by mid-century and 9.3 billion by 2100 more than ten billion people will enter. People are living longer and healthier lives The uncertainties are large, however: The more one looks into the future, the larger gape the results of the UN scenarios apart. Could it be that the birth rate in the populous countries vary only slightly higher than expected, it could take place in 2050 9.3 and 10.6 billion people to give - and 2100 even 15 billion. A scenario with other Requirements states, however, that the world population al-ready in 2045 with its 8.1 billion Zenith reached by 2100 and to nearly 6.2 billion shrinks.

According to the UNFPA Asia by the year 2100 the most populous by far Remain continent. Today there live about 4.2 billion people, more than in any other Regions of the world to-gether. Richest countrys population is currently China with 1.35 billion Residents in India with 1.24 billion. As early as 2025 but India is expected with 1.46 billion Residents because of the one-child policy in China are fed up front, while China expected to stagnate almost 1.39 billion.Global population growth is expected to lose but years to ride. In the sixties Years ago there was still more than two percent per year, today it is only slightly more than one percent. The new World Population Report also contains other very good news. Thus, the average life expectancy in the fifties had amounted only 48 years in first decade of the new millennium, they have reached 68 years. The number of children per Wife was in the same period fell from 6 to 2.5, the infant mortality from 133 to 46 per Decreased 1000th In addition, vac-cination campaigns have the spread of childhood diseases greatly reduced. People are liv-ing longer and healthier lives, says former Nigerian Health Minister Babatunde Osotimehin and UNFPA chief.

Population growth in the wrong places These factors have also really positive to the rapid population growth the past decades contributed - and that often takes place in countries that it is really can not afford. Interfere in some of the poorest countries with high birth rates to develop and strengthen poverty, said UNFPA. A figure illustrates the dilemma: The population of Africa is, according to the UN forecast for Rise in 2100 of a billion today to 3.6 billion. Even in the low scenario The UN is 2.3 billion, even in high excess of five billion. In turn, the Asia Population according to forecasts by the middle of the century, a maximum of just more than five billion achieve and then slowly shrink.In Europe, the apex is already expected in 2025 with 740 million. There, so warn the United Nations, at risk, low birth rates, economic growth andSocial systems. It gets even Germany felt. According to a study by the Bertelsmann Foun-dation, the was also released on Wednesday, the population of 2030, the limit is 80 Million less, 2060 will be only 65 to 70 million. The number of people over 80 -year-olds will increase nationwide by 2030 to almost 60 percent in Berlin and Brandenburg even almost double. Aging in Germany falls well ahead overall, it said. By 2030, his half of the population older than 49 years.UNFPA also Osotimehin chief warned of the consequences of the changing population structure. Today, 893 million people older than 60, he said. In the middle of the cen-tury this figure to rise to 2.4 billion. This would be tripling every asked what he could do for the elderly so that they continue to play an active role in society. Simultaneously are today but also 43 percent of people younger than 25 years old, in some countrieseven 60 percent. Throughout my life, the worlds population has almost tripled,

Osotimehin said, who came in 1949 with the world. We are seven billion people, with seven Billion opportunity.

10

11

A planet seven billion people and it grows and grows and grows:

In 2011 the world population has the Seven-Billion mark broken. In the coming decades, billions moreadded - and this despite the fact that mankind already consumes more resources than the earth can provide long-term.At 31 October 2011 was earthlings number 7.000.000.000 to the world - at least that proclaimed by the United Nations. Exactly, of course, no one knows whether the threshold has not been previously been achieved or it takes a little longer. However, the date is highly symbolic:The world population has taken a full twelve years, from six to seven billion To grow peo-ple.How many people on Earth live is ultimately of secondary importance. What really matters is their Consumption - and is already far too high. Researchers believe that humanity currently one and a half times as many resources claimed, as the earth holds.And the end of the story is far from being reached: by 2050 it is forecast by the Uno give some nine billion people by 2100 there could be ten billion. thelargest growth will occur in Asia - just there,

Soon, there are ten billion people on earth

The world population is changing dramatically: According to a new forecast to be on it 31st October will give seven billion people in 90 years, even tens of billions. Africa and India lay too extreme, Germany and China, by contrast, almost halved. It threatens serious food shortages.Berlin - Africa is in the next 90 years before a dramatic increase in population, The number of people living in Europe is shrinking, however more and more. The findings of a new projection of the United Nations show that the German Foundation for World Population (DSW) on Tuesday presented in Berlin. The world population of nearly seven billion There-fore people will rise to 10.1 billion by 2100. Previously, the United Nations of 200 Million fewer people expected as a result of the dramatic population growth be increased poverty and higher food prices means fear.The population growth is taking place almost exclusively in developing countries, as said. In Africa alone will be the population at 1.02 billion expected by today almost 3.6 billion people in 2100 more than tripled. In Europe, however, Population decline: Life here is still 738 million people, it will be in 90 years expected to be only 674 million people, as is evident from the forecast.Germany 2100 will be under the same birth rates in spite of moderate immigration 38 Million people are less - half the population, almost. China was in 2100 even half a bil-lion fewer people than today, said Deputy Director of the UN Population Division, Thomas Buettner. India, China will likely already in 2021 to overtake as the most populous country in the world.

By 2050 the world population is growing DSW forecast to more rapidly than previously thought. Currently living almost seven billion people on earth, so are Accordingly, 2050 will be 9.3 billion it already.The prognosis of the UN is to actually set a date: December 31 October 2011 to the Calculated that the seven billion mark for the first time be broken, as the Deputy Director of the UN Population Division, Thomas Buettner said. Though Buttner admitted, the date must be understood as a symbol for the continuous global Population growth noted. There was a statistical extrapolation, could accurately the day can not be determined.While it took 13 years to up to six billion world population of five increased, whether it was now only ten years time before they again increased by one billion is said Buettner. 1962, three billion people were counted.The population is growing in the least developed countries of the worlds fastest, for example in Liberia, Niger and Uganda, said Buettner. The UN projections are based on the Assumption of a declining fertility rate. This means that the average number of children fall per woman in developing countries by 2100 from 2.7 to 2.0 today - in the most least developed countries of 4.4 children to 2.1 children per woman.Despite this trend is the UN believes that at present the fastest 20 life-growing countries by the year 2100 approximately five times more people than today.The fight against poverty is much more difficult, said Buettner. The decrease in the num-ber of children but is not guaranteed, said managing director of DSW Renate Baehr. The fact is that family planning is in short supply in developing countries, and internationally that less money will be made available. would be alone in developing countries Prevent 215 million women like to, but had no way to do so.

12

Endless City

The UN-HABITAT report State of World Cities 2008/09 claims that the phenomenon of the so-called Endless City could be one of the most significant challenges for the way people live and econo-mies operate in the next 50 years. The biggest confrontations are not faced by the people who move to the cities voluntarily but by the ones that stay on the countryside and get caught and incorporated by the giant urban dough the Endless City.

There is no master plan or project. The Endless City is the sto-chastic result of a myriad of minds and originates by people from all cultures. Planning becomes only evident at connections points be-tween systems: e.g. dissimilar track gauges have to be bridged. The more the Endless City expands, the higher our awareness about the till now unaffected parts. The Amazon, the tundra and the polar caps as well as worlds deserts get our unbroken attention since they embody our pre-urban past. All planning attempts are reduced to damage control. While the outskirts (developing world) see the Endless City as a threat, the centers (developed world) see it as chance to streamline energy consumption, urban transport and cultural exchange. The principal author of the UN report, Eduardo Lpez Moreno, states "that the world's largest 40 megalopolis cover a tiny fraction of the planets habitable surface with fewer than 18% of the world's popu-lation but account for 66% of all economic activity and about 85% of technological and scientific innovation" .

The Endless city is spanning the entire northern hemisphere and con-sists of four major city centers: the saturated urban core of Europe, the future center of Endless City, Asia I&II and the saturated core of America. The urban centers in the south remain geographically iso-lated from this urban ring in the north but have the future advantage of close proximity to unique natural resorts and resources.

13

The endless city - Problems of urban sprawl

As the worlds population is growin, people are continousily moving towards the cities. As mentioned before, after reaching the tip-ping point of more then 50% of the worlds population now living in an urban context, the phenomenon on urban sprawl becomes more and more significant.

The decline of the American suburb is a good example of the problems that a wide spread of the city into the surounding area causes. the distances towards the city center and the work places for most people are quite far, takes a long times and consumes a high amount of energy.The people have to move towards the city in order to reach their place of work on time and without spending major costs on trans-portation. With the rising fuel prices and an end of the oil age in sight, we need to reorganize our usage of land.

The American idea of the suburban city as living space in the green with long distances to the city and work environment, reached by a personal car on braod highways is outdated. It consumes way to much energy , time and other recourses. The globat trend of the dying suburbia and growing city centers is ongoing. In order to counter this developement we have to densify the urban centers to maximise the useage of space.

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

2030

developing countries

The worlds changing urban population

By 2005, 70 percent of the urban population lived in cities in developing countries. Expected to increase to 80 per cent by 2030, this share is more than double what it was in 1950.

developed countries

Diag.001 Diag.002

0

+2

-20 10 20

20urban population in mio.

average urban growth in percent (2000 - 2005)

Thailand

IndiaVietnam

Bangladesh

Afghanistan

China

Indonesia

PhilippinesIran

JapanMexico

Saudi ArabiaKuweit

Singapore

Germany

Brasil

Russia

USA

Hong Kong

100

300

500

30 40 50 60 70

AsiaEurope

AfricaNorth AmericaLatin America

80 90 100%

+4

+6

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15

THE PEOPLESREPUBLIC

OF CHINA

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16

THE DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA

In the less than 30 years since 1980, the number of urban citizens in China has increased by 400 million, and urbanization has risen from 19.4 per cent to 43.9per cent in 2006. This makes the intense rate and immense speed of urbanization in China the countrys most impressive feature.The starting point for the politicization of Chinese society and economic institutions occurred in 1949 when the communist regime was established with the rural besieging of the urban, cities came to be regarded as the cradle of capitalism and were strictly controlled. In the 30 years that followed, development of cities stagnated. In 1980, the rate of Chinese urbanization, at 20 per cent, was less than half that of most devel-oped countries.The reasons for the stagnation of the Chinese cities can be found in the replication of the Soviet model of the planned economy which lead to excessive targeted outputs of agrar goods and a strict regulation of the market and strict regulations on foreign trade.

Scenes from Last Train Home, 2009 by Lixin Fan

17

More than 200 million people have moved to major cities over the past 14 years. however, between 150 million and 300 million unregistered migrant workers, the so called floating popu-lation, remain unaccounted for in the urbanization process. This is the most outstanding character-istic of disruption in Chinas urbanization process. The industrialization process, with low wages and poor welfare, is insufficient to maintain living standards for those on low incomes in the cities. With the restriction of permanent migration to the cities, migratory peasant workers become the primary labor force supporting urbanization, instead of its targeted population.As for this growing population living space was needed, the cities grew rapidly. There was a huge demand for cheap and effective living space. Millions of square meters of ever repeating housing towers arose in the cities, often way below acceptable living standards or even sustain-able concepts to decrease the pollution of the environment.

For most generations of peasant workers who had to move to the cities, this process of moderni-zation and change of lifestyle went too fast. Often the young had to leave the villages in order to find work in the cities to support their families thousands of kilometers away. This unbalance in separating social classes tops in the every year mass movement during the Chinese New Year. (see still images below from the movie: Last Train Home by Lixin Fan)

Especially in the Pearl River Delta the number of peasant workers who come here in order to find work and make money to support the education of their kid and to support their parents at home in the village is one of the highest in China. The Pearl River Delta became to most important area in China to produce electronic goods such as the iPhone or other high tech products.The proximity to Hong Kong, the hub to the western world, caused this region to flourish and the cities in the Pearl River Delta to grow rapidly.

This had initiated capital injections for Chinas rapid industrialization, but had not been conducive to the healthy and sustainable development of agriculture and cities. China drew income mainly from agriculture and the acceleration of industrialization. In the 1950 - 1970s, a communist, counter-urbanization process forced millions of people to ether stay within the town they were born or to move from the cities to the countryside to fulfill the communist idea of an agricultural based country.

In 1978, a new process of Chinese urbanization was started by Deng Xiaopings Open Door Policy, a process that was to accelerate in 1992. During the initial phase of the policy in the 1980s, the economic reformation was carried out in rural areas, and the na-tion explored economic growth through the model of the Planned Economy by establishing Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in coastal cities which meant opening upthe market to trade, communication and investment with the outside world.

The development of the cities enabled China to transform from an manly agriculture based country to an industrial. The advantage of millions of cheap peasants, who are willing to work in factories for low wages created a boom in the production sector, mainly for foreign companies who used the cheap labor force to produce almost any kind of product in China. Soon the label Made in China was found an a growing number of goods all over the world. The former agricultural economy changed to a production and export economy, allowing the country to get richer, to develop its cities, infrastructure and industry.

Leaving the countryside for the city, and the village for the town caused the official ad-ministrative status of villages to shift and become more urbanized as they were assimilated into expanding cities urban territories, or as the result of returning migrant workers building town-like settlements.They became big villages and then later upgraded to township status, again increasing the total population of towns and cities. Flourishing village enterprises increased the number of urban people, as many enterprise managers had the opportunity to change their peasant status to citizen status. However, the core concept of urban development was to control the scale of large cities, modest devel-opment of medium-size cities and active development of small cities.

Leaving the land not

the village - slogan

launched during the

industrial revolution

in the eighties

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20

China as fastest growing economy - Why Is China Growing So Fast?

In 1978, after years of state control of all productive assets, the government of China em-barked on a major program of economic reform. In an effort to awaken a dormant economic giant, it encouraged the formation of rural enterprises and private businesses, liberalized foreign trade and investment, relaxed state control over some prices, and invested in industrial production and the education of its workforce. By nearly all accounts, the strategy has worked spectacularly.While pre-1978 China had seen annual growth of 6 percent a year (with some painful ups and downs along the way), post-1978 China saw average real growth of more than 9 per-cent a year with fewer and less painful ups and downs. In several peak years, the economy grew more than 13 percent. Per capita income has nearly quadrupled in the last 15 years, and a few analysts are even predicting that the Chinese economy will be larger than that of the United States in about 20 years. Such growth compares very favorably to that of the Asian tigers--Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan Province of China--which, as a group, had an average growth rate of 7-8 percent over the last 15 years.

Curious about why China has done so well, an IMF research team recently examined the sources of that nations growth and arrived at a surprising conclusion. Although capital accu-mulation--the growth in the countrys stock of capital assets, such as new factories, manufactur-ing machinery, and communications systems--was important, as were the number of Chinese workers, a sharp, sustained increase in productivity (that is, increased worker efficiency) was the driving force behind the economic boom. During 1979-94 productivity gains accounted for more than 42 percent of Chinas growth and by the early 1990s had overtaken capital as the most significant source of that growth. This marks a departure from the traditional view of development in which capital investment takes the lead. This jump in productivity originated in the economic reforms begun in 1978.

Measuring Growth

Economists studying China face thorny theoretical and empirical issues, mostly deriving from the countrys years of central planning and strict government control of many industries, which tend to distort prices and misallocate resources. In addition, since the Chinese na-tional accounting system differs from the systems used in most Western nations, it is difficult to derive internationally comparable data on the Chinese economy. Figures for Chinese eco-nomic growth consequently vary depending on how an analyst decides to account for them.Although economists have many ways of explaining--or modeling--economic growth, a com-mon approach is the neoclassical framework, which describes how productive factors such as capital and labor combine to generate output and which offers analytical simplicity and a well-developed methodology. Although commonly applied to market economies, the neo-classical model has also been used to analyze command economies. It is an appropriate first step in looking at the Chinese economy and yields useful benchmark estimates for future research. The framework does, however, have some limitations in the Chinese context.Original data for the new IMF research came from material released from the State Sta-tistical Bureau of China and other government agencies. Problematically, the component statistics used to compile the Chinese gross national product (GNP) have been kept only since 1978; before that, Chinese central planners worked under the concept of gross social output (GSO), which excluded many segments of the economy counted under GNP. Fortu-nately, China also compiled an intermediate output series called national income, which lies somewhere between GNP and GSO and is available from 1952 to 1993. After making appropriate adjustments to the national income statistics, including adjusting for indirect business taxes, these data can be used to analyze the sources of Chinese economic growth.

A Surprising Find

Much previous research on economic development has suggested a significant role for capital investment in economic growth, and a sizable portion of Chinas recent growth is in fact attributable to capital investment that has made the country more productive. In other words, new machinery, better technology, and more investment in infrastructure have helped to raise output. Yet, although the capital stock grew by nearly 7 percent a year over 1979-94, the capital-output ratio has hardly budged. In other words, despite a huge expenditure of capital, production of goods and services per unit of capital remained about the same. This pronounced lack of capital deepening suggests a constrained role for capital. The labor input--an abundant resource in China--also saw its relative weight in the economy decline. Thus, while capital formation alone accounted for over 65 percent of pre-1978 growth, with labor adding another 17 percent, together they accounted for only 58 percent of the post-1978 boom, a slide of almost 25 percentage points. Productivity increases made up the rest.

21

It turns out that it is higher productivity that has per-formed this newest economic miracle in Asia. Chinese productivity increased at an annual rate of 3.9 per-cent during 1979-94, compared with 1.1 percent during 1953-78. By the early 1990s, productivitys share of output growth exceeded 50 percent, while the share contributed by capital formation fell below 33 percent. Such explosive growth in productivity is remarkable--the U.S. productivity growth rate aver-aged 0.4 percent during 1960-89--and enviable, since productivity-led growth is more likely to be sus-tained. Analysis of the pre- and post-1978 periods in-dicates that the market-oriented reforms undertaken by China were critical in creating this productivity boom.The reforms raised economic efficiency by introducing profit incentives to rural collective enterprises (which are owned by local government but are guided by market principles), family farms, small private business-es, and foreign investors and traders. They also freed many enterprises from constant intervention by state authorities. As a result, between 1978 and 1992, the output of state-owned enterprises declined from 56 percent of national output to 40 percent,while the share of collective enterprises rose from 42 to 50 per-cent and that of private businesses and joint ventures rose from 2 to 10 percent. The profit incentives ap-pear to have had a further positive effect in the private capital market, as factory owners and small produc-ers eager to increase profits (they could keep more of them) devoted more and more of their firms own revenues to improving business performance.

Chinas recent productivity performance is remarka-ble. By comparison, productivity growth for the Asian tigers hovered around 2 percent, sometimes slightly more, for the 1966-91 period. Chinas rate of almost 4 percent simply puts it in a class by itself.

Why the Productivity Boom?

Exactly how did Chinas economic reforms work to boost productivity, especially in an econ-omy still burdened by extensive government controls? In the important rural sector the story is particularly interesting.Prior to the 1978 reforms, nearly four in five Chinese worked in agriculture; by 1994, only one in two did. Reforms expanded property rights in the countryside and touched off a race to form small nonagricultural businesses in rural areas. Decollectivization and higher prices for agricultural products also led to more productive (family) farms and more efficient use of labor. Together these forces induced many workers to move out of agriculture. The resulting rapid growth of village enterprises has drawn tens of millions of people from traditional agriculture into higher-value-added manufacturing.Further, the post-1978 reforms granted greater autonomy to enterprise managers. They became more free to set their own production goals, sell some products in the private market at competi-tive prices, grant bonuses to good workers and fire bad ones, and retain some portion of the firms earnings for future investment. The reforms also gave greater room for private ownership of production, and these privately held businesses created jobs, developed much-wanted con-sumer products, earned important hard currency through foreign trade, paid state taxes, and gave the national economy a flexibility and resiliency that it did not have before.

By welcoming foreign investment, Chinas open-door policy has added power to the economic transformation. Cumulative foreign direct investment, negligible before 1978, reached nearly US$100 billion in 1994; annual inflows increased from less than 1 percent of total fixed in-vestment in 1979 to 18 percent in 1994. This foreign money has built factories, created jobs, linked China to international markets, and led to important transfers of technology. These trends are especially apparent in the more than one dozen open coastal areas where foreign inves-tors enjoy tax advantages. In addition, economic liberalization has boosted exports--which rose 19 percent a year during 1981-94. Strong export growth, in turn, appears to have fueled productivity growth in domestic industries.In one final area, price reform, the Chinese have proceeded cautiously, granting a fair amount of autonomy to producers of consumer goods and agricultural products but much less to other sectors. Several bouts of inflation have buffeted the Chinese economy in the past two decades, deterring the government from implementing full-scale price liberalization. High rates of growth also raise inflationary worries. Inflation may pose the single greatest threat to Chinese growth, though thus far it has been largely contained.Chinas strong productivity growth, spurred by the 1978 market-oriented reforms, is the leading cause of Chinas unprecedented economic performance. Despite significant obstacles relating to the measurement of economic variables in China, these findings hold up after various tests for robustness. As such, they offer an excellent jumping-off point for future research on the po-tential roles for productivity measures in other developing countries.(Zuliu Hu / Moshin S.Khan, Economic Issues No.8, International Monetary Fund)

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22 Skyline of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, PRD, China

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THE PEARL RIVER DELTA

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The Pearl River Delta (PRD) forms one of the biggest river deltas in the world, formed by three major rivers, the Xi Jiang (West River), Bei Jiang (North River), and Dong Jiang (East River).Until approximately around 1985, the PRD had been mainly dominated by farms and small rural villages, but after the economy was reformed and opened, a flood of investment turned it into the lands economic powerhouse. The PRDs startling growth was fuelled by foreign investment coming largely from Hong Kong manufacturers that moved their operations into the PRD. In 2003, Hong Kong companies employed 11 million workers in their PRD operations.As well as the delta itself, the term Pearl River Delta refers to the dense network of cities that covers nine prefectures of the province of Guangdong, namely Guang-zhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Foshan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing, and the SARs (Special Administrative Region) of Hong Kong and Macau. The 2010/2011 State of the World Cities report, published by the United Nations Human Settlements Program, estimates the population of the delta region at 120 mil-lion people, it is rapidly urbanizing.

The Pearl River Delta has become the worlds workshop and is a major manufacturing base for products such as electronic products (such as watches and clocks), toys, gar-ments and textiles, plastic products, and a range of other goods. Much of this output is invested by foreign entities and is geared for the export market. The Pearl River Delta Economic Zone accounts for approximately one third of Chinas trade value.Private-owned enterprises have developed quickly in the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone and are playing an ever-growing role in the regions economy, particularly after year 2000 when the development environment for private-owned enterprises has been greatly relaxed.Nearly five percent of the worlds goods were produced in the Greater Pearl River Delta in 2001, with a total export value of US$ 289 billion. Over 70,000 Hong Kong companies have their production factories there.FU

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Zhaoqing3.9 Mio.

Guangzhou11.7 Mio.

Foshan3.4 Mio.

Dongguang6.4 Mio.

Huizhou3.9 Mio.

Shenzhen8.9 Mio.

Hong Kong7.1 Mio.

Zhuhai + Macao2.1 Mio.

Zhongshan2.4 Mio.

Jiangmen3.8 Mio.

Deng Xiaoping, the late leader of the Communist Party of China, duringhis landmark visit to Shenzhen SEZ in 1982. Here he is shown with

other officials inspecting the new masterplan for Shenzhen that was totrigger rapid urbanisation for the next seven years.

One City Plan announced by the Chinese govern-ment to combine the major cities in the Pearl River delta into one huge mega city.

This economic power house has a huge demand for working force, for mostly cheap labor for the rural areas of China. Those migrant workers come to the industrial centers like the PRD to find work, to support their families back home, to support their only child while she or he is eager to climb up the social letter for a brighter future.

As the only way possible seemed forward, especially in urban planing. When we travel those cities today it be-comes obvious that little care was taken to create sustainable residential areas in terms of spacial quality , the city planing was simply overwhelmed by the pace of development, by definition, it was an experiment. Deng Xiao Ping started it with his policy of open markets and prosperity for everyone. Today we can see for what price this progress happened. The Pearl River is one of the heaviest polluted rivers in the world, most residential areas seem rather like a slum then like a modern city. the sacrifices for the progress are tremendous. It seems that little care is taken about the urban sprawl, about intelligent urban planning. An indicator for this state of mind is the plan to form one big city out of the major urban conglomerations and cities as in fact, one mega city. Traveling there today we can see that this plan, even officially denied, became reality, the cities melted into each other, no rural areas are left between them.

I was impressed by the enthusiasm the Chinese people still have about progress even the air is barely breathable and traffic is multiplying by around 1000 new cars every day in cities like Guangzhou. This development can be clearly seen as a boom region, and as i was traveling i saw these difficulties and issues already in another state in Hong Kong. Here the development seems at least 30 years ahead, will problems also around 30 years ahead of the developing cities in this area. I started to emphasis on this issue and found major problems on an secondary level. On first glance, Hong Kong seems almost perfect, bright, vibrant, hyper modern but looking a little closer, issues can be found that can be seen as future problems of many cities and growing societies.

27from The Great Leap Forward Harvard Design School Project on the City with Rem Koolhaas, 2002

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29from The Great Leap Forward Harvard Design School Project on the City with Rem Koolhaas, 2002

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31Demographic development in Shenzhen 1979-2010

Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. The City grew from 30.000 in 1980 to around 11.000.000 in 2010

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Shenzhen is one of the fastest-growing cities in China, having leapt from fishing village to a global city in a matter of a couple of decades.

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Massice sonstruction sites are spread all over the country, rising like giants they seem out of human scale.

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The impressive Civic Square in central Shenzhen represents the implementation and combination of traditional architectural elemets with the recent chinese bigness.

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The rather old parts of Shenzhen are barely 30 years old. After the impressive boom on the City due to its declaration as Special Economic Zone the City rose

from around 30.000 people to about 11.000.000 today. The number of actual inhabitants is probably higher as many migrant workers from rural areas come to

Shenzhen to find work in the factories in the Pear River Delta.As Hong Kong can be seen as forerunner to the city development in this area,

most factories are owned by Hong Kong based companies, taking advantage of the cheap labor force from the rural areas.

Shenzhen 1980

Shenzhen 2010

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The rapid growth in Shenzhen lead to extreme conditions. Buildings were built without an actual long term master plan, resulting in narrow streets, almost touching buildings and living conditions close to slum conditions. ph

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Construction sites are present almost everywhere in China. Huge numbers of migrant workers come to the boom regions as the working conditions are still better here then back home in their village.

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One of the older parts of Shenzhen(build around 1985). The houses almost touch, barely and day-light comes through.

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>>The policy is not changed assure and keep fair and just, protect the right of the signed people according to the contract.

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Facade of a housing block in an old part of Guangzhou. Even it seemed a bit woren out, the residential bulidings seems in an human scale and the community seemed vibrant and intact.

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A couple climbing up one of the many underground walkways in modern Guangzhou, blinded by a huge video screen showing commercials and music videos clips.

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An old commercial street in Shenzhen where rather tradi-tional merchant houses form the city fabric. On the lower floors shops are located and on the upper ones people have their apartments between numberous commercial signs.

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HONG KONG

Hong Kong Island was first occupied by British forces in 1841, and then formally ceded from China under the Treaty of Nanjing at the end of the war. Hong Kong

remained a crown colony of the United Kingdom until 1997 when it was returned to China. Hong Kong is known as one of the worlds leading financial capitals also a

major business and cultural hub.

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A brief introduction to Hong Kong

The city-state of Hong Kong was under British colonial ruel since 1841, in 1997 it was given back to Chi-nese control and was transfered into the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Hong Kong. With a land mass of 1104 km2 and a population of around 7 million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated regions in the world. Under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong has a different political system from mainland China, Hong Kongs independent judiciary functions under the common law framework.Ranking third on the international ladder of connectivity, even before cities like Tokyo and Paris, Chep Lak Kok Airport, which is one of the worlds largest and busiest, plays an important role. Most important, however, is Hong Kongs position as an economic powerhouse, and a major logistics and knowledge centre - a member of an elite club of international finance centres, being the worlds third largest after New York and London.

Hong Kong is located at the tip of the Pearl River Delta and functions as the entry point to the whole area. It is an important logistic hug for all sorts of goods produced there and plays a major role as an financial center in Asia and the whole world.

The development of Hong Kong started significantly some 30 - 40 years earlier then the surrounded Cities like Shenzhen or Guangzhou. In the beginning of the 1980s, Shenzhen was just a small town with around 30.000 inhabitants while Hong Kong was already a booming City with several million inhabitants. Today the surrounding cities in mainland China are catching up and over-took Hong Kong at least in terms of population.

The buildable landmass in Hong Kong is very limited due to the extreme terrain. Since the beginning of Hong Kong as a British colony, land reclamation was used to tackle the issues of the rocky terrain which is very difficult to build on. Today this reclamations are reaching a level where the effort to create even land is getting extremely high, the costs in terms of money and environmental problems exceed the value of the new created land.

Socially Hong Kong is facing major problems due to the extremely high costs for living space, the rents skyrocketed and cause serious financial obligations to the people, especially young families which earn too much to get access to subsidized apartments, but earn too little to effort an ap-propriate apartment in an near-center area of Hong Kong.

Most of the constructed apartment buildings contain ever repeating floor plans stacked on top of each other, as high as possible. Those towers are extremely efficient but create only little comfort, they can be seen as living-machines, just good enough to provide acceptable living spaces but are far from something like quality and sustainable dwellings.

The sense for community gets lost in those high rise living blocks. The amount of people living in one buildings is so high that you barely meet or even know your neighbor. Living becomes anonymous and lonely, the living gets reduced to simple functioning in an ever growing city, where survival of the fittest is the daily routine in order to earn enough to survive and sustain the status of living.

52Ladies Market in Mon Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

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Old houses on Hong Kong Island, close to Ken-nedy Town, a region that will be intensly modern-ized and become a major boom region as the metro will be extended to link this part of the city with Central Hong Kong by only a few minutes traveling distance.

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Hong Kongs past

Hong Kong has barely left its youth on a city age scale, the city is still not 170 years old, having grown from a small isolated military trading post on the north side of Hong Kong Island, just 2 km off the coast of China.Hong Kong consists of both mainland and islands, and has been dominated by Chinese culture for many centuries. Under most of the period of British colonial rule, it grew massively in population but modestly in area. Only once during those 156 years did it lose significant population, and that was during World War II under Japanese occupation. Immigrants have been mainly Chinese, and the places rapid growth was in part due to its growing importance as a centre of trade.

Few places in the whole history of cities can match Hong Kongs expansion during the years follow-ing Japanese occupation and in the years surrounding Chinas communist revolution: from 1945 to 1951, the population grew by 210 per cent, from 0.65 million to 2.02 million, after which the city continued to grow by between one-half and one million people per five year period until the mid-1960s. Only in the early years of the twentyfirst century do we see this scale of growth matched in the massive rural to urban migration now underway in China.

Land reclamation

Opportunities for city building were constrained as the landscape of Hong Kong is dominated by rock, steep hills, swamp and cliff coasts.At the time of British settlement, Hong Kong island, from which the metropolis grew, was famously referred to as a barren rock: it had an area of less than 80 km2 whose landform rose steeply from the surrounding sea, and was devoid of any resource to speak of.

Even when the Colony extended towards Victoria Harbour to occupy a fragment of the Asian main-land, the territory remained small - just 1.070 km2 in all - mostly mountain but also with extensive swamp. It is an understatement to say that opportunities for city building were constrained.From the beginning of the British colony of Hong Kong, there has always been a government con-trolled programme of land construction through reclamation as a result from the lack of land to build the growing city.

Today surfaces reclaimed from the sea alone represents no less than 6 per cent of Hong Kongs total land area: between 1887 and 2006, some 67 km2 of sea were converted into land.In short, it has built the equivalent of another Hong Kong Island but arguably more useful in its flat-ness. As Hong Kong consists basically of several large mountainous islands, only 30 per cent of the nation sufficiently flat to readily accommodate urban building: the result is extensive reclamation, particularly for city growth.

Street market squeezed between highrise buildings in central Hong Kong. p

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56View from Hong Kong Central towards Kowloon Bay.

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Shopping street in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong

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Narrow street in central Hong Kong, close to Kennedy Town. Public transprt is motly cov-ered by the old trams that still handle most parts of the public transport in this region. Even though this streets is only around 200 meter away from the coastline, by walking throught it, it is almost impossible to notice the nearness.

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62Residential Block in central Kowloon.

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The contrast between old and new, super modern high density city and the sea creates stunning views and adds a very special atmosphere to this place. ph

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64Residential towers on central Hong Kong Island, built around 1970, showing the density of the typical needle pin houses. ph

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Narrow buildings on small footprints and multiple level terrain are a common sight in Hong Kong. The contrast between the new hyper blocks and the older residential buildings is significant even though the community and liveliness seems much more vibrant in those older residential parts.

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High density - small footprint

Hong Kong developed into a high density small-footprint city - with a popu-lation of 7 million on an urban land area of just 120 km2.This gives a concentration of people approaching 600 per hectare - without doubt, at the top of the city-wide average population density table in the world, and rivalled only by Mumbai and Dhaka. No matter where you may be standing in built Hong Kong, you are likely to be in or between the shadow of towers or other high buildings, yet remain only a few minutes walk to water or mountain (and forest) respectively, most probably both.This contrast and mix between intense urban areas and natural areas seems to create high quality living conditions. The reality is slightly different. The green areas are often on such steep and rocky ground that hte typical Hong Kong urban citizen doesnt go there, they dont use and appreciate the quality of the natural areas nearby. The same with the sea, in most parts the quality of the seaside is completely ignored, there is no access or orientation towards the sea. I witnessed that in most parts of Hong Kong you can not access the seafront, as a pedestrian you are stuck in the system of pathways connecting one shopping mal with the other, creating a permanent flow of people and therefore customers for the commercial areas. Everything seems to be in high pace and optimized towards effectivity and sommercial benefit.

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population density + connection across multiple scales = intensity

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Worlds most concentrated and vertical city

Hong Kongs extreme physical geography, the massiv inflow of population created the need to make extensively use of the buildable ground. As mentioned before, a large part of construction was build on reclamed land - as it is in some parts cheaper and easier to reclaim than to flaten the steep rocky cliffs.

These circumstances limited the buildable land and made it very precious, very high valued. Among other phenomenons, this created the needle pin buildings, moslty apartment buildings on extreme small footprint and with very little space in between them, which are very typical for buildings on Hong Kong Island.

Another example of this verticality are the trams on Hong Kong Island, which are as well, small in footprint but build high. This is due to the fact that these trams need to turn very narrow curves but should have a large passenger capacity. First mooted in 1881, they still today play an important role in the public transport on the recamed areas of Hong Kong Island.

Due to the steep inclinations on Hong Kong Island, a massive outdoor escalator system is installed between the Central Metro Station and the so called Mid Levels, a elevated area on foot of the Peak, the famous mountain on HK island. This escalator system attracts many visitors throughout the year and along it several restaurants and bars opened and made it a famous dining and drinking destination.

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Vertical Expansion

Vertical expansion and intensification are two processes that have dominated Hong Kongs urban growth. Vertical expansion results in ever taller buildings, while intensification brings greater concentration of activities and modes of movement across more levels of the city. Vertical change is something readily apparent - essentially perpendicular extrusions forming new elements in the skyline. Intensification is less obvious, as it is a process concerning use, movement and often the incremental transformation of existing space: above all, it concerns multiple levels and volume.

Definition of ground in Hong Kong

With a shortage of natural land on which to build on, Hong Kong has engaged inreclamation from the earli-est days of British settlement. Pouring sand into the sea is not, however, the only manner in which additional ground can be created,the definition of ground blurs in the context of three dimensional Hong Kong. The only even ground to build on is in fact the claimed land as the terrain of the archipelago of Hong Kong is a formation of steep hills and cliffs. It is common to hap-pen that you enter one building on the ground floor but by exiting the building on the other side you find yourself on the 15th floor above a steep valley or cliff.

The limited buildable land inspired from early on the Hong Kong people to stack functions, build on multiple levels, multiple usage of spaces. This phenomenon might just have been possible to happen in an Chinese cultural background as it is traditionally accepted to live in rather small spaces with many people, unlike in Europe were this kind of density is hardly imaginable and is a challenge for every visitor from a western culture background.

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Multiple Layers

Elevated Pathways are a common sight in central Hong Kong, especially in the dense areas of Central And Kowloon. As the reclaimed, mostly flat ground level layer is ether packed with buildings or streets it makes it difficult to address space for pedestrian movement. The common solution in Hong Kong is to separate the layers of transportation into the vertical.This means that the ground layer is basically for vehicles and short distance pedes-trian paths, then on top the transportation axes for rather long distance travel can be found. ether for vehicles, in form of elevated roadways or for pedestrians in form of elevated walking paths. The underground is obviously mostly for subway or underpasses. Yet the massive underground metro stations of eg. Central or TST spread out so far that they in-clude massive underground shopping streets and create another layer for pedestri-an walking. Further there are underground tunnels and underpasses for ether cars, trains or pedestrians.All in all this complex system provides an extensive usage of space in an three dimensional context to multiply the ground surface, multiply the possibilities of con-nections.The modern, dense city needs those optimized transportation layers in order to cope with the rising demand for connection and accessibility. In peak hours like the morning or around early evening, the necessity for those ex-tensive transport ways is visible by the numerous pedestrians using those facilities mostly at the same time in order to get from or to work.This system is limited of course and needs to be adjusted permanently according to the development of the city and its necessary connections.

As mentioned before, Hong Kong has a relatively long history in densifying the city in order to make maximum use of the given space. The example of the Kow-loon Walled City showed an entity which worked pretty well even though it got demolished because of political and security reasons. The Chinese culture to live relatively close to each other plays a major role for this phenomenon to function.I see this as an example and archetype for the modern city, in terms of three dimensional usage of space.

The circumstances and history of Hong Kong provide a fertile ground for devel-oping and testing further usage of the three dimensional space, taking the given examples, historical tryouts and future needs as framework for a visionary impulse for the development and solutions in the rising metropolis cities in Asia and the whole world.

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KOWLOON WALLED CITY

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Kowloon Walled City

The probably most extreme example of the intense usage of limited space in Hong Kong was the Kowloon Walled City, a block settlement with a population of 33.000 residents within an area of 0.03 km2. After a long period of eviction it was finally demolished in April 1994.

Kowloon Walled City was not only a great example of three-dimensional movements but also of adaptability and intensive mixed use. The minimal spaces in the structure had no constantly transform. A dinner or tea shop would transform into bordello or mah-jong parlour and then into dormitory. The productiontable for noodle making would change for dinner and homework, and later on serve as bed for the whole unity, while a plastic toy factory would double as an illegal den for opium users. No room in Kowloon Walled City could afford to satisfy just one function. The rooms varied in size but even the smallest room would have had to satisfy many func-tions during a 24 hour period.

Kowloon Walled City housed 35.000 people on just 2.6 hectares It p rovided a complete range of urban services (power, water, heath ser- vices, schools, religious. employment, shop ping. etc) and had a truly 3D volumetric circulation.

Here, prostitutes installed themselves on one side of the street, while a priest preached and handed out powdered milk to the poor on the other; social workers gave guidance, while drug addicts squatted under the stairs getting high; what were childrens games centres by day became strip show venues by night. It was a very complex place, difficult to generalise about, a place that seemed frightening but where most people continued to lead normal lives. A place just like the rest of Hong Kong.Leung Ping Kwan, City of Darkness, p. 120

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THE KOWLOON WALLED CITY WAS THE MOST EXTREME EXAMPLE OF A HIGHLY DIVERSE AND DENSE SETTLEMENT IN HONG KONG.DUE TO SLUM-LIKE LIVING CONDITIONS IT WAS DEMOLISHED IN 1994

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TRADITIONAL HOUSING: THE PANG UK SETTLEMENTS

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Tai O - Village

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Tai O is an example of the traditional communities of fisher folk who have built their houses on stilts above the tidal flats of Lantau Island for generations.These structures are interconnected, forming a tightly-knit community literally living on the water.As proximity to the sea as source for food and for transportation was necessary, buildings had to be placed close to the water front. Due to floodings and tidal changes in water height, the houses needed to be but in a certain height above the water surface. This construction principle in centuries old, it is the traditional way of creating artificial landscape, a principle that is culturally rooted and much older then the about 150 year old idea of gaining land by reclaiming it.

This principle could be a way of extending the ground in Hong Kong with less effort, less damage to the sea eco system and with the advantage of additional quality to the artificial land by being above the water.

TAI O VILLAGE

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PANG UK- HOUSESSECTION

The Pang Uk - Houses are the traditional building type in the area of Hong Kong. They have been build on stilts close or above the sea level. By extending those stilts higher up, additional floors can be added. As it was the most efficient way, the platforms got extended by growing demand, with as littel space in between as possible. This created an alomst gapless platform with the houses on top, connected by multiple pathways and terraces. The transition between private and public space was often hard to tell as there were almost no gates or fences seperating public from private ground. Roof terraces with large outdoor spaces, protected by a dense layer of green or with overhanging roofs and offered well ventilated and shaded places.

Terrace

Living space Living space Living space

Passage Terrrace

Access to water

RoadRoad

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THE HONG KONG TOWER TYPOLOGY

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There is something otherworldly about residential tower blocks in Hong Kong. It is as though they have been pulled straight up out of the earth through a hole decided on beforehand. Their verticality is further enhanced by the articulated, almost flowe r-like floor plans. Instead of a contour that is filled in, individual houses are tacked onto a central core. Each apartment, each room even, thereby contrib-utes to distorting the towers circumference, giving it a facade surface area double that of a rectangular tower.

The volatile real estate market, the tremendous demand for housing and restricted availability of building sites seem to be at the bottom of this phenomenon, though t hese aspects in themselves fail to explain the specific form. One would expect the limited influence of construction costs on the total sum - land costs are many times greater - to yield a greater diversity.But the minor differences that there are between towers are veiled by the ubiquitous uptakes, air-conditioning units (one for each room) and cage-like built-on appurtenances. The buildings eventual form would appear to be a direct consequence of pumping up the legislation to a maximum and the fact that every room in a flat has to have at least one outside wall.

The building regulations of the Town Planning Department are of an uncomplicated nature and are premised on three aspects: plot ratio, site coverage and building height. Plot ratio is a measure of the admissible density on site, the maximum number of built-up square metres. Site coverage indicates the maximum percentage of land to be developed. These combine with the maximum building height to define the contours of the built development. A maximum number of houses per hectare (a normal unit of measurement in the Netherlands) is not given, resulting in very many small dwellings and efficient circulation spaces, one every square metre.

The greatest permissible plot ratio for housing development in Hong Kong is 10, added to which is a maximum site coverage of 40% and a minimum building height of 61 metres. Given these figures, towers are the unavoidable outcome. The higher the density, the more slender the built development, the slogan would seem to be. For Hong Kong, almost inevitably, this leads to the extruded floor plans one invariably finds there.

(from FARMAX by MVRDV, 1998)

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A typical Hong Kong tower and podium consisting of a town center (podium) and single stnad connections to isolated tower neighbourhoods above, in which floors are isloated from each other.

street grid

green spaces suboptimal access to green spaces

no access to water front

podium / tower - typology

vertical cule de sacs

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Other than offering Western living standards,these structures do little to improve life in Asia.

They dont lead to urban renewal or innovation, nor do they encourage differentiation, flexibility or indi-

vidual ideas.Winy Maas, MVRDV

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LAND RECLAMATIONS

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BETWEEN 1887 AND 2006, SOME 67 KM2 OF SEA WERE CONVERTED INTO LAND

RECLAMATION SHOULD BE THE LAST RESORTROY TAM HOI-PONG, CHAIRMAN OF ENVIRONMENTAL PRESSURE GROUP GREEN SENSE

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The map on the left shows the areas of land reclamation in Hong Kong. The process of creating land by reclamation started about 150 years ago.Of all developed land, 35% are build on flat, reclamed land, as the original land mass of Hong Kong is mostly steep rocks and cliffs that make constructions difficult and expensive. The central region of HK is almost entirely build on reclamed land and reached a critical point where alternatives should be introduced.

Even thoug Hong Kong is not lacking land mass to further extend the city, the cit-ies policy is to protect the green areas in the non-central regions as natural reser-voirs. The city also needs those green spaces for collecting rain water to maintain the cities growing need for drinking water.

This all leads to the necessity to further intensify the central areas of Hong Kong and to minimize urban sprawl, to not follow the examples of other cities in the growing Pear River Delta where urban sprawl leads to the loss of natural reser-voirs and farm land.

Shortage of buildable land

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abou t t he l i v i ng cond i t i on s i n Hong Kong, i n t e r v i ew and f i r s t hand i n fo rma t ion

VISITING FAMILY WONG

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I grew up in an abundant city which has great nature and landscape, but I seldom got the chance to expose to outdoor sports also partly because of

the crowd and air pollution.

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While visiting Hong Kong I had the opportunity to visit Catherine Wong, a 27 years old Hong Kong citizen. She invited me to her home to meet her family and see how living in Hong Kong actually lookes like. The information and insights i got from our conversations where essential for the development of a design proposal, especially the problems and issues for a Hong Kong born child influenced me.

Most of the leasure time is spend in the shopping arcades due to the lack of sufficient public spaces and the disconnection to the surround-ing nature. The dense urban settlemets are lacking natural air ventila-tion, the fumes of the cars and busses pollutes the air, the cooling effect of flowing air is blocked by huge high rise buildings.

The huge number of people living in those blocks and the lack of com-munity spaces causes an anonymization of the society, a trusted neigh-bourhood doesnt exsist in most parts, people dont know and therefore dont trust their neighbours.

Playgrounds and sport fields are rare, playing outside is dangerous and not healthy for the kids. Spening time in front of the TV and indoors is common for Hong Kongs children, they seem to grow up discon-nected from nature as those massive housing blocks lock themselves up agains natural influences and context.

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I was born in Hong Kong and grew up in a government subsidized flat that situated at a 36 stories high-rise building with my family. Despite my bedroom is only 45 sq. ft, I considered myself a lucky one since I owned a space since I was 6 years old comparing to my friend who shares a 100 sq. ft. room with 3 of her siblings until she married.

When I was a child, I used to spend my weekend at shop-ping mall & spend hours on TV every day because both of my parents have to work hard to pay the flat. And it could be dangerous to go out alone as a kid despite the crime rate in HK is very low, we have so many cars & people everywhere. Therefore, I grew up in an abundant city which has great nature and landscape, but I seldom got the chance to expose to outdoor sports also partly because of the crowd and air pollution. Meanwhile, to many of the Hong Kong people, or in general Chinese, own a flat is a lifetime goal although the flats in HK are extremely expensive & small. We strive to buy one no matter how hard we have to work and the costs that we have to pay.

I also had this dream when I was young. Yet, when I realized how much I have to give up in return of it. I have a new perspective of life. I want to be creative in my life instead of being a robot.

I am still keen on having my own flat probably in a later stage of my life. However, if I have a kid, my new perspective of a home sweet home is to create them a nice neighborhood or a space outside the apartment that help them to develop and to enrich their life experience.Hong Kong is such a fascinated city. It is renowned for high efficiency, con-venient, food & shopping paradise, international and diversified place. With an improved quality of life, it would definitely be one of the best cities in the world to live with.

from an interview with Catherine Wong, Mai 2012

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When I was a child, I used to spend my weekend at shopping mall & spend hours on

TV every day..

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VERTICAL AND VOLUMETRICCONCLUDING THE HONG KONG ANALYZE

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Vertical and Volumetric

Hong Kong is often held as a model of laissez-jaire economics, and much ofthe official rhetoric that has emerged from the place since its 1841 foundationreinforces this image. Our enquiry suggests that this is but half the style in theurban context: in practice there has been a semi-autocratic government carefullyobserving trends, often in extreme circumstances, and following with deliberateintervention to enforce control around established trends and channel theirpotentials. Hong Kong governments have waited, watched and reinforced theforces that have shaped the citys physical growth, building forms and modes ofmovement within their tiny territory of rugged landforms, against a backcloth ofusually rapid population growth and volatile regional politics. Within this context,it has been government as much as God that has created land for city building,and it has been government that has codified and shaped the building forms uponthat land - into a succession of dense street-based, and later varied vertical andvolumetric forms. Further, it has been government that has controlled, franchisedand sometimes owned the companies that have enabled the people of Hong Kong to dwell in their high-density forrns and move about them in the geat variety ofpublic transport that has come to run on, under and over Hong Kong land andwater.

The result is a small footprint city that has not always been tall but always dense -indeed very dense. The main characteriistics that have emerged in Hong Kong are unusual in todays urban wold, and togehter extremely rare.

They are:

extreme verticality across most of the city in a world that has generally favouredurban spread extensive volumetric development when most places have been reluctant toabandon natural ground as the primary plane of reference for city-building.

Further the small and irregular footprint, usually squeezed between water androcky heights, means that few amongst its stacked inhabitants live far from thebasic elements of earth, water, wood or stone, occasionally fire, and other naturalelements.

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These extreme conditions, forms and relationships have become the essence of Hong Kong and offer a view on a special set of urban phenomena that includes the vertical and volu-metric organizarion of space, highly intensive mix of activities, the lack of community spaces and the shortage of land.

Prior to the arrival of the Brirish in Hong Kong, evidence suggests at least 6,000 years of human habitation with only modest interference to the landform.It took little more than one-and-a-half centuries to transformation from barren rock and co-lonial outpost to urban system that is home to over seven million residents and host to more than four times that number of visitors each year. To enable such expansion on its relatively tiny territory, one of the most consistent themes in the citys expansion has been the constant creation of flat land for building and the stacking and squeezing of all manner of activities and links upon it. We usually think of reclamation as solid displacing sea or swamp, and Hong Kong has expanded in this way more than most cities, with artificial land now exceeding the land area of the original island colony.

No less artificial has been the massive reshaping of the landform itself.

For instance, whatever happened to the great mound once occupied by Kowloon Walled City? The masive transofrmation of land and ground is culturally rooted in Hong Kong as for centuries the farmers reshaped their land in order to make agruculture possible, for example creating terrasses for rice fields.

And in other contexts, there has been a tendency to remove or extend hills or build flat platforms for the placement of religious and official structures:

temples, ancestral halls, watch buildings all stand on raised or cut flat ground.

Accordingly, modern Hong Kong has built massive structres that offer multipleplatforms for activities confined mostly to the ground in other places: for instancethe extensive layered grounds for warehousing, factories, wharves, transportinterchanges, horse stabling, etc, often served by spiralling roads, plus other formsthat have facilitated vertical and volumetric functioning.

In the later part of the twentieth century the rather small scale building structure in Hong Kong got more and more replaced by massive podium and tower typologies with greater seperation of functions and movements at the expense of the previous all-sorts mix.

Residential towers reached to greater heights (from thirty to over seventy storeys), management exerted tighter control. and shopping became more of a big box experience.

Increasingly, dwellings came to occupy identical floor plates in individual andconjoined slabs or, more likely, towers standing beside and above the big-boxes,which are themselves layered with shopping, eating, health and other servicesand form a new type of city centers. Given the extreme density and proximity of residential towers and commercial boxes, it is all too easy to assume such develop-ments as exemplars of urban intensity those impressions can be misleading. The towers are vertical culs-de-sac, organizationally the stacked equivalent of a Modern-ist residential neighbourhood often with a single cluster of lifts to connect with the centre below, which is zoned Ievel by level to take ceveral categories of use but not dwellings.

Hong Kong has the issue with its podia-and tower developments become more and more an up-ended, albeit concemrated version of suburbia, and this is especially so in new tovvns and on some of the newer reclamation sites.

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Hong Kong Central - Second Ground This shows the area of Central across which one can walk at a second or more ground levels. The red line shows the path of the Mid-Levels Escalators as a largely above-ground exten-sion to the hills.

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Increasingly, dwellings came to occupy identical floor plates in individual and conjoined slabs or, more likely, towers standing beside and above the big-boxes, which are themselves layered with shopping, eating, health and other services and form a new type of city centers. Given the extreme density and proximity of residential towers and commercial boxes, it is all too easy to assume such develop-ments as exemplars of urban intensity. The towers are vertical culs-de-sac, organi-zationally the stacked equivalent of a Modernist residential neighborhood often with a single cluster of lifts to connect with the Centre below, which is zoned level by level to take several categories of use but not dwellings.

I witnessed myself by walking through Hong Kong to take photographs, Hong Kongs forests of towers can have their visual drama.They can also offer easier management by way of large land parcels and simple stacks of units. These vertical high rise blocks are in fact very efficient in terms of usage of space, density and -which might be the strongest argument for the developers, in being cost effective and highly efficient in the cost vs. outcome calculation.But as elements of urban structure they have the inbuilt weakness that each is a cul-de-sac, which means, by definition, minimal connection.Another word for the term cul-de-sac could be dead-end. Which implements the term of at the end of the road (in this case, the tower) there it is literally dead or lifeless because of missing connections and an only one dimensional movement.Hence the taller and slimmer the towers, the more uses and functions are stretchedapart, the more problematic the city becomes.

The overwhelming implications are that concentrated vertical developments cry out for three-dimensional multi-directional connection, and permeable and legible volumes. Thus the vertical rising from a single ground plane is transformed into the volumetric served by multiple grounds and connections. For all my criticisms of recent podia and towers typologies, Hong Kongs extreme landforms, rapid growth and meeting of Eastern and Western cultures have pro-duced an urban setting and lifestyle that is both more volumetric and vertical than any other city.

On the Central districts elevated walkway network, it is now possible to walk east-west for 1.3 km and almost as far north-south. This is a substantial area across which the public can eat, shop or promenade without descent to real ground. Further, this is just one of three walkway clusters that line up almost end- to-end along some 3 km of old Victorias waterfront. through the districts of Central, Admiralty and Wan Chai. Ironically, all hover not over real but artificial land: it is therefore three cases of doublereclamation - from both air and water. The new upper and lower grounds are connect-ed via steps, ramps, escalators and lifts, with the upper levels running at points into thehill-slopes immediately behind the original shoreline. And there is an extensive third layer: underground, to serve three stations. This is the fast expanding pattern of Hong Kongs waterfronts.

Hong Kong remains the quintessential compact metropolis and a prime example of an IntenCity. ln a world preoccupied by issues of sustainability, discussion turns increas-ingly towards morphological solutions and hybrid buildings. Hong Kongs compact components and concentrated functions and movement formed an example of an forerunner and example of the modern super dense city. Problems and issues evolving here can be seen as example for other rising metropolises in Asia and all over the world.

The Hong Kong issues bring together some of the vertical characteristics of central New York and Chicago with the volumetric tendencies experienced in many parts of Tokyo and other large Japanese cities, to present an unusual vertical - volumetric combination with a multi - modal and multi - directional transport system that is second-to-none.

lt is necessary to develop model approaches and regulations that will bring more mixed activity and three dimensional multi-directional movement, greater integration between towers and podium, more connection between podia, more links between towers, greater landscape integration between podia and landform, and a far better meeting of city and nature.

At a purely pragmatic level, Anthony Wood (2003) suggested that a city of connected towers is also a safer city