broadsword
Brigadier
It was not worth saving; it was not a worthy tourist attraction.
Chinese Daily Photos, 2011 to 2019!
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It was not worth saving; it was not a worthy tourist attraction.
solarz
Brigadier
I don't really understand this. 33,000 people crammed into a tiny area, entire streets without access to outside light or air, unexisting safety and health regulations, rampant crime, prostitution, and drug use.
That is not an "architectural heritage". It's a slum, pure and simple.
Edit:
I did some searches, and it seems like the Kowloon Walled City was the original inspiration for many futuristic dystopian settings. As such, it certainly has cultural and historical value. However, that it is an inspiration for dystopia is even more of an argument that such a place should not exist outside of fiction and imagination.
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Blackstone
Brigadier
The slum was vestige of European imperialism and not "architectural heritage." HK government should build a museum to display the slum for posterity sake and as a reminder to future Chinese generations how not to treat other people around the world.
broadsword
Brigadier
It would have become a target of crude ridicule and mockery. Photographers and backpackers would sure love to bring such memories of a dinghy slum to tell the people back home of how miserable third world people were and how lucky and superior they themselves were. And then stereotypical racist gibes take root.
kwaigonegin
Colonel
That place reminds of Judge Dread (newer one not old). It would be an operational nightmare for any sort of assault team to breach and go into a place like that to say capture a fugitive especially if the populace there decides to hide him.
solarz
Brigadier
Nightmare? More like impossible! That's why the Hong Kong police never set foot in that area, and the place was basically run by Triads.
Equation
Lieutenant General
Life inside the densest place on earth: Remembering Kowloon Walled City (Photos from CNN)
"The Walled City was a kind of architectural touchstone in terms of what a city can be -- unplanned, self-generated, unregulated," says photographer Greg Girard.
Because of the government's hands-off approach to regulating the City, there were effectively no health or safety laws present
Despite the City's wild appearance, photographer Greg Girard found that the people inside lived just like people anywhere else.
Planes landing at Hong Kong's nearby airport, Kai Tak, often roared overhead. (I think this is the most famous photo)
Architect Aaron Tan wrote his graduate thesis on the Walled City 20 years ago, a process he says humbled him. "We started to see that people could be more intelligent than us, the designers," he says.
The Kowloon Walled City has inspired countless settings in video games, comic books, and Hollywood films.
Photographer Greg Girard said it was sad to see the Walled City finally demolished in 1994.
"Every city realizes too late to start caring about their architectural heritage... by the time you start caring about it, it's too late to save it."
LMAO...ARE...YOU...KIDDING ME?! That's a ghetto, that's no "architectural heritage", maybe to some, but to those who lived there I'm sure they don't aspire to stay there for the rest of their lives or hand it down to their children. Apparently the photographer and author forgot to look into how does the plumbing and sewer system works. Yes my friend, most of the residents pooped in a bucket or chamber potty and dump it out in either designated area or to the nearest ditch when it rains.
Equation
Lieutenant General
Let those stereotypical outsiders ridicule and mock it and I'll show them the current image of Detroit (the bad side of course).
kwaigonegin
Colonel
Let those stereotypical outsiders ridicule and mock it and I'll show them the current image of Detroit (the bad side of course).
I've been to Detroit. I think I would feel much safer in this walled city than in Detroit. I've also been to north St. Louis city and that place is actually more dangerous than East St. Louis! I have a buddy who served 2 tours in A-stan and he said he felt safer there than in some parts of St. Louis. DANG! but maybe cause he wasn't patrolling north city with his M-4 and kevlars on
b
SteelBird
Colonel
Talking about slum, here are some "slums" around the world:
India
The Philippines
Of course, the Walled City of Hong Kong is among them
Seoul, South Korea, this slum is said not found on any map
Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After Jan 7, 1979, people who came to Phnom Penh occupied this unfinished building of the 1960'. A classmate of mine lives here. I visited her several times but never went up there.
Jakarta, Indonesia
Oops! There is a also slum in New York, United States of America
Brazil
Here is in Italy
Finally, Vietnam
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