City Culture and Hong Kong Urbanscape

City of the futureAlicia Kwok Chun Lok (112006)

Celia Au Amy Wu

Flow chart

History of Koon Tong

• Used to be a place to produce salt • use bricks and stone to divide the salted land

in to places• some called 鹽塘 • controlled by the government => 官塘 • as the people hate to associate to the

government=> 觀塘

Existing problems of Koon Tong

• Pollution=> air/water• Lack of facilities- e.g hospital/ recreational areas• Crowded living area-poor urban planning in the

past=> too many high rise buildings=>Wall effect=> more pollution

• Traffic congestion=> road are too narrow; so many vehicles and pedestrians

• Poor-maintenance in old buildings: most are built in post-war period

• rent out the flats=> low incentive to refurnish the building

Urban renewal development

• No.1

Project details•The middle part of the study site will be developed into a leisure and entertainment activities center, retail, dining and entertainment facilities, and recommended the use of the design of the pedestrian area, to avoid conflicts between vehicle and pedestrian.

• built in 250 meters above Principal Datum slope stage gazebo and dining facilities, allowing visitors to admire the views of East Kowloon and Victoria Harbour in their meals • Green Corridor along the south-west of the study site expanded to the quarry park with an area of over 15 hectares, and offers a variety of recreational and sports facilities in the park, provide a good place of holiday for the people of Kwun Tong, Sai Kung, even the whole Hong Kong.

• Some in the residential area of the northwestern side of the study sites benefits from the openness of the Quarry Park environment.

No.2

Project details

• The middle part of the study sites for the main purpose community facilities and open space, which will be the construction of an outdoor recreational / large event plaza, so that residents have a gathering place. • For the convenience of residents, day-to-day commercial facilities will be located in residential estates, therefore, reserved for only the two smaller land for commercial development. • Set aside more land for the purposes of government, institution or community facilities to meet the needs of the residents, and to provide land for the shortage of community facilities in the region.

Problems before finishing the development project

• The arrangement of traffic may be troublesome

• => as the core part of the traffic of Kowloon East

• => a large number of buses, mini-buses to the northern New Territories, Sha Tin; public transport are all concentrated in the city center

The problem of “public space”

• As the proposal says, the town center will be divided into six different quadrants

• => half are marked as private open space• Like the garden of private properties• => there will be security guarding the place• => normal citizens may have difficulties in

entering there

Lost of local culture

• After building the grand shopping malls, the local culture of low prices living and diverse types of shops are difficult to preserved

• Like the traditional local stores of shoe-repairing, watch-fixing and clothes-alteration will disappear

Problems of redeveloping Koon Tong

• Existing residence can not buy back the newly developed buildings

• Big shopping malls (100%) vs local stores (1%)• No celebration of local festival 盂蘭節 by the

hawkers (as listed in the heritage)• Coverage >5 football pitches, new shopping

mall: 4 times bigger than Langham Place• => lost of local culture

活化工廈

• Originally: industrial areas; Factories (e.g. textile)

• Now:• Mini-storage areas• Artists workshops; studios• Music (cultural) hub

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT-K1BA6mIk&feature=player_embedded

Blade Runner• Bill boards shown in the movie

• Geisha: represent the oriental side of city-> Japanese culture

The Movie

Advertisements:1)Symbolize consumerism2)Force the people to intake the commercials

Similar things in the worldTime Square in HK

Time Square in USA

Tokyo

• The big screen TV shows the prosperity of the place/ country=> showing off

• Brain –washing of the pedestrians => tell them what they “need” and their “desire”• City without the night=> Broadcast for 24

hours => light pollution

Neon Light signs

The Movie

Mong Kok

To the tourists…

• Becomes a characteristic of the place

=> tourists spot• According to a tourist called Erin who visited

Mong Kok in 2011• “What I loved most about nights in Mong Kok

were the neon lights. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many crammed into one street.”

Source: http://www.neverendingvoyage.com/mong-kok-hong-kong-photo-essay/

But to the locals…

• An harassment: lights are on for 24 hours every day

• Even the people living there use blinds to shade from the strong light => futile attempts

• Have difficulty to rest &

sleep

=> high mental pressure

=> prone to stress-related

emotion diseaes

Chinese words on the walls

• Similar to the writings that “ ” 九龍皇帝 （曾灶財） painted on the walls in HK

• Became a cultural heritage of HK

• Street Graffiti => valuable art work ( his work was used by the local fashion designer, 鄧達智）

Dark City

Every night when the clock strikes 12:00am , the city stops. Everyone falls asleep.

“Let the tuning commence!”

• Tuning: make things change by will power• => alteration of existing buildings • (00:39:56-0:41:27)

Aliens as Land developers

• Build up the new buildings and demolish the others all for self interests

=> not for the benefit of the whole society• “The rich gets richer” (00:43:21)

Aliens as land developers (2)

• Aliens: no “life” ; no “soul” => cruel ;inhumane• Afraid of sunlight and water

=> the city is always at night

=> Shell Beach never exists, but a poster

Aliens as land developers (3)

• The aliens grasp the chance to exploit the possessions of the citizens as much as possible

• They take out jewels and other valuable goods in a row => exploitation to the people

Comparison between three movies: Memories

• Memories are what constructed a person• The past: family, relationships, childhood• Unique for everyone• The proof of our existence (beside physical

body)

In the Dark City…

• “Memories” are inserted and swapped by the aliens to different individuals

• What you remember does not exist• E.g. John is accused for serial murders but he is

in fact innocent• What is important cannot be remembered• E.g. The location and “existence” of Shell Beach• There is no “self”, but only collective memories

• Without individuality & identity, the city is easily controlled by the aliens

• Virtual world in the “real” world• “Virtual reality adds a new capability: It allows

the subject to actively change this world. In other words, the subject is given control over a fake reality" (166)---Manovich

• Postmodernism: “Reality is no longer fixed or determined”

• “All truth within a postmodern context is relative to one's viewpoint or stance”

• (http://www.essortment.com/definition-postmodernism-20903.html)

Memories :Ghost in the Shell

• Cyborgs have electric brains • => have consciousness ( Ghost)• => Memories can be hacked• => False memories are created for the illegal

way of obtaining confidential government information

• E.g. the street cleaner is convinced that he has a wife and a daughter

• But in fact he lives alone for 10 years

• Memories as tools => has to give it back to the government after retirement

• “And life, when organized into species, relies upon genes to be its memory system. So, man is an individual only because of his intangible memory... and memory cannot be defined, but it defines mankind.” (Puppet Master)

• Yet memories can be man-made by technology• => human has undermined the consequence of

computerization• (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113568/quotes)

Memories: Blade Runner

• Memories of replicants• E.g. The picture and “childhood” of Rachel• => “maintain an indexical link to ‘reality’”• (Landsberg, pg. 197).

• “Memories are what distinguish our own identity and individuality.”

• “Pastiche is ultimately a redemption of history, which implies the transformation and reinterpretation in tension between loss and desire” (Bruno 74)

• =>prosthetic memory (Bruno 74)

• Why prosthetic memory is called “prosthetic” memory (Lansdberg, 20-1)

• 1) not natural or organic memory;

• 2) like an artificial limb, can be worn on the body;

• 3) interchangeable and exchangeable in the commodified form;

• 4) useful and feel real producing empathy

http://arnar.icelandcinemanow.com/2011/01/23/postmodern-cinema-and-the-concept-of-memory-blade-runner/

Reference:

• http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Virtual+cities+and+stolen+memories%3A+temporality+and+the+digital+in...-a0118377487

• http://arnar.icelandcinemanow.com/2011/01/23/postmodern-cinema-and-the-concept-of-memory-blade-runner/

• Yuen, W. K. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/80/wong80art.htm

• http://ksangmin.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/alison-landsberg-prosthetic-memory/