Pearl Supercity ~ River Delta Conurbation!

The recent opening of world's longest (55km) sea-crossing bridge between Hong Kong + Macao + Zhuhai completes the southern connection linking a half-dozen Chinese megacities into a ~70M+ inhabitant supercity as Visual Capitalist shows...

Hong Kong Strong ~ Layers of Beauty & Action!

NEONSIGNS.HK ~ M+ Online Hong Kong Exhibit

MissC at Neatorama spots Hong Kong’s Neon Signs exhibit...

"The city at night appears to be made of neon, although that is gradually changing as more modern signs, lights, and video screens replace neon. The exhibit has a historical timeline, photographs of past and present neon works, a gallery of submitted photos, maps, and videos explaining the different aspects of neon signs and what they mean. It’s a museum exhibit you can get lost in."

See also the Neon Map!

1M/km2 ~ HK's KWC Superdense Vertical Village!

VICE Motherboard takes A New Look at Kowloon Walled City, the Internet's Favorite Cyberpunk Slum...

"Borne out of longstanding tensions between the British and Chinese governments. It was spawned by the agreement, completed in 1898, to lease Hong Kong to the British for 99 years, which didn't include the Walled City [...] The result was a heavily isolated, ramshackle city-state. [...] The lack of outside support meant the Walled City was built on itself largely by itself, with commerce and industry mixed into itself as produced by a self-sufficient population. [...] Ingenuity was spawned by the city's isolation. There was little in the way of public services, meaning sanitation, public safety, and crime prevention were all the purview of locals. [...] The Kowloon Walled City continues to captivate people because of those problems, and its ills are also what make it such powerful inspiration for fictional portrayals of what's to come."

See WSJ's City of Imagination: Kowloon Walled City 20 Years Later... Plus definitely check out -- and please support financially -- the ambitious and timely City of Darkness Revisited book publishing project on Kickstarter by co-authors Ian Lambot and Greg Girard...

"We are working together again to produce City of Darkness Revisited, an all-new edition that will combine the best of the original book with several new sections that will fill in some of the gaps and bring the story up to date. We will explore the City’s dramatic architectural evolution from a near bare site in 1945 to a 17-storey megalith housing over 33,000 people at the time of its clearance. And we will explain the City’s unique legal and political status -- under two jurisdictions but effectively managed by neither -- and how this coloured every aspect of life there. A third theme will delve into the myths and realities of the Triads’ activities within the City and how these might -- or might not -- have been effectively policed. And finally we will describe how the influence of the Walled City has spread into popular culture worldwide, and how this has allowed interest in the City -- either as myth or physical reality -- to flourish."

And as extra bonus, Ian and Greg and friend Lisa point out Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong, Urban Fabric -- Historic project prepared by Lia Tramontini, Haneen Dalla-Ali, Mona Dai, and Christopher Glebe...

Wiring the City ~ Energy Flows in Hong Kong

Thanks to SankeyDiagrams for spotting Simon Scarr's infographic on Wiring the City illustrating flows of energy in Hong Kong...

Small Spaces ~ UD spots HK's Tiny Apartments...

UniqueDaily shares small spaces imagery from Hong Kong-based activist Society for Community Organisation (SoCO)...

"...in a bid to document the plight of the city's most underprivileged people. With a land mass of 1,104sq km (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. As rent is so high -- around HKD$90 (£8) per square foot a month -- and the waiting list for public housing so long, many are forced to live in inconceivably small spaces to survive."

Hong Kong Tramrides ~ Flow in the Intense City!

More recent Hong Kong tramrides, first westbound by day... And then eastbound by night...

Hi-Density & Livability ~ Lessons from Asian Cities

Lessons from Fall 2011 ULI meeting...

Hong Kong Accelerate ~ Timelapse Beauty!

I particularly appreciate Hong Kong Accelerate... And here are more HK timelapses!

City of Anarchy ~ Old Kowloon Infographic!

Mapporn spots Old Kowloon Walled City infographic! See also Kowloon Cross-Section!

Tasty Penthouses ~ Fine Dining & Views Up Top!

Tasty penthouse and rooftop restaurants, clubs and bars!

Voice of the People ~ Hong Kong vs Politburo...

The Economist shares the voice of the people versus Politburo from one of the two relatively free places in Mao's China...

"Colonial-era social freedoms still apply in Hong Kong, and pro-democracy groups in the territory have staged protests on July 1st ever since the first anniversary of the reversion to Chinese sovereignty 15 years ago. [...] Hong Kong officials were at pains to prevent Mr Hu from encountering any disaffected citizens, whose complaints range from Hong Kong’s growing wealth gap to the mistreatment of dissidents in mainland China to [...] the crushing of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. [...] Mainland Chinese media imposed a virtual news blackout on the demonstration."

Hong Kong ~ Ryan Cheng's Lovely Panorama!

Click for the full view of Ryan Cheng's Hong Kong panorama photo!

Fragrant Harbor ~ Spotlight on Hong Kong!

I just re-read Tai-Pan and Noble House again. Hong Kong's history and contemporary scene are fascinating!

Congo Harborage ~ Potential African Hong Kong!

I'm hugely keen on both current and emerging African hotspots and hubports. Places such as Namibia's Walvis Bay, Nigeria's Lagos, Ghana's portcities, Liberia's Monrovia, Sierra Leone's Freetown, Morocco's Ceuta & Melilla, Eritrea's inland Asmara, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mo'bique, and most recently Cabinda. Looking more closely at Cabinda enhanced my interest in the greater-Congo region and most especially the high-potential harborage at the Congo River mouth embracing the Bas-Congo province seaports of Matadi, Boma, Banana, and Angola's Soyo... Beyond this cross-Congo River bridge at Matadi... ... there's not much heavy infrastructure currently built. From this flight you can get a sense for the landscape and situation... Perhaps the most compelling case for the Congolese seaports is made by none other than supercarrier Maersk and their dredging partnership with CVM (Congolaise des Voies Maritimes) to deepen the Congo River for larger vessels to access Boma and Matadi... Just upstream from these seaports are these amazing rapids......and the prospective Grand Inga Dam, a 40 Gigawatt goliath! If you combine the various factors -- gas & oil discoveries, natural resource export, hydropower aplenty, and more -- this underappreciated Congo harborage zone could be a rivermouth freeport conurbation to rival Hong Kong or Shanghai!

Medellín Escalator ~ Comuna 13's New Pathways!

Excellent to see Medellín residents in the Comuna 13 district Las Independencias I neighborhood benefiting from their new outdoor escalator system! Six sections of automated uplifting Connection Pathways take people from below to 28 storeys (130 meters) up in 6 minutes instead of the 35 by stairs. Hispanically Speaking News reports the escalators...

"...were inaugurated Tuesday by Medellín Mayor Alonso Salazar and the Urban Development Company, or EDU, that tackled the joint initiative four years ago. [...] The project, with a cost of 10 billion pesos (about $5.2 million), involved the Japanese company Fujitec, which designed the escalators and manufactured them at its plant in China, along with Conservicios, a local firm responsible for importing and installing the parts. [...] It’s a “transit solution that will give residents a better quality of life,” Campuzano said. EDU is a decentralized industrial and commercial organization of the municipality of Medellín, the provincial capital of Antioquia and the second most important city in Colombia. The escalators are not the first in the world to be installed outdoors, since there are several for purposes of tourism, but this is a first for urban transport. [...] The work as a whole includes 1,102 sq. meters (11,846 sq. feet) of public spaces, 343 meters (1,125 feet) of pedestrian walks, two public buildings -- one of them with a terrace overlooking the city -- plus benches and other urban furnishings."

Very interesting to consider this in light of the Hong Kong Mid-Levels Escalator project I wrote about a few weeks ago. Anyways, here's reporting from the scene of the unveiling...

Hong Kong Walkways ~ Central Elevated System

I wrote recently about past imaginations about multi-storey future streets. Now it's time to look at the contemporary real thing! The Central Elevated Walkway is one of the footbridge networks in the heart of Hong Kong... And here check out the double-decker trams and busses these walkways cross over on the roads below...

Urban Parks ~ Greenery Amidst Great Density!

Surrounded by tall skyscrapers and dense humanity are some of the most stellar urban parks. Great examples include Singapore park... Boston Public Garden... New York's Central Park... Hong Kong park...

Urban Escalators ~ Hong Kong's 800m System!

I've written about various funicular solutions for moving people up hills, and about various uplifting innovations, and even about the Norwegian Trampe bicycle-assist escalator, but this Hong Kong urban escalator is a truly epic innovation!

"Since [the Central–Mid-levels escalators] was officially opened to the public on 15 October 1993, the elevator system has played a very important role in pedestrianising the Western District. It links Des Voeux Road in Central with Conduit Road in the Mid-levels, passing through narrow streets. The daily traffic exceeds 55,000 people, although originally forecast 27,000. The escalators are 800 metres (2,600 ft) long with a vertical climb of 135 metres (443 ft). The total travel time is twenty minutes, but most people walk while the escalator moves to shorten their trip. Due to the geographical situation, the same distance is equivalent to several miles of zigzagging roads if travelling by car. It consists of twenty escalators and three moving side-walks. According to Guinness World Records, these escalators together form the longest outdoor covered escalator system. The escalator daily runs downhill from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and uphill from 10:30am to midnight. Apart from serving as a method of transporting, it is also a tourist attraction and has restaurants, bars, and shops lining its route. There is an entrance and exit on each road it passes, often on both sides of the road."

Here the BBC's Vaudine England shares a Close-Up on the system... And Hong Kong Stories are quite interesting... See also Pruned links and this photoessay in Polar Inertia. Finally, Merlion Tales visits...

China's Economic Rims ~ Supercity Megaregions

China has three so-called Economic Rims or supercity megaregions -- Bohai, Yangtze, and Pearl -- each agglomerations around a central megacity -- Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou -- embracing upwards of a dozen smaller cities, all amidst geophysical supernodes -- Bohai Sea, Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta. Each megaregion has populations between 50-100M and has colossal infrastructure and planning issues. This is epic and fascinating! P.S. It strikes me that Taiwan with it's economic miracle history should really be thought of as a superisland and thus fourth Chinese megaregion too!