Towards a volumetric city: a critical assessment of Hong Kong's embryonic conditions towards an efficientmulti-level compact city

Abstract

Hong Kong’s extremely high density has mesmerised many outsiders for years. Through the

devastations of the World War II to the influx of immigration from the Mainland China, Hong

Kong has managed to build a remarkable city within the severely limited land mass and

inhospitable topography.

Hong Kong’s skyscrapers sores into the sky, leaving crevasses of spaces between towers for

people and vehicles to flow through. In the Central Business District, elevated walkway

connections hovers and criss-crosses every major roads, moving thousands of people on a

daily bases. Some people descend into the CBD by hopping on hill-side escalator from nearby

residential area of Mid-Levels. Seemingly chaotic yet orderly typical scene of Hong Kong’s

CBD is enough to intimidate first timers to Hong Kong. Add flying cars and people in futuristic

suits, it will be enough to resemble those images of future envisaged by film makers and

architects from the early 20th century. The vertical city of Hong Kong has emerged as one of the

first embryonic volumetric cities in the world.

Hong Kong continues to defy the conventional Western beliefs in urban planning and

development establishing itself as an efficient, vibrant and safe urban model with an extreme

density. Yet, the city’s experience remains peripheral to the mainstream debates despite many

lessons to be learned from Hong Kong as more cities aspire to intensify in an attempt to

establish sustainable living. The reasons for this can be attributed to the general lack of

evidence-based research on Hong Kong’s model, especially in vertical urbanism, as well as the

reluctance to adapt higher density living in the West, shrouded by grossly misunderstood

notions of density.

This research begins by demystifying the (mis)understandings of density using Hong Kong as

an example and attempts to decode the complexity of Hong Kong’s urban model. The research

does this by developing and applying a quantifiable tool – the Volumetric Study - to assess and

analyse the current practice of building in Hong Kong and to identify the emerging condition of

multiple ground.

The complexities of vertical and/or volumetric living are assessed using readily available data

and simple field work. It is hoped that the Volumetric Study offers insight into the understanding

of how existing buildings operate as well as providing potential guidance for future

improvements and development.