Stair Culture: Redefining Pedestrian Infrastructure in Hong Kong

Abstract

In hilly Hong Kong, outdoor stairs are a crucial component of the public realm, often reflecting the character of the city itself in exemplifying what Peter Rowe has called the 'lane life' of the spaces in-between buildings found in many East Asian cities (Rowe 2005, I 2 I). Stairs act as a cultural topographic map, evidence of a fundamental level of human-landscape intervention that allows the occupation and transformation of the city's steep topograpy.