4 ms·

Living in a space, smaller than a prison cell and paying millions for it is not exactly a successful model of living. All those people loitering in shopping mal

Living in a space, smaller than a prison cell and paying millions for it is not exactly a successful model of living. All those people loitering in shopping malls and spending majority of the time outside not with kids or family is a result of such cramped up space. Funny part is all the frustration of no jobs, no opportunities, and prison cell home is blamed on China and the discontent which needs to be pointed towards the 14 real estate billionaires controlling every aspect of Hong Kong person's life and freedom is very nicely directed towards China as if they made things so bad in Hong Kong. Reality is Hong Kong relied too much on real estate and traded living in prison cell houses for getting rich quick scheme. So the current situation is created by it. After living in Hong Kong for over a decade as an expat can understand pretty well when living in a expat bubble it's hard to see things for majority. Hopefully no city in the world follow Hong Kong model of development will result in same protest and violence be it democracy or autocracy.

Arn_Thor 7y ago
I thought I'd prefaced my comment sufficiently. It's not perfect, far from it. Hong Kong has unique quality of life problems, as you point out. But that doesn't discredit the urbanization model on its own. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
- dragonsh 7y ago
  This is not throwing baby out with bathwater but making sure the water is not too hot and the space is enough for baby to breath. Urbanization model's first principle is to provide decent living spaces in harmony with nature to its residents. Any other model which tries to forget this first principle is not a good model. Hong Kong urbanization model failed miserably and resulted in a prison size space which makes people reluctant to spend time at home with family. If you want to look at the model go across in Singapore, they have done a wonderful job learning public housing from Hong Kong. They have done wonders with overall urbanization. So I am not sure how to defend Hong Kong where the repercussions of this form of urbanization is manifested in the form of protest and discontent.

Arn_Thor 7y ago

I thought I'd prefaced my comment sufficiently. It's not perfect, far from it. Hong Kong has unique quality of life problems, as you point out. But that doesn't discredit the urbanization model on its own. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

dragonsh 7y ago
This is not throwing baby out with bathwater but making sure the water is not too hot and the space is enough for baby to breath. Urbanization model's first principle is to provide decent living spaces in harmony with nature to its residents. Any other model which tries to forget this first principle is not a good model. Hong Kong urbanization model failed miserably and resulted in a prison size space which makes people reluctant to spend time at home with family. If you want to look at the model go across in Singapore, they have done a wonderful job learning public housing from Hong Kong. They have done wonders with overall urbanization. So I am not sure how to defend Hong Kong where the repercussions of this form of urbanization is manifested in the form of protest and discontent.