Detailed Cross-section of the Kowloon Walled City

Nov 9, 2015 3:35 AM

CommitSociology

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"The Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong was once the most densely populated place on earth. And without a single architect or any oversight whatsoever, the ungoverned hive of interlinking buildings became a haven for drugs, crime and prostitution. This is perhaps why the surreal, M.C. Escher-like structure, where one couldn’t even begin to imagine what life was like, captured the interest of the Japanese."

"When it was demolished in 1993 the Japanese public tuned in to national television where it was being broadcast. But what most didn’t know was that, up until the previous evening, a group of Japanese researchers, which included architects, engineers and city planners, and led by historian and cultural anthropologist Hiroaki Kani, had entered the deserted city and had been documenting every nook and cranny up until the bulldozers arrived...Their findings were compiled into a book that was published 5 years later."

Source: http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2014/10/28/detailed-cross-section-of-the-kowloon-walled-city-created-by-japanese-researchers/

Crazy how nature do that

11 years ago | Likes 77 Dislikes 6

Looks like something Wall-E built

11 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

I've been to Hong Kong. It's crazy crowded. I can't even imagine living in a place like this where it's so tightly packed.

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Can someone PLEASE tell me where the fucking bathroom is?!

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I've played that map.

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Blight Town all over again.

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Dredd?

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Reminds me of the Stacks in Ready Player One

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

My favorite parts are the couple having sex and the dude wanking it over the toilet. Very detailed

11 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Where's Judge Dredd when you need him.

11 years ago | Likes 39 Dislikes 1

Chung King Mansions, where I stayed in 2004, are incredibly like this, and still up. There's even a book about them.

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I know this is unpopular but the level in black ops 1 that was set here was awesome.

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Hey I played that level in Shadowrun: Hong Kong

11 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Honestly.. I remember this because of Blood Sport http://media.giphy.com/media/ToMjGpxsxs95aXGgfsY/giphy.gif

11 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 1

Theres a section of it rebuilt from pics in japan. http://randomwire.com/kowloon-walled-city-rebuilt-in-japan/

11 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

very interesting

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Kowloon Walled City is also the name of a kick ass heavy band. https://kowloonwalledcity.bandcamp.com/

11 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Freaking love them.

11 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Ready Player One

11 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

This was my first thought. Or Neuromancer.

11 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Night City would be a place similar to this I feel.

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I can't imagine living like that.

11 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

After playing Shadowrun Hong Kong the walled city is so much scarier in concept.

11 years ago | Likes 23 Dislikes 1

I went OG, reminded me a bit of Night City in Neuromancer and also of Deus Ex: HR (I should finish Shadowrun: Dragonfall)

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Might be a bit better as long as no Yama King decides to move into the neighborhood.

11 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Glad I'm not the only one that jumped to thinking of Shadowrun: HK when I saw this post.

11 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

The sheer compressed lawlessness and violence (even if magically manifested) is just a terrifying concept.

11 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

It is. Though, to be fair, that sounds like a lot of the Shadowrun setting!

11 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Call me uneducated but why were the Japanese public and Japanese researchers so interested in a Chinese city?

11 years ago | Likes 100 Dislikes 3

Like someone else said, population density

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Japan occupied HK for a period of time. I thought this video was a pretty awesome explainer of the city https://youtu.be/Gl6jEccpMa4

11 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

I think it's a bit common that some anthropologists interested in foreign cultures.

11 years ago | Likes 18 Dislikes 0

And in the 90s Hong Kong had a influential popular culture over the Asian countries.

11 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Like the other guy said, population density, so they'd be curious. Plus I think the researches just wanted to record a part of history.

11 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

Hi uneducated

11 years ago | Likes 16 Dislikes 6

I'm Imgurian

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

It was a British territory in 1993.

11 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

For the next invasion, presumably.

11 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 2

Lots can be learned from the city in terms of urban planning and sociology

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

population density in japan is absurd. possibly looking into doing something similar.

11 years ago | Likes 90 Dislikes 0

Wasn't there a plan to build a huge arcology across Tokyo bay?

11 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

It turned out to be just a... pyramid scheme.

11 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 0

dun dun duuuuunn

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I like you as a friend.

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I'm not into video games, but even I can see that as a crazy game level

11 years ago | Likes 16 Dislikes 1

Shenmue 2 :')

11 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Everytime I see Kowloon. Every. Time.

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Pretty sure it was in the original CoD: Black Ops.

11 years ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 0

Yes it was, it was one of my favorite missions and definitely top 5 maps in Black Ops 1.

11 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The game "Shadowrun: Hong Kong" centers around a rebuilt version in the near future

11 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Too bad it's turnbased.

11 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 7

So are many of the best games of the last twenty years.

11 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

A lot of people really like turnbased games.

11 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Yep, they do. I would too, except I don't like turnabased games.

11 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

That's fair, a lot of people don't. People are allowed to like different things.

11 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

I love turn-based gameplay, but yeah; a shooter or adventure game would make great use of the architecture!

11 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I can't stand turn-based games, never have. Then again, I think BF3 CQ is the best FPS in the history of ever.

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

"800 million people living in the ruin of the old world and the mega structures of the new one. Mega blocks. Mega highways. Mega City One"

11 years ago | Likes 351 Dislikes 3

You ever see the Judge Dredd Superfiend cartoon on youtube? https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIEIzxlknp8ozNEJ4bYD4lYt4skpfqFmh

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

LAWWWWWWWWWWW

11 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Fucking. good. movie. Urban, Thirlby, and Heady nailed it.d

11 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

"Judges can only respond to 6%..smth smth"

11 years ago | Likes 49 Dislikes 0

*Mega Kowloon one

11 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The music that begins about where that clip ends is fucking DOPE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-iZgkkGuME

11 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Fact: crime rates are higher in the USA than in Mega City One

11 years ago | Likes 25 Dislikes 3

Scifi writers have no sense of scale

11 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Our computers today have more processing power than Data on Star Trek

11 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

That, I think, is more "Technology Marches On"

11 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

citation needed

11 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

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11 years ago (deleted Nov 11, 2015 7:20 PM) | Likes 0 Dislikes 0

Crime rates are a percentage.

11 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Damn thats crazy. thanks! +1

11 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

It's actually 17,000 serious crimes reported everyday. So it depends on the definition of serious.

11 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0