Having a basic understanding of the rooftop slums in Hong Kong, I began to look at census data of the temporary housing conditions throughout Hong Kong, hoping to be able to jump to a neighborhood scale and find a district I could focus on.
I discovered that the district of Sham Shui Po is considered the poorest within Hong Kong, and because I have been interested in the divide between the poor and the rich, it is here that I decided to focus my studies. I also noticed that Sham Shui Po remains a very residential district, and has some of the oldest buildings from the 1950’s and 1960’s, upon which the rooftop slums tend to exist. Sham Shui Po is located on Kowloon and has around 356,600 residents.
I began by going back to Google Earth and trying to map out what I could see from imagery that appeared to be rooftop slums. The map below is the result of that investigation.
From here, I went back to the book Portraits from Above: Hong Kong’s Informal Rooftop Communities, by Rufina Wu and Stefan Canham, and started to re-read some of the stories of the residents in the Sham Shui Po district. I chose to start translating the information from the book into physical forms in the hopes of discovering something new about the slums. Are they identifiable from Google Earth images, and what building typologies should I be looking for?
Hi there, I am also Doing my Masters (of Architecture) I have read through your blog entries with particular interest in to the HK rooftop slums. I am also trying to undertake research on this topic and unfortunately am yet to get a copy of 'Portraits from Above.' I was wondering if you had any information particularly government related in regards to the housing policy and creation of this rooftop slum phenomenon. What you have mentioned as tolerance by the Government I have been trying to find their 'official' take on the slums.
ReplyDeleteAlso are you aware of what happens to residents that are evicted when a particular community is torn down? Are they relocated or do they have to deal with the consequences on their own.
Would be interested if you could provide any information you have to other!
Kind Regards,
Sam