Episódios do Absurdo #3

Kowloon Walled City

“What fascinates about the Walled City is that, for all its horrible shortcomings, its builders and residents succeeded in creating what modern architects, with all their resources of money and expertise, have failed to: the city as ‘organic megastructure’, not set rigidly for a lifetime but continually responsive to the changing requirements of its user, fulfilling every need from water supply to religion, yet providing also the warmth and intimacy of a single huge household.”

“It was also, arguably, the closest thing to a truly self-regulating, self-sufficient, self-determining modern city that has ever been built”

“Here, prostitutes installed themselves on one side of the street, while a priest preached and handed out powdered milk to the poor on the other; social workers gave guidance, while drug addicts squatted under the stairs getting high; what were children’s games centres by day became strip show venues by night. It was a very complex place, difficult to generalise about, a place that seemed frightening but where most people continued to lead normal lives. A place just like the rest of Hong Kong.”  (Leung Ping Kwan)

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