The Incredible Density of Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of those places, alongside Singapore and Manhattan, that often gets cited as a failure of urbanism — an overdose of density, an example of what you don’t want your city to look like. But there’s a reason Hong Kong is like this, and why other cities probably won’t end up the same way. We should stop using Hong Kong as our density punching bag.

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Keep Urbanity rolling:

[dereklenzen]

I love how this channel just seamlessly cuts through common misconceptions. No wordy fillers and overused stock footage. Just lots of useful information and good urbanist takes. Well done. 👏👏👏

[ericquest]

As someone who moved from HK to Vancouver, people have told me that line "we don't want to become Hong Kong" and I said, "I moved here precisely because it's the closest thing to HK in North America!" HK is awesome and we should be more like it and learn from their many great examples from transit to mixed use development, the list goes on. Not sure how people use HK as a bad example, I use it as the benchmark.

[tonysoviet]

Love the video. As someone who grew up in Southeast Asia and lived in Portland, Oregon for a long while, Americans and Westerns usually make subjective comments when comparing cities. However, I can see the confusion as Anglophone's cities are very separated from the rest of the world. When people comparing densities with cities like Hong Kong or Tokyo, they bring up the "tiger-cage" euphemism for cramped apartments, but based on economic data, those who live in these apartments would essentially be absolutely homeless in the USA.

Think about it this way, zoning in Hong Kong at least allow them to have a roof over their heads, while in the US they will likely be in tents.

[SouthCountyDreaming]

Hong Kong style development is truly a walker’s paradise. You don’t have to wait for a bus for 10-15 min. There aren’t crazy drugged up people in the parks after dark. Central or Admiralty station on a Friday night is just an absolute sea of people like a concert getting out that keeps going for hours. Plus if you don’t want to go out out a lot of the newer estates are on top of malls with everything you need, connected to the metro with amenities.

[Earth]

Unlike many other urbanism channels, your videos are always rich in information and analysis. I know a lot about urban planning, but whenever I watch your videos I always feel like I have learnt something new.

[joshuahillerup]

I don't understand why "too dense" itself is an issue, instead of talking about if the infrastructure of the city can support it. If you look at say Toronto near a subway line, versus pretty much anywhere in Markham, then Markham looks too dense in terms of getting around, even though the actual population density is a lot lower

[starize]

I'm a hong konger who now lives elsewhere and i'm a big fan of your channel, it taught me a lot about urbanism in other countries! There really isn't any place quite like hong kong with its high density (from that comes good public transport and convenience city living) and proximity to nature (true preserved nature not artificial landscape) And likewise i always roll my eyes when hearing people in low density cities saying increasing density means being as crowded as hk. You guys have much room for densification before even remotely resembling that of hk. Btw if you happen to see this comment, can i suggest you guys to talk about accessibility (not the one about disability) and how we can study it in your coming videos? I think accessibility is a great framework for people to think about good urbanism but popular urbanist discourse doesn't go deeper than just mentioning ideas like 15 minute city. (e, g modal difference in travel time, job and amenities accessibility, tools or metrics we can use other than basic isochrone/walkscore)

[DougWilliams]

I spent most of a summer in grad school in Hong Kong and loved it. It’s really what got me to appreciate walkable neighborhoods with ubiquitous transit.

[Maxime_K-G]

Once I realised that more density means more lively streets, more people to support local businesses like stores, restaurants and public pools as well as just more people that might share similar interests to yourself I started seeing it as an undisputed win. It also makes public transit better with more frequency as a result of higher ridership.

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

And that's just the density of Hong Kong! Neighboring Macau, China's other SAR, on the other hand is even denser! Macau is the most densely populated country/dependency in the world as over 680, 000 people live in an area that's just 12.7 square miles/32.9 square kilometers! Most of these people live on just the Macau Peninsula (3.3 square miles/8.5 square kilometers), where urban development is concentrated. And two-thirds of its area is reclaimed land! Coloane and Taipa used to be two separate islands, but they've since been combined together thanks to the late Sheldon Adelson of Las Vegas Sands who wanted to replicate the success of the Las Vegas Strip. Macau's gambling industry is seven times larger than Las Vegas!

A part of Hong Kong's success is of course its transit infrastructure. The city's famous trams, and the MTR for the rest of HK. The MTR and its quality make many in North American cities jealous. When a transit system actually cares so much about being on-time, and can be used for so much and relied upon whether it's for shopping or to go directly to the airport, then that's a transit system done right. And the MTR is actually helping Macau build and operate a transit system, the Macau LRT, as Macau continues to urbanize and grow.

[planefan]

The thing is, Hong Kong really isn't a bad place to live, housing crisis excluded. Most apartments are fairly nice inside (man, the views) and the culture I grew to enjoy was around spending very little of your time in your home. There's so much to do around you and plenty of public or semi-public places to relax, and you don't even really need a kitchen if you don't love cooking. It's often cheaper to eat out anyways. After having to move, I looked for a city like it but came up short. I really miss HK.

[jimyu]

The problem of Hong Kong for me as I grew up there and never want to return is that Hong Kong is an extremely capitalistic place and has a winner takes it all culture. Apartment prices are extremely high compared to how much people are making. If you grew up in Hong Kong (not as a foreign born person) below or equal to a lower middle income class family, you would have a very difficult time accumulating wealth without your folks paying the down payment for your apartment. The infrastructure Hong Kong has is a bare minimum necessity for a place with such high density.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

Not to mention Hong Kong has some unique architecture! The HSBC Building in particular has a fascinating design for a skyscraper. In Hong Kong (and ancient China), there's a practice called feng shui about arranging the pieces in living spaces to create balance with the natural world. For good feng shui, in Hong Kong, skyscrapers are designed with holes called "dragon gates" to allow dragons to fly from the mountains to the sea every day, thus allowing positive energy flow through the building.

But when the neighboring Bank of China Tower by IM Pei was constructed, there was nothing but negative energy flow as feng shui principles were ignored. HK Governor Youde died in 1986 in Beijing from a heart attack, and Hong Kongers blamed the building for this since it overlooked Government House. So to fend off the negative feng shui from the Bank of China Tower and protect the HSBC Building, two cannon-like cranes were constructed to point towards it.

[py]

Cited as a failure of urbanism? But from Hong Kong's point of view, the endless urban sprawl and absolute dependence on car ownership for decent travel even within the city, seen in many cities in US, particularly Los Angeles, would be instead considered a failure of urbanism.

[clchat]

is a video mentioned MOUNTAINS in Hong Kong ....

[auwanho]

I love how people equate dense with congestion because living in Hong Kong all my life, I have never experienced a more congested afternoon than a random Tuesday in LA.

[py]

"High density" in Hong Kong has its pros and cons.
pros: cheap and high speed broadband, cheap electricity and gas, cheap and highly efficient public transport, vibrant street scene, convenience
cons: clamp living space, skyrocket home price, crowded streets

[hklinker]

I’ve lived happily in the most dense parts of HK for the last 29 years. Happy that everything is close by. Happy that I don’t need (and have never had) a vehicle. If I need an escape, the hills are close by and I just have to walk up them.

[knucle]

I am a Hong Konger. I find it funny that people are concerning about density, which we never regard it as a problem. The only issue of Hong Kong is the unbelievablely unaffordable price of a flat. People usually live at fu*king small apartment because we cannot afford the price. We always complain about the price but not the density.

Other than the apartment price (and eroding freedom and police brutality), everything is convenient and good.
Here is what living in Hong Kong looks like. People usually don't need a car. We can buy groceries, food and most of the thing just downstair. Shops opens everyday and opens until midnight. There are tons of restaurants around, so many people choose to go to restaurant instead of cooking. For those who cook, they just buy fresh food every day (not every week). In the weekend, we can go to mountains and beaches within 1-2 hours by public transport. You don't need to spend half day driving in order to access to the nature.

[canto_v]

The biggest problem with Hong Kong is not the sheer density, but the lack of choice.
In other countries, if you're priced out, you can move into the suburbs.

Hong Kongers who are priced out generally cannot move out, unless moving into neighbouring Guangdong Province in mainland China is considered an option with its drastically different society, laws, environment and even language barrier.

"American-style suburbs"? Not even all of the billionaires can afford detached houses. Most of the wealthy live in highrises, of course they are nicer highrises.

These problems are unique to city-state-type territories. Singapore is a very well-managed example; government control is omni-present at every level of society but housing needs are met. Hong Kong is a hyper-capitalist small-government business paradise, and the lack of sufficient housing controls forces the poor into smaller and smaller coffins.