Hong Kong is land

Abstract

This research commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York was intended to address global trends of asymmetric and large metropolis urbanisation expected in the next 30 years. The research focus is on Hong Kong’s high density of living and its possible further development in the future. The specificity of the city/territory in being a fluid territory made up of up to 50% water, together with its more than 250 islands, offers a very specific angle and urban solutions to host another five million inhabitants. The originality of the research consists of addressing the future of Hong Kong by defining a fictional territory including eight new islands. The significance of the research exists within the issues addressed and developed by the 8 islands scenario and focuses on essential topics for urban development, such as land, food, resources, fears, values, culture, and memories. The scenario addresses many complex issues, such as the development of a seaweed food economy, ‘dead-tech’, and a new social contract for public spaces among others. The research project and the output is developing ideas of economies and ecologies within an anthropocentric set of references staged within multiple communities with their tactical perspective becoming the main driver of a new discipline for ‘planetary design’ by a ‘social imagineer’. The rigour of this project resides in its continuity with all previous research on Hong Kong urban territories developed over the years by the principal investigator. The inclusion of a social spectrum of Hong Kong society, from youngsters to the elderly, including the multiple communities needs or aspirations such as the one from the foreign domestic helper for instance.