From Miniature to Synchroniser: An ontology of small urban spaces in Hong Kong

Abstract

Hong Kong, with some of the most valuable land in the world, is planned and built-out to high density in a massive scale. But between the introverted complexes, along the steep hillsides and in the empty lots of demolished buildings, a different urban form emerges in-between: in the gaps, the overlaps, in the misfit and unused spaces and surfaces of the city. As if reluctantly accepting a margin of interstitiality (not embracing it but allowing it), the city-- perpetually lacking sufficient public open space-- fills it with small public object/spaces called Sitting-out Areas. These miniature interventions into an otherwise monumental Hong Kong cope with the redundant, vague, leftover spaces, and reflect the cultural, ecological, and geographical settings of Hong Kong.