Courtesy of City of Darkness Revisited
Jumping half-way across the world, it’s important to note the once most densely populated city on Earth- the Kowloon Walled City. Sitting on an area less than one-hundredth of a square mile, yet home to over 33,000 residents. The Walled City was as much of a living, breathing, and evolving organism as it was an urban development. Buried within the confines, there were no taxes, no regulations, no healthcare systems, and no enforcement of the law. It became both an epicenter of crime and gang rivalries, but also the ideal location for Hong Kong’s drug trade. The living conditions were appalling, but people continued to pile in and carve out their own spaces to contribute to this ever-evolving megalopolis. The Kowloon Walled City mirrored the Hong Kong buildings that surrounded it, building faster and taller, especially without building department or zoning code limitations. Similar to Pruitt-Igoe, Kowloon was demolished and a memorial park lives on the former site.