An interdisciplinary debate on project perspectives
From: The negotiated public realm in the contemporary city: hybrid walkable urban networks of Hong Kong
Density | Providing ground and upper level access routes through their podium blocks in order to profit from the footfall diverted from the truly public street. Private developers increased building rights on a plot, in exchange for supplementing the public space and footpath network in Hong Kong by offering public access through these podium spaces |
Topography | Elevated walkways and pedestrian bridge, and the supplementary routes through privately managed open spaces, together with pavement widening onto the building plot, offer a relief from this and have hence become one of the defining characteristics of form of public urban space in Hong Kong. Importantly, these routes also support a wide variety of commercial activities and hence contribute to the city’s economic vitality |
Socio-economic institutions | Public space should be valued and regulated in a way that enhances commercial activity, and there is a least a tactic assumption that the social life of the city takes second place to its economic life |