High Rise

There is an interesting piece of photojournalism on BBC News about high density urban living in Hong Kong, focusing on one particular housing estate. It's part of their Urban Planet suite of articles.

It's interesting how positive the high rise dwellers are about their homes, not just in the negative sense of comparing them to the horrifically cramped conditions in which they lived before they were built, but in a positive sense whereby they are seen as places of community and positive social interaction. The people there do not seem to miss private open spaces like gardens, as there is plenty of (unvandalised) public open space. This reminds me of a visit I made to Zarautz in the Basque Country once, where high rise living seems to be the norm for everyone of normal income levels, with children enjoying themselves happily in the play areas between the blocks.

Unproblematic living in high density accomodation seems to be the norm on the European continent and elsewhere, with the Anglo-American world inhabiting an arena of exceptionalism where high rise living is seen as intrinsically hellish (see, for example, Robert Calvert's Ballard-inspired lyrics for Hawkwind's 'High Rise'). I would love to read a convincing explanation for our exceptionalism.