One of the ways I like to describe Hong Kong—one of my favorite cities—is that it's a vision for the future that still might arrive. The Central Mid-Levels Escalator that starts at Queen's Road and rises through Hong Kong's hills opened in 1993, and gives off strong vibes that whoever built it was sure this was a thing that would exist everywhere someday.
You can't prescribe meaning, you can't rush belonging. What you can design are the conditions for a city to become itself – the social anchors, the districts, the public places, and the systems that tie them all together. Success comes from cultivating culture, not imposing it.
But in survey after survey, we don't find... the suburbs are not the isolating, lonely hell that they're often made out to be. And I think that the constant ranting against the suburbs complicates the quest for denser cities. It creates the suspicion that urbanists and YIMBYs want to make the whole nation into Manhattan.
2mo ago
Underscored — save the words that stop you in your tracks.
