Over the last few years, Hong Kong photographer Andy Yeung has made a name for himself with jaw-dropping drone photos and footage depicting the city’s urban sprawl. His latest project, titled “Walled City”, takes inspiration – and its name – from the notoriously cramped, lawless Kowloon Walled City, formerly considered the densest settlement in the world.
While the Kowloon Walled City was demolished years ago, Yeung argues that “parts of it still exist” in high density housing estates where “the only view out the window is [your] neighbour’s window”. To illustrate that, he photographed the city from up on high, angling the shots so the buildings look like geometric blocks laid out in tightly packed, almost kaleidoscopic patterns.
One of the photos from Yeung’s series – featuring the kitschy boat-shaped Whampoa shopping center, which has unsurprisingly confused some people – was recently shortlisted in the National Geographic’s annual Travel Photographer of the Year contest.
The latest data of World Population Density by Cities reveals that Hong Kong – including both urban and rural areas – has an average population density of 6,608 people per square kilometer, which is nearly twice of Shanghai.
Unlike Canada, the US, Germany, Korea, and Japan, the Hong Kong government has not yet set any guidelines to prevent the construction of premises that are too small to live in or too tightly built. Until that day, it looks like the spirit of the Kowloon Walled City will live on in Hong Kong.
Check out more of Yeung’s work, including his 360-degree photos and “Urban Jungle” collection on his website.
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