Hong Kong is Intense

Hong Kong is intense. Its spaces and places are filled with people and stuff using every area, surface and piece of structure to promote or sell a business or individual. Hong Kong is commercial at its heart, and yet it has a strong municipal presence providing vital public services such as housing and public space. Scattered throughout the city are municipal buildings which are pioneering in being a vertical public space. They usually consist of multiple market levels, a food court, a health centre with sports courts swimming pools and sitting and study areas and a library, always surrounded by escalators. Indeed Hong Kong is a city of escalators, elevating the public realm from street level upwards into, through and on top of buildings and structures. One’s sensory experience is constantly overloaded with light, screens, sounds and smells and you walk through the city, particularly in the market areas, but then, once you walk into housing estates, there are large tree-filled courtyards which fill you with a sense of calm. Residents, especially the elderly, are constantly walking or using the outdoor gym machines to exercise and stay healthy. Some even choose to climb to their 12^th floor apartment using the stairs, especially when the block only has one lift. This metropolis is a place of extremes, one where space can be extraordinarily busy and tight and also spacious and calm. One where the free market is the only transformational force and then the government is the sole decision maker. The city is the result of the forces of institutional, governmental and financial bodies creating a dense, sensorial and intense experience.