Cities Without Ground: A Hong Kong Guidebook

by Adam Frampton, Clara Wong, Adam Frampton

Hong Kong is a city without ground. This is true both physically (built on steep slopes, the city has no ground plane) and culturally (there is no concept of ground). Density obliterates figure-ground in the city, and in turn re-defines public-private spatial relationships. Perception of distance and time is distorted through compact networks of pedestrian infrastructure, public transport and natural topography in the urban landscape.Without a ground, there can be no figure either. In fact, Hong Kong lacks any of the traditional figure-ground relationships that shape urban axis, edge, center, even fabric. Cities Without Ground explores this condition by mapping three-dimensional circulation networks that join shopping malls, train stations and public transport interchanges, public parks and private lobbies as a series of spatial models and drawings. These networks, though built piecemeal, owned by different public and private stakeholders, and adjacent to different programs and uses, form a continuous space of variegated environments that serves as a fundamental public resource for the city. The emergence of the shopping malls as spaces of civil society rather than of global capital-- as grounds of resistance-- comes as a surprise. This continuous network and the microclimates of temperature, humidity, noise and smell which differentiate it constitute an entirely new form of urban spatial hierarchy. The relation between shopping malls and air temperature, for instance, suggests architectural implications in circulation--differentiating spaces where pedestrians eagerly flow or make efforts to avoid, where people stop and linger or where smokers gather. Air particle concentration is both logical and outdoor air is more polluted, while the air in the higher-end malls is cleaner than air adjacent to lower value retail programs. Train stations, while significantly cooler than bus terminals, have only moderately cleaner air. Boundaries determined by sound or smell (a street of flower vendors or bird keepers, or an artificially perfumed mall) can ultimately provide more substantive spatial boundaries than a ground. While space in the city may be continuous, plumes of temperature differential or air particle intensity demonstrate that environments are far from equal.

Genres: Architecture, Urbanism, Theory, Urban, Nonfiction, Cities

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2012

Reviews

[CL Chu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spent four years in HK attending university. It feels nostalgic to read this part-guide, part-artwork, part-fiction book. HK is not necessarily as 'groundless' as the book suggest. It is true that the everyday life, experiences, encounters & memories in HK frequently take place not on the 'ground level', but they are still grounded on the heterogeneous places attached with personal and collective meaning, histories, conflicts, and imagination. And HK is not only a combination of cities (the country parks are amazing and within the reach of transit network). The illustration of the book is definitely remarkable though.

[Phục Hoà · Rating 5 out of 5]

really need to read it

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never been to HK so it may be total nonsense but as a lover of pedestrian walkway systems I hugely enjoyed this series of detailed maps of its complex, non-street, non-figure/ground cityscape.

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

从《城市散步学》来的，一气呵成看完，感觉自己摸着城市的筋脉，除了震撼还是震撼。书里有一句“ …public space does not require stable ground. Hong Kong demonstrates the viability and even robustness of public spaces that do not resemble a street or a square...”，这个洞见太棒太棒了！

[Wink · Rating 5 out of 5]

A MAPPED GUIDEBOOK TO THE UNDERGROUND CITY OF HONG KONG

A small book, but unlike any other. It maps the underground city inside of Hong Kong. Beneath and between the gleaming skyscrapers built over the cramped confines of Hong Kong proper are miles of subterranean malls, passageways, stairs, subway stations, parking garages, escalators, skybridges, and food courts. This “city without ground” forms a shadow city with its own civic ecology. One can walk for hours without leaving this interior place. This large vernacular space was mapped by architectural students in insane detail. Those diagrams are reproduced here. But there are only a few photos of the places or people; the book is primarily diagrams and maps of this inadvertent terrain, one that was engineered but never designed. The 122-page book was created as a guidebook in sufficient detail to guide you through this unappreciated maze town. – Kevin Kelly

Cities Without Ground
by Jonathan Solomon, Clara Wong, and Adam Frampton
ORO Editions
2012, 128 pages, 5.6 x 7.8 x 0.4
$15 Buy a copy on Amazon

[TK Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm delighted to see that Hong Kong's urban development has been acknowledged by professional architects as advanced, innovative and systematic. And now lots of architectural or urban development-related researches or books are coming out, all with illustrative picture with detailed description and also beautiful photographs taken in the real place. This book is quite similar to the one I've read some time before, Mall City: Hong Kong S Dreamworlds of Consumption, although with a different focus--on the criss-crossing elevated pedestrian web. (You don't want to miss out the hidden jokes in the guide map in those white squares.)

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fascinating look at the spatial relationships and world existing outside normal dimensional boundaries within Hong Kong. It is truly a city devoid of immediate geographic reference points, existing in a plain of its own and with only tangential connections to the land on which it exists. By necessity, this book is lacking immediate context; however, that makes it all the more valuable.

Not entirely sure how useful this will be throughout our upcoming trip, but I definitely plan to seek out some of the spots and moments described in this book.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the idea that all the pedestrian networks of Hong Kong have been diagrammed like this. The authors have woven in some "wishful" networks as well such as connected boats at Kai Tak or the Liantang & Heung Yuen Wai proposed border crossing, and maps of "atmosphere" tracking temperatures along all the pedestrian routes.

It seems like it could supplement a traditional map, or stand alone if you want to truly experience these 3-dimensional grids on their own terms.