There City of Kowloon In the 90s it was probably the more densely populated place on the planetwith estimates that come up to 50 thousand inhabitants in an area of just 0.02 km2. This neighborhood of the city of Hong Konglocated north of the island, in a short time he managed to build a bad name, mainly linked to difficult living conditions and toSemi-perennial darkness – caused by an excessive urbanization of the area that hindered the sun’s rays in the lower areas. The site was demolished in 1994 But, in some ways, a similar concept is still present in the country with the notorious homes.
But what is its story? The information available is not many and therefore to clarify we will take as the main reference a study published in 2024 by the University of Hong Kong.
The construction of the walled city
The history of the fortified city of Kowloon has its roots in the Two wars of opiumbetween the United Kingdom and China. Summarizing, at the end of the First war he was signed by the two powers the Nanchino Treaty, who yielded the island of Hong Kong to the English crown. Following the Second War – also won by the British – China also sold part of the Kowloon peninsulahowever, managing to maintain control of a fortified city inside. This was built between the two wars and managed to resist for 99 years as Chinese enclave within an English territory.
The great turning point took place in 1941: the Japanese they invaded Hong Kong And demolished the fortification of the city to obtain construction materials. The lack of a perimeter wall in the following years had a non -negligible impact, especially after the British resumed control of the island at the end of the Second World War. At this point, in fact, the territory entered an area of “limbo”: The demolition of the wall meant that the territory was no longer totally Chinese, but at the same time the residents – supported by Beijing – protested against the plan of the British government to shave everything. All this, combined with a general disinterest of the English government for the area, favored the development of a vertical slum in an area of just 0.026 km2.
The development of the dark city
This neighborhood began to develop in a completely way uncontrolled, without any kind of construction rules, except for the constraint of not having higher buildings than 14 floors Because of the neighbor Kai Tak airport. In most apartments Natural light did not arrive – and hence the name of dark city – the management of waste he was almost absent and ‘electricity It was mostly provided by illegal connections to the neighboring neighborhoods. Inside people were quite poor and, although overall residents lived in peace, a heavy should be reported heroin trafficking.
This rapid growth of the settlement was caused by a very strong increase in Chinese refugees, especially during the 60s. Do you think that in the period immediately prior to its demolition some estimates speak of a population between 35 and 50 thousand Chineseequivalent to a housing density between 1.3 million And 2.5 million people per km2. These are crazy values, if we consider that to date one of the countries with the highest housing density is the Principality of Monaco with 25 thousand people per km2.
As anticipated, the demolition of the neighborhood took place in 1994 And since then this place has been taken as a source of inspiration for films, TV series and video games.
For those interested, today a public park is located in that area.
