Sham Shui Po district is among the poorest areas of Hong Kong. Many of the buildings are very old and many poor immigrants have settled here. However, redevelopment is happening around the area and perhaps this part of Hong Kong's slums will be transformed soon.

By "kenlee" from a Hong Kong transport forum :

http://images3.fotop.net/albums3/coming/____/Img_2112a.jpg

http://images3.fotop.net/albums3/coming/____/Img_2118a.jpg

http://images3.fotop.net/albums3/coming/____/Img_2133a.jpg

http://images3.fotop.net/albums3/coming/____/Img_2122a.jpg

Wow. That is TRUE density. Slums? hahah. They look nice to me.

^yeah looks nice to you because you've never had to live in them. All you see are buildings bunched up together and think "omggg denisty,I love it"
those people don't live their by choice.

Briliant photos!

^yeah looks nice to you because you've never had to live in them. All you see are buildings bunched up together and think "omggg denisty,I love it"
those people don't live their by choice.

Very true ;).. that was my initial reaction. Top quality photos though.

Let's take a closer look

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y181/Genuine007/Shum%20Shui%20Po/5.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y181/Genuine007/Shum%20Shui%20Po/4.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y181/Genuine007/Shum%20Shui%20Po/3.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y181/Genuine007/Shum%20Shui%20Po/2.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y181/Genuine007/Shum%20Shui%20Po/1.jpg

and the other side of the highway

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y181/Genuine007/Kln2/20050124.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y181/Genuine007/Kln2/20050112.jpg

looks like mainland china... the first set of pictures was really beautiful though... ;)

Haha yeah it does actually!

Where do most of the immigrants come from, the mainland?

Yes, immigration is primarily from mainland China, oftentimes reuniting with families in Hong Kong.

I love the density of Hong Kong, it amazes me every time

From the pictures it's obvious that almost all of them can afford air conditioning; at least in terms of climate they can afford a rather comfortable life.

wow, very density

I think the new highrise slums are even more depressing than the old ones.





KGB

While these areas are quite dense, crime is actually very low in Hong Kong - much lower than their less dense counterparts in the United States and Canada in fact.

i have the feeling this thread was started to show how "great" the Hong Kong slums are compared to other cities around the world, because those first photos are great!

Actually, Sham Shui Po is not exactly a district to be proud of. However, the photographer was able to capture some beautiful pictures of this otherwise downtrodden district. I've never seen these types of photos and angles before.

the first pictures are not about slums.. a lying statement that is.. i doubt it!

Fist pics are really Awesome....and the next one shows the other side of this amazing city with lots of contrasts..but HK are just fabulous for me!

Looks fascinating. Those are hardly slums. Doesn't look menacing at all. That mall/high rise complex is a bit monotonous though.

that first set of pictures...beautiful

the second set of pictures...depressing

:)

i read a book earlier ... theres one thing in common for all buildings in hk ... no matter rich or poor ... they all have a/c ...

actually those public residential development really isn't so bad to live ... not everyone can live in private residential
i wouldn't be suprised if the community is more cohesive in these public developments as compare to NA suburbs ...

sham shui po really is a depleted area ... physically the buildings need improvement ... but i do hope they would renovate instead of torning it down ... as for the district ... i find the flea market quite unique myself

not to bad for slums well they just need a lil paint and a few fixes to make it look nice :)

Well, I find the older stuff to have a nice human scale to it...quite European...or maybe more like some South American cities. They seem to be on a nice urban grid system...they seem mixed-use. Ok...buildings should have adequate plumbing, wiring and need to be structurally sound...but they don't have to be slick and new...the patina of time, and the little human touches (laundry hanging from window to window, etc) I find quite charming.

But anything is better than the idea of building 17 identical (and horrendously ugly) 40-storey highrises 10 feet apart from each other, and calling that progress.







KGB

you always not just only see the surface of the building to judge whether it is a slum or not

Then North America should stop encouraging sprawl and having virtually identical single family homes built 2 feet from each other, each with a few cars parked in the driveway waiting to spill pollution into the skies and choking the streets deserted of people yet full of cars.

So where is progress being made? An unsustainable model centered on cars or a transit-oriented model where residents can walk to the amenities?

I think the new highrise slums are even more depressing than the old ones.





KGB

those new "highrises" aren't slums, at all. they're actually for the middle class.

highrise "slums"? look at all those god-awful hideous slabs in TO.... yeah, what a "slum"......

:crazy: :sleepy:

But anything is better than the idea of building 17 identical (and horrendously ugly) 40-storey highrises 10 feet apart from each other, and calling that progress.

KGB

"horrendously ugly"?

those highrises aren't any uglier than the countless concrete/brick commie slabs you see in TO, or even chicago or NYC.

get over yourself. :|

btw, you don't know the meaning of "progress". try developing housing quickly in the most congested piece of land on the face of this earth and making a profit at the same time.... i'd like to see you do better than HK developers.

monotonous they may be, but they are tall and slender. i'd rather see those types of bldgs than squat, fat bldgs or a sea of mcmansions.

btw, excellent photos...........HK rocks.

still, they look pretty cool

They're not bad for slums. Still, the run-down look of this area is quite depressing.

But then every city has these sorts of districts. The idea should be to identify them early on and then try to improve the lot of the people who end up there. Ongoing urban renewal.

slums??? how can you say "slum" to the houses which have lots of air conditions in every floor while people live with no water, no electricity even maybe without a roof in real slums!!

these are some very ugly apartments but for sure they are not slums.

The first few pics don't look like "slums", but the other ones below do show poorer housing. Hopefully redevelopment will help fix-up these old buildings.

Sorry, double post.

When 95% of all buildings there have airconditioning units, I would call that a slum :sleepy: Just lower class housing. I thought slums can't have running water, electricity, AIR CONDITIONING UNITS.

The term "slum" is relative to the state's prosperity. American "slums" also possess air conditioning, and are only well-off compared to, say, Eastern African ones.

Cool slums!

The term "slum" is relative to the state's prosperity. American "slums" also possess air conditioning, and are only well-off compared to, say, Eastern African ones.


:sleepy: :sleepy:

Show me an American slum and Ill show you a good american small car, America has no true slums, slum is not a relative term that can me babied by "Heartland of America" Pro - G.O.P , Global Warming , dont tax my SUV and Cigarettes Americans. Slum means living in a house you dont or will never own, with no or intermitent water, electricity, and or no indoor pluming, mater of fact, go to Africa, drive around for a while and then tell me about American slums!!

Those are just old buildings, hardly slums but that is the worst part of Hong Kong.

if this is slum,it must be one of the richest slum in the world
just have a look at the computer mall and street merket,have a look of what they sell,all new and expensive mobile,laptop,computer aceesories,even newer model than USA

how fast is hong kongs population growing

HK's population is not growing very quickly. Here is an excerpt from the government yearbook :

The provisional figure for the population of Hong Kong at the end of 2003 was estimated at 6 810 100, up 0.4 per cent over a year earlier. This was due to 9 700 more births than deaths and a net inflow of 14 300 residents. Over the period 1998-2003, the average annual growth rate of the population was 0.7 per cent.

In 2001 the total fertility rate in Hong Kong reached an extremely low level of 927 children per 1 000 women, well below the replacement level of 2 100 children per 1 000 women. At the same time, life expectancy at birth was projected to reach 82 years for men and 88 years for women in 2031, one of the longest in the world.

The growth of Hong Kong's population relied, apart from births, much on immigration, the bulk of which was admitted through the One Way Permit Scheme. From 1997 to 2001, more than 272 000 new arrivals from the Mainland were admitted under the scheme, equivalent to some 93 per cent of the population growth. This compared with 266 000 births, equivalent to some 91 per cent of the population growth, during the same period. Between 1983 and 2002, over 720 000 Mainland new arrivals were admitted under the scheme, equivalent to about 11 per cent of the 6.72 million population in 2001.

So many of the buildings look all alike. All cubic, in bare concrete. :(

Slums? I think you meant "slums".

You've been to Bombay hkskyline - ever driven past Dharavi?

Wow you picked the right title :(

Slums? I think you meant "slums".

You've been to Bombay hkskyline - ever driven past Dharavi?

Sham Shui Po is the closest to the slum in Hong Kong standards, and many of the older buildings are literally falling apart, with some incidents of concrete exteriors breaking off and hurting pedestrians in the streets below. Although the caged homes are mostly gone, it is still home to the impoverished, who have to endure testing conditions.

And yes, those slums in Mumbai are really bad. I saw plenty of it on the ride to/from the airport.

Looking at the street, there are plenty of markets, well-developed transit connections, and services, which gives convenience to residents so they don't have to jump into a car for anything. Much more sustainable and progressive than a suburbia of identical single family homes a few feet from each other, all so inconvenient to get anywhere so 2 cars sit on the driveway per house. That's not progress either.

AMEN

massive identical buildings falling apart with people packed like sardines it's not exactly progress....

it's just what it looks like.... packing the poor like sardines in just one area to make way for the rich.

The 40 story towers are not "falling apart".

Any one wishing to live in Hong Kong should be ready to be packed like sardines in any case - unless you've got a ton, and I mean a serious ton, of $$$.

doesn't look too bad-not really slums,just ron-down,but really dense!