【Community Activities | An Article That Inspired Me】Hostile Design in Hong Kong

In Matters for so long, Ben Xiong not only likes to watch @Ma Youshi and @Macao Xue No.16, but also watch @DevelopmentPhotogStory. And today, taking advantage of an article that inspired me, this community event has not yet ended (extended until noon on 25/8), this time I would like to recommend the "Hostile Design of Hong Kong" released yesterday - Conical Stone Array, Large Stones The Absurd Space Under the Skybridge " (hereinafter referred to as "Hong Kong's "Hostile Design").

Property prices in Hong Kong are abnormally high. Everyone thinks that this piece of land should be a piece of land. But in fact, there is always a strange phenomenon in this land, that is, resources are spent in places that should not be wasted, and they are covered up in places where they can be frugal. Eye. Leaving aside those great white elephant projects[1], just by observing the new design and renovation of park benches, one can understand how terrible the hostility of the Hong Kong government or the wealthy class to the general Hong Kong people or the poor class in Hong Kong is, and this is also the difference between the rich and the poor. Examples of disparities and contradictions.

In Zhou Haowen's photo album "Under the Flyover", the absurd design under the flyover in Hong Kong was photographed. He dared not recall that he had discussed related issues with his father when he was a child, and finally came to two conclusions worth mentioning: street sleepers problems and preventive measures.

A year or four ago, law enforcement officers in Hong Kong were quite human and were friendly towards street sleepers, but then political factors gradually changed the way the law enforcement agencies acted, and the "facade skills" had to be done well, resulting in more and more malicious designs. Serious: Conical stone formations, large stones, benches with separate handrails, etc. In recent years, not only have they tried every means to drive out the homeless, but even the trash cans have been replaced with garbage bags when responding to the voices of the general public, and glue must be sprinkled on the ground for laying bricks.

Where does Hong Kong's hostility come from? Once, Ben Xiong didn't care about other people, but only about himself and his loved ones, because as others said: we are just ordinary people. But in the face of increasingly unusual designs, bias towards wealthy businessmen and those with the same political views, and blindness to the poor... All this creates hostility:

Their hostility to the people, and the hostility of the people to them.

"With such "good intentions", the purpose is to prevent people from using this space, or more precisely, to drive away the homeless who are sleeping under the flyover. The public space in our common sense should be based on the premise of benefiting the people. A rational government, seeing so many people displaced, should reflect on social welfare policies and drive out the street sleepers who live there. The problem of poverty will not disappear. , it does not mean that these people do not need to sleep in the open, it will only make them go to more remote and secluded places. "
From "Hong Kong's "Hostile Design" - Conical Stone Array, Absurd Space Under the Skybridge with Large Stones

If Ben Bear had not read design, Ben Bear would have thought that design was not for people, but for malice. What's more, for the solution to the land problem, they are not using it, but abusing it. Only by abusing it can they profit from it, and using it well will only flow the money to those who really need it - not them.

There is always an indescribable beauty in the sharing of @DevelopPhotogStory , which touches people's hearts slightly, expresses social contradictions and makes people think. And this time, the sharing in Hong Kong's "Hostile Design" is no exception.

[1] The term "white elephant" comes from the English "White Elephant", which refers to something that is completely useless but expensive. Extending to the "Great White Elephant Project", it describes some projects with high cost but no practical effect, or high cost but low return. The Great White Elephant Project has two definitions, one is the overrun and delay of construction cost, and the other is that the utilization rate after completion is not as expected, resulting in waste.