cityculture assignment: February 2006

Picture of assignment 1

city culture assignment 1

APM: New landmark of Kwun Tong

Kwun Tong, in most people's impression, was an industrial and residential zone. As time passes , this zone is facing the problem of urban decadence, urban renewal project is needed to take place. Also because of the de-industrialization in Hong Kong, land use of Kwan Tong is forced to face changes.

Before 1950, Kwun Tong was still a suburb with very low population density. About four years later, the government had carried out a reclamation project to provide land for industrial use. The history of Kwun Tong’s industrial development started.

As most industries there were labor-intensive, low priced housing was needed for the workers. As a result, the government started to build housing estates there to cater to the needs of workers. Up till now, over 70% of the population in Kwun Tong is living in public housing estates.

Due to the long history of settlement, Kwun Tong is facing the problem of aging population. According to the Population Census 2001, about 10.9% of Hong Kong’s population is living in this district. Form the same source, it shows that, about 24.4% of the low income group are living there which is the highest in HK.

Under the situation of urban decay, aging population and low income problem, it seems not suitable for Kwun Tong to develop as a commercial zone like Causeway Bay or Mongkok. However, the establishment of APM, a shopping mall which target young people, leads the change of land use there.

From APM website, it shows that APM emphasizes itself as the special vision for the future of Hong Kong since APM seems breaking down the traditional mode of shopping mall: the combination of shopping, commercial activities and omni lifestyle APM want to give shoppers surprise, entertainment through the design and the activities they hold.

At the very beginning, we didn’t believe that APM is located at Kwun Tong because our imagination and our past experience told us kwun Tong is an old district with lots of old buildings and small shops. However, we cannot find any similarity in APM building. APM is just so prominent that seems not “matching” with the other buildings. When we sit in the Starbucks in APM and looking outside, the difference between the old buildings and this new shopping mall is just so large.

Therefore, we are interested in finding the difference between APM and the surrounding of Kwun Tong district.

Written by Kung and Grace