Luk Sin Ching (3036227989)
This chapter raises an interesting phenomenon that skywalks, footbridges, or skyways have become the symbol of urbanism worldwide. These skywalks have radically altered the form and spatial logic of cities
around the world. For example, Hong Kong has floating three-dimensional circuits that connect
transit stations, shopping malls, office towers, and parks.
But why do we have skywalks? Civic leaders began to “pedestrianize” their urban centers and connect and consolidate interior spaces through skybridges and arcades, to make downtown convenient, comfortable, safe, and climate-controlled for office workers and shoppers. The spatial ambiguity created by the stacked circulation levels —which often lack sufficient vertical connections — can render the urban layers as independent realms. For that reason, skyways and tunnels are seen by many theorists as deviant or untenable urban forms.
People can build more advanced, convenient, and futuristic architecture because of how technology and knowledge we have learnt and developed. Therefore, skywalks are built, connecting different places. There is another major advantage, which is to capitalise on space, especially for small cities with limited lands, such as Chongqing, where other people commented that this place is just like a maze, full of skywalks and subways. Another up-to-the-mark example is the Central-Mid-Levels Escalators, which covered all the places around Central. Therefore, citizens do not have to climb the slopes.
When we think of urbanism, it is always simple yet convenient architecture, and there are always some footbridges, neon lights, and a lack of greenery. That is the beauty of Multilevel Metropolis. – Icy Luk