Having grown up in a city with a culture centred on efficiency, urban skyways have seemed no more than an element of traffic management to me. Yoos and James (2016) show that such “multilevel urbanism” is not only a means to facilitate easy movement between different vertical interior spaces, but by separating the pedestrian from and making way for automobiles on the ground level, it is also a product of the reconciliation between fast-paced economic development and our social, leisurely needs.
Speaking of leisurely needs, I find that Gruen’s notion of the multi-layered shopping mall being the commercial, cultural, and social hub for the American suburbia can also be applied to Hong Kong. The mall culture is so deeply ingrained in the Hong Konger, that it becomes the backdrop of much of our personal memories. The city’s malls serve also as a commuting point, each one connecting to entrance ways and footbridges at multiple levels, eventually merging with other similar infrastructures to form the “monster veins” of the city.
Kwong Hoi Shan, 3035663588
Reference: Yoos, J., & James, V. (2016). The multilevel metropolis. Places Journal, (2016).
I appreciate that you have extended Gruen’s idea of the mall city into you reading of shopping malls in Hong Kong, they certainly share similarities as centres of areas. In fact the New Towns, such as Shatin, Tseung Kwan O, Tsuen Wan, are all planned around big shopping mall complexes with residential towers and a transport hub which can be summarised as TOD (transit-oriented development). That aside, it was great that you delved into the social aspect of the malls rather than a mere place for consumption. If you are interested how different elements of the malls contributes to the social and commercial aspects, I suggest reading Stefan Al’s Mall City : Hong Kong’s Dreamworlds of Consumption which is a survey on the malls in Hong Kong and M Jeffrey Hardwick’s Mall Maker on Gruen.