Who is the street for?

IMAGE BY JALLEN

• Who can occupy the street? • What form does the street take? • What activities does it support? • What actions are limited by street architecture or by social rules?

In cities like Hong Kong which are built on a steep slopes, ground level varies between buildings. So the idea of the ‘street’ is not linked to ground level. Instead, elevated bridges and submerged tunnels, aerial walkways and suspended passages create:

“a continuous urban scaled interior.”

Adam Frampton, Jonathan D Solomon, and Clara Wong (2012) Cities Without Ground, p.17

THE FIFTH ELEMENT

In the opening of the movie The Fifth Element (1997), we are introduced to the character Leeloo, a Supreme Being of the Universe, who has just arrived on Earth. Throughout the film, we watch as Leeloo learns to navigate her way around; she has never experienced this world, this city, this street before. Everything here is very strange.

Despite the film being set in a speculative future there are still familiar visual references that the audience is expected to recognise. For example, taxis fly but they are still the yellow colour of the American taxi. High-rise buildings are present but their relationship to the ground is unknown and the traditional functions of the ground for pedestrian and road traffic has been elevated.

WHO IS THE STREET FOR?

There are unspoken rules of engagement for the pedestrian in this new world, but Leeloo is forced to break these rules as she is pursued by the police. She navigates her way around the city through vents and pipes which defy tradition and make her a radical pedestrian in a world set up for automotive transport.