History

Time line

Before the 1920s, Kowloon City was basically a society of fishermen, farmers and quarry mining.

In 1958, the government completed the reclamation project in Kowloon Bay, moved the Kai Tak Airport to the south, and built the San Po Kong Industrial Zone and Prince Edward Road East at the original location.

Later in 1993, all residents were removed from Kowloon Castle and all the buildings were demolished. The surrounding area including the site of the building turned into a ‘Kowloon Wall City Park’.

In more recent years, rapid urban renewal from government has taken place and new residential complexes have replaced old tong laus.

Land Reclamation Timeline

Historical Map

Extracting borders from historical map in 1947 by street blocks/ building orientations, also taking the moutain side and coastline as hints correspondingly.

Reclamation

The peninsula has been significantly expanded through land reclamation from the sea, over several phases. In the south and west, most of the reclamation was carried out before 1904. Reclamation in several other small areas along the main Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront was completed by 1982. Since 1994, parts of the Hung Hom Bay were reclaimed and by 2019, it had been completely extinguished. The West Kowloon Reclamation was formed as part of the Airport Core Programme and largely completed by 1995.

Figure Ground

From the extracted borders in 1947 historical map, the logic of gridlines has kept and eventually expanded within the future developments and reclaimed land.