Urban Fusion LOCATION: HONG KONG ACADEMIC: 5TH YEAR, THESIS PROJECT YEAR: 2019 / 2020 [ ONGOING ]
Hong Kong is a city known for its extreme wealth. It is considered a major economic hub of East Asia due to its geographical location and businessfriendly economic policies. However, these policies that make Hong Kong such a successful trading hub is also what is, in part, causing an extreme geographic divide between different socioeconomic classes. To make up for lost revenue due to low corporate taxes, the government over-inflates the land values. This burden is then passed from landlords to tenants, which disproportionately affects low class individuals who now see upwards of 90% of their income go to housing costs. As the economic gap between the rich and poor continues to widen, so does the physical divide between them as well. As the poor are segregated into impoverished districts, they enjoy less benefits than the upper class districts do, such as infrastructure, education, and business opportunities.
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