Wonderland

The scale of SSP is very interesting .On the street level, original buildings were built in human scale whilst new private estates look like giants who ate the "EAT ME" cake from the "Alice in Wonderland" story and grew to such a tremendous size. The exaggerated contrast between the old and new makes SSP looks like Alice's wonderland.

SSP is famous for the vivid street life,however,the "new giants” cover the sky，and seems like alien to the neighborhood.Some blocks in Cheung Sha Wan has already be replaced by those "modern giants",and the street market has been moved to business buildings in the  podium.

See the  spatial difference I illustrated below:

original street of SSP  V.S.  street occupied by the giants

The street view in the second illustration is just the status quo in some blocks in Cheung Sha Wan,and may be the future of central SSP.No more attractive street markets,only a few pedestrians walking by in a rush and the sidewalk turned from an active outdoor place into an aisleway carrying pedestrians and wheeled traffic.

This contrast remind me Jane Jacob's view about the relationship between  streets and the city“If a city's streets look interesting,the city looks interesting;if they look dull,the city looks dull."

market in the business building V.S. market on the street

Besides,SSP is a wonderland for skilled craftsmen and small traders because there is a lot of tiny stalls or shops although the shopkeepers are continuously struggling against spatial and temporal constraints.These shops and stalls are nexus of social and econimic networks and hubs of community memory,sth that is becoming rare in other new districts.