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.

 

Start from the last day in SSP

Last day in SSP, I continue to explore the area where URP is about to take place,a few blocks to the southwest of the SSP station,followed the route I searched online:Yen Chow St.----Tai Nan St.---Yee Kuk St.---Haitan St.---Tung Chau St.

The Yen Chow St. Hawker Bazaar impressed me most, it's like a squatter fabric market and you can find almost any fabric you want with a good price.I tried interview the stall owners but they seemed to be Cantonese speaker and hate to be bothered,after be refused unfriendly several times,I was really embarrased,but fortunately，I successed to get an interview with an elderly owner even he didn't want to be in the camera that I only recorded our conversation.He told me they used to run their bussness in the underground mall where locates the tube satation now,and the government moved the market to where they were right now in order to make room for the station constraction, and they were promised to  stay here temporarily，but they have been there for 32 yrs since the promise from the government, and they don't know how much longer they have to wait for the promise to be achieved.

I never doubt the URP would give a better living conditions to the residents and  bussnessmen,but temporary placements seems to be a problem, especially for those lower income class.

the location of this market

 

And I found another replacement market under the West Kowloon Corrador, but this one is much better that at least they are phisical buildings.