Geography Education
Geography Education
88
Global news with a spatial perspective: Interesting, current supplemental materials for geography students and teachers. http://geographyeducation.org
Curated by Seth Dixon
Follow
Scooped by Seth Dixon onto Geography Education
Scoop.it!

Ultra-Dense Housing

Ultra-Dense Housing | Geography Education | Scoop.it
From qz.com - March 15, 5:45 PM
Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Seven million people living in 423 square miles (1,096 sq km).
Seth Dixon's insight:

These apartments are so small that they can only be photographed from the ceiling.  Massive urbanization with limited space means that real estate is at a premium and many laborers will not be able to afford large living spaces.  Hong Kong is an extreme example of this and it brings new meaning to the term "high-density housing." 


Tags: housing, urban, planning, density, urbanism, unit 7 cities.

  • 13 Comments (more)
  • +
Kevin Cournoyer's comment, May 1, 12:52 AM
Apartments that are so small, they can only be photographed from the ceiling. That’s pretty ridiculous. I think that most Americans, in fact, most Westerners, could not imagine such cramped and seemingly uncomfortable living conditions. As people who live in a Western culture, we value the idea of space because of the freedom it affords us and also just for basic safety reasons.
The fact that these apartments are in Hong Kong is, to me, very telling. It indicates a cultural difference between East and West. Asian cities tend to be very densely populated, and so anything that can be done to make more room for people is being done. This may have something to do with a lower standard of living in China that makes its people less picky about the environments in which they’re living because they are used to making do with what they have.
Thomas D's comment, May 2, 11:53 AM
This article of how people are living in Hong Kong is absolutely incredible. You can tell just by these pictures how densely populated Hong Kong is. These people have almost their entire home packed into a closet space. They eat and sleep in the same exact spot which is incredible to me. That these people’s entire lives are bunched into a closet space. When you hear that these people pay almost 30 percent more than the price of a person living in Manhattan pays is astounding. I couldn’t imagine living in such a small space like this, even from these pictures it’s hard to tell the actual square footage of the area but I’m confident in saying that my dorm room is probably bigger. It’s really hard to understand how much 7 million people living in Hong Kong really is until you see pictures like this.
Jess Pitrone's comment, May 5, 5:34 PM
I’m getting claustrophobic just looking at these photographs. Surely, Hong Kong can’t be such an amazing city that people are willing to live like this just to be a part of it? New York City is mentioned in the article as having famously high rents, but not nearly as high as in Hong Kong. New York is also famous for tiny living spaces, but I’m sure none of them are as squished and compact as these. This seems to be almost inhumane, as people are slotted into these tiny apartments that resemble cages at a slaughter house. I think that the best way for Hong Kong to solve this problem is to build up and out, instead of dividing what they’ve already got. Like most cities in the world, when room becomes tight the buildings get higher and farther out of the city limits. Let’s look at New York again; the rents and the spaces in Manhattan became too pricey and too small, so people began to move out of the city limits to places like Brooklyn, and now Brooklyn is one of the hippest, most sought after areas in New York. I think that Hong Kong city planners need to take a step back and see what other people are doing so that they can rebuild and customize their city to make room for their bustling population.
Sign up to comment
Delete the scoop?

Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?

Yes No
Seth Dixon is also curating
History and Social Studies Education Regional Geography Social Media Classroom Cultural Geography RIGEA
Discover Topics Seth Dixon is following
The 21st Century Freewares Ductalk Digital Delights for Learners Geoprocessing Curation & The Future of Publishing
and 35 others
Your new post is loading...
Suggested by Allison Anthony
Scoop.it!

Flag wars

Flag wars | Geography Education | Scoop.it
From www.economist.com - February 22, 9:43 AM

"Mr Füzes had voiced support for the Székler people, a group of ethnic Hungarians who live in Transylvania, after two Romanian counties banned the display of the Székler flag (pictured above with men in hussar uniform) on public buildings. Zsolt Nemeth, Hungary’s state secretary for foreign affairs, described the ban as an act of “symbolic aggression” and called for local councils in Hungary to show solidarity by flying the Székler flag from town halls. The Hungarian government then raised the Székler flag above Parliament, further enraging Bucharest..."

Seth Dixon's insight:

Flags are important symbols of cultural identity and displaying them can be a strong political statement.  For Hungarians, displaying symbols of a "Greater Hungary" shows some desire for irredentism--to redeem Hungarians of the 'wrong' side of the border.  For those Hungarians in Romania this is an act of defiance that show that they want greater autonomy. 


For sports fans, ESPN did a "30 for 30" documentary on the early 90's Yugoslavian basketball team that was a major talent (1990 World Champions) but was torn apart as devolutionary forces fractured the countries and the once-teammates were estranged after what some perceived as disrespectful acts to the Croatian national flag.  Vlade Divac (a Serbian) was pitted against some of his best friends from Croatia as the civil war was playing itself out on the court as well.  This is a great way to get a sports fan to learn about ethnic conflict and about the importance of cultural symbols ("Once Brothers"--$1.99, free for Amazon Prime users).   

Tags: political, conflict, devolution, autonomy, Europe, culture.

Conor McCloskey's comment, April 30, 10:26 AM
The past is the past. Or is it? The past seems to mean more to the people of Hungary and Romania these days. The Treaty of Trianon of 1920 sectioned the region of Transylvania from Romania to Hungary. For the ethnic Hungarians living in Transylvania, this posed quite the issue. For many people around the world, the homeland does not always match up with geopolitical boundaries of the country that they live in. While this identity crisis causes conflict for many groups of people all over the world, in Hungary the fight to regain greater-Hungary continues today.
This article also poses interesting questions of voting and citizenship. The Hungarian government granted citizenship beyond its borders, and jurisdiction, to ethnic Hungarians in Romania. What does this say about those Hungarians in Romania? Does it bring Hungary any closer to regaining the borders of the once Greater Hungary? Regardless of the questions of citizenship, such public and federal efforts to expand their borders and regain their ethnic population and homeland is doing more then turning heads. Look to this region for future conflict because the failure of geopolitical nations to represent ethnic homelands rarely ends peacefully.
John Peterson's comment, April 30, 10:37 AM
This article helps to illustrate tensions that can be caused by seemingly simple acts within a society that is home to two conflicting groups. While flags do not have any actual influence or power in society, they are a source of emotion, and pride in ones nation and heritage. Because of the emotion that is tied with flags, it can be a very tense situation when the use of these flags is banned, or if these flags are taken down or destroyed. It is amazing how something so simple as a flag can bring about so much anger, and be the source of such bad blood and violence between different nations or ethnic groups. In the example given, there has been conflict for years, which was recently fueled even more over the use of a flag. While the act of displaying a flag is simply a display of loyalty, the actions of the Romanian government against this practice shows how although it is not a violent act, it can lead to very hostile actions and interactions.
Zakary Pereira's comment, April 30, 4:12 PM
This article got me thinking. The tensions between Hungary and Romania seem trivial to me. The Romanians are the right ones in my opinion and the act of displaying the Székler flag about the Hungarian Parliament was plainly a theoretical middle finger to Romania. The more than a million Hungarians living in present day Romania relates to our unit on culture and nations/states. There is a Hungarian nation of people in Romania that the Hungarian government has now granted rights to, again purposely antagonizing Romania, and Romania is rightfully concerned of their dual-loyalty. Overall, the situation is taken way out of proportion by Hungary and what former piece of an empire wants that flag flown in their country. In Ireland do you see the Union Jack… that’d be a no.
Sign up to comment
Delete the scoop?

Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?

Yes No
About Media Follow us How it Works Legal Mobile Developers
Facebook
Twitter
Google +
LinkedIn