Images of Kowloon Walled City

[Kontra Kommando]

Here’s a link that depicts images of Kowloon Walled City. This labyrinthine ghetto was reminiscent of Fallout 3, or Rage. It housed 50,000 residents, many of whom were criminals, drug dealers, and pimps. Many families were also housed in this squalid city as well.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2139914/A-rare-insight-Kowloon-Walled-City.html

Edit:

Here is a documentary on Kowloon Walled City.

[Maes]

Dat be ghetto, yo.

[CorSair]

It seems people in that block went quite well along, even with criminals living there. Quite a feat back then.

[Dragonsbrethren]

Do this non-filthy and I'd probably enjoy living there.

[Nomad]

Dragonsbrethren said:

Do this non-filthy and I'd probably enjoy living there.

I agree. It's high time we stop building out and start building up. I'm pretty in love with those idealist self-sufficient city structures that are always proposed. What would be better than living and working in an ultra connected community, anything you could want within arm's reach?

[Aliotroph?]

This wasn't so much building up as increasing the density of a fixed volume. No part went past 14 levels.

Here's a thing with a sort of diagram of how it worked.

The look clearly interests a lot of people. Found a page about an arcade in Japan that emulates its appearance.

[Maes]

You will find a much more squallid version of this in ghettos where illegal immigrants live anywhere, even in Greece.

Photo album: 3rd world in the center of Athens.

[Fulgrim]

Nomad said:

I agree. It's high time we stop building out and start building up. I'm pretty in love with those idealist self-sufficient city structures that are always proposed. What would be better than living and working in an ultra connected community, anything you could want within arm's reach?

I'm with you on that Nomad. But, I'd still take a massive space colony (ala Gundam)then a Jetsons style super city.

[Kontra Kommando]

Maes said:

You will find a much more squallid version of this in ghettos where illegal immigrants live anywhere, even in Greece.

Photo album: 3rd world in the center of Athens.

I've actually been to Athens, back in 2009. Most of the country is very beautiful, but Athens was loaded with graffiti. The place I was staying at was near the Acropolis. We went across the country, all the way to Patras, from which we took a boat to Bari, Italy. I saw a lot of skinhead graffiti over there.

[geo]

I need to show this article to Libertarian friends of mine. Along with this quote >>

'Ungoverned by Health and Safety regulations, alleyways dripped and the maze of dark corridors covered one square block near the end of the runway at Kai Tak Airprot.'

They're always picking fights with small and big government. Things like why can't I have chickens in my house for eggs? Its my house why can't I? Why do I need a permit for my deck? I know what I'm doing...

[Maes]

Kontra Kommando said:

Most of the country is very beautiful, but Athens was loaded with graffiti.

shrug I personally like that ghetto/skateboarder subculture look that graffiti give to cities and urban decor. It's other things that I consider depressing and uglifying (vacant shops, half-finished abandoned construction yards, people rummaging through the garbage, etc.)

[Kontra Kommando]

Maes said:

It's other things that I consider depressing and uglifying (vacant shops, half-finished abandoned construction yards, people rummaging through the garbage, etc.)

At least the a lot of the people I met there were nice. The people in Amsterdam, and a lot of the Italians were straight up rude.

[exp(x)]

Nomad said:

What would be better than living and working in an ultra connected community, anything you could want within arm's reach?

Having non-shared walls and a yard.

[Clonehunter]

I really want to see Crime Story now.

[Kirby]

I love that picture of the store owner and his cats. This may seem claustrophobic to some, but I am fascinated by this place and oddly enough would find appeal in living somewhere similar. Granted I would opt for a bit more cleanliness but if it were affordable I would live there

[Cupboard]

Nice photography. Conceptually, it reminds me of act two/three of Deus Ex: Human Revolution when you go to China to engage in corporate espionage only to find how the 99% are living.

[Kontra Kommando]

*Bump* added video to first post.

[DooM_RO]

You should see the gypsy ghettos from Romania, man they live in some of the poorest conditions I've ever seen but they don't do much to improve their condition. In fact, my city constructed some nice houses in one of the ghettos to improve their lives (with tax payer money of course) but fuck that, they look and smell like shit regardless. I've heard some even bring animals in their homes. Man, thinking about them makes me really mad and I would say some very bad things about them but since the moderators would probably not understand, I won't. My mother is a teacher and boy, her school is absolute hell. She has 20 of these people in her class and not only it is very difficult to control them but she also has to watch out how much authority she exerts because you don't want to anger them, some tend to get very violent. They usually don't get past the 10th grade.

Here is a photo http://adevarul.ro/assets/beta.adevarul.ro/MRImage/2011/06/24/50a9d9ee7c42d5a6637b905b/646x404.jpg

To be honest, they completely deserve this. They do nothing, expect nothing but handouts, make 12 children per family and tarnish our country's reputation. They get a lot of help but when most of those who go to school do fuck all, they really deserve this.

[Maes]

DooM_RO said:

Here is a photo http://adevarul.ro/assets/beta.adevarul.ro/MRImage/2011/06/24/50a9d9ee7c42d5a6637b905b/646x404.jpg

To be honest, they completely deserve this. They do nothing, expect nothing but handouts, make 12 children per family and tarnish our country's reputation. They get a lot of help but when most of those who go to school do fuck all, they really deserve this.

I can feel you, they don't live any differently in Greece. But on the other hand they don't pay taxes, drive unregistered vehicles, are absolute masters in some "trades' like theft, beggary, junk markets etc. and increasingly, metal "scrap" too. Even the police prefer leaving them alone on the basis of some shady agreement/truce, unless they really fuck up. Also because in the rare case when one of them is dragged to court, you can expect the entire clan (>200 people) to go wreck the courthouse. There are Gypsy shantytowns ("Yuft Mahala") that even the most heavily armored SWAT teams would avoid.

They consider demeaning doing a dependent job or having to deal with bureaucracy, so they shit on building codes, laws, etc. I can partially understand them on this one.

How they get by? Many of them are Greek citizens and have excellent political connections (they are an excellent election-swaying tool, as they can be paid to vote for specific candidates. The ongoing rate is about 30-40 Euros per vote), so they can get access to grants, subsidies etc. whereas the average unemployed Greek citizen would starve.

The only serious threat to their nearly complete dominion of the underworld, is the competition from illegal immigrants. Those not only do jobs which the Gypsies themselves find demeaning (!), but also compete with them in theft, junk etc. especially metal scrapping. From time to time there are even bloody fights between Gypsies and immigrants over turf.

In a few words, they manage to have almost all privileges of a law-abiding citizen, and almost none of the obligations. How convenient. Perhaps I'll try to get adopted by a Gypsy clan.

[Kontra Kommando]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/17/italy

Check this news report out. The people of Naples took things into their own hands.

[Maes]

Naples itself is quite the wretched hive, and I don't know if I'd prefer living there or in a Gypsy slum.

But yeah, violent assaults and torchings of Gypsy camps with are more common in Italy and the rest of Europe, than in the Balkans. But, N.B. there is a major difference: the Gypsies in Italy can't be anything but nomads, while Greece, Romania, Bulgaria etc. also have quasi-permanent Gypsy populations which are full citizens (...so to speak) of those countries, each with their own peculiarities and different degrees of integration with local society, but in any case, much higher than that of nomads.

In general nomads tend to be more aggressive/vexing than "perms", and much less likely to be cooperative with any form of authority, precisely because they tend to move a lot, and so don't need to have a "good rep" or anything. Not that "perms" are angels, but they have other "perks" and know when they are pushing it too far. When perms and nomads stumble upon each other on the same turf, often things get ugly.