<story><title>Hong Kong’s Massive High-Rise Neighborhoods</title><url>http://www.wired.com/design/2013/08/unbelievable-photographs-of-hong-kongs-crazy-high-rises/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jmduke</author><text>I used to -- and still do, to some effect -- fetishize living in a highrise.  I was a suburban kid who grew up in a boring (and, in retrospect, wonderful) house surrounded by other boring houses -- I watched Seinfeld and Frasier, and loved the idea of living in an apartment complex, where prospective friends and plotlines were only yards and floors away.&lt;p&gt;Looking at Michael&amp;#x27;s pictures, I&amp;#x27;m struck with a particular sense of envy -- I realize, knowing what I know about median Hong Kong quality of living, that its likely unpleasant to live in these conditions.  And yet, the sheer mathematics of it -- twenty thousand tenants divided by sixty floors is around three hundred per floor -- makes me smile at so many imaginary hallway interactions.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>briandon</author><text>Spacehunt and gotrecruit are on the money.&lt;p&gt;Even if you spend 3-4x more than the average household&amp;#x27;s entire monthly income so that you live in a flat that&amp;#x27;s almost got half as much usable space as a typical suburban home in, for example, the US, you&amp;#x27;ve got your neighbors to contend with.&lt;p&gt;The exorbitant rent or mortgage that you&amp;#x27;re paying only buys you a bit of extra elbow room (likely translated into more bedrooms and a coffin-like chamber into which your domestic helper, i.e. maid, is supposed to be banished at the end of their workday) and a better address. That money doesn&amp;#x27;t translate into a higher quality of construction. Everything is built as cheaply as possible and buildings begin to degrade pretty much as soon as they&amp;#x27;re put up for sale. There&amp;#x27;s no insulation and floors&amp;#x2F;ceilings are very thin.&lt;p&gt;Upstairs neighbor&amp;#x27;s child practicing piano at midnight ahead of a piano exam that they have to pass so that they can cram another cert for another activity into their portfolio for school applications? Their dog(s), which they keep in a cage or exile to the balcony at night, barking or whining? Deal with it. Down-the-hall neighbor having an epic, all-night mahjong tournament and the neverending &lt;i&gt;ka-lakka-lakka-lak-lak&lt;/i&gt; sound of the tiles driving you bonkers? Watching a football&amp;#x2F;soccer match on their TV and bellowing every time that &amp;quot;their&amp;quot; team scores a goal? Deal with it. Condensation from someone&amp;#x27;s air conditioner dripping from a great height and impacting one of your air conditioners (or a nearby neighbor&amp;#x27;s) with a loud &lt;i&gt;twang!&lt;/i&gt; every few seconds? Deal with it.&lt;p&gt;Then, there are the sidewalks. Thirty-floor (and taller) highrises are the norm, but the sidewalks tend to be the same size as the ones in a low-density suburb ... or smaller. At peak periods, trying to navigate the sidewalks without getting elbowed or shoved into a railing or wall or (worst case) off the curb and into traffic, is an adventure. At off-peak periods, you&amp;#x27;ll play air conditioner drip Frogger and try to get to your destination without being slimed with a melange of condensation, pigeon poop, and algae&amp;#x2F;mold&amp;#x2F;bacteria by inferring a safe path from the locations of puddles on the sidewalk.  Aiyah! Look out! Here comes a guy pushing a metal cart laden with 3-liter cans of corn oil barreling towards you down the sidewalk!</text></comment>
<story><title>Hong Kong’s Massive High-Rise Neighborhoods</title><url>http://www.wired.com/design/2013/08/unbelievable-photographs-of-hong-kongs-crazy-high-rises/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jmduke</author><text>I used to -- and still do, to some effect -- fetishize living in a highrise.  I was a suburban kid who grew up in a boring (and, in retrospect, wonderful) house surrounded by other boring houses -- I watched Seinfeld and Frasier, and loved the idea of living in an apartment complex, where prospective friends and plotlines were only yards and floors away.&lt;p&gt;Looking at Michael&amp;#x27;s pictures, I&amp;#x27;m struck with a particular sense of envy -- I realize, knowing what I know about median Hong Kong quality of living, that its likely unpleasant to live in these conditions.  And yet, the sheer mathematics of it -- twenty thousand tenants divided by sixty floors is around three hundred per floor -- makes me smile at so many imaginary hallway interactions.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>spacehunt</author><text>Grass is always greener on the other side. Living in Hong Kong right now I do miss living in a detached house in suburban Melbourne. A lot.&lt;p&gt;And no, we rarely see anyone else in the hallway, and even when we do we don&amp;#x27;t say hi to each other.</text></comment>