The reasonableness of high-rise buildings in Hong Kong

The high-rise in Hong Kong we mentioned last class has a lot of disadvantages: High density, lack of public unities, bad living environments. In some way, we can say it’s just like a vertical slum. But what I want to discuss is that these disadvantages have reasons and these reasons are reasonable.

The picture that we saw in last class of the high-rise in Hong Kong is actually the public housing in Hong Kong.  Public housing in Hong Kong is a set of mass housing programs through which the Government of Hong Kong provides affordable housing for lower-income residents. Public housing is mainly built by the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Housing Society. Rents and prices are significantly lower than those for private housing and are heavily subsidized by the government. Normally, the rental fee of the public housing is only 1/6 of the standard housing.

Knowing whom the public buildings served, then we can discuss how it is reasonable with its disadvantages. The public building is government relief. At this stage, due to the economic constraints, the government can only let everyone live in a house but not live in a comfortable house. Think about this, if you bought a standard housing. But the nearby public housing is only 1/6 of your housing and it is as comfortable as your housing. Do you think this is reasonable? Maybe someone will say that the public housing is not humanized and everyone should enjoy equal rights. But in my opinion, to be fair is also very important and maybe more important than equal.