The Densest City on Earth

honestly, its a miracle that the whole thing didnt go up in flames at some point, you'd think a massive fire would have started from something be it a lantern or the heavy industry that happened in there.

Kowloon is forever the model for incredibly dense dystopian science fiction cities. Night Runner, Dredd, Cyberpunk - all of them you can see the inspiration from the insanity that was Kowloon.

I flew into HK in the late 1980's and I was STUNNED how close the plane came to buildings adjacent to the flight path. I remember our plane was STILL in the air, close to landing, yet I could see the TV sets in the different apartments ih the buildings adjacent to the runway flight path. I could even sort of see what the residents were watching on their TV's as we came into land. THAT"S how tightly packed the whole area was.

There was a belief among futurists that Kowloon would be the model of future cities, densly packed to the point that it almost becomes ungovernable outside of wealthy areas. This is because it was believed that when countries became more prosperous the birth rate would go up. This is why it served as an inspiration for cyberpunk futuristic settings. We now know that the opposite happened.

Fun fact: after the Walled City was evacuated, the district served for one last film in 1993 Crime Story starring Jackie Chan. during an important action scene of the film they made many explosions in this district which marked the beginning of its destruction.

I grew up in Hong Kong and this video explained the Kowloon Wall City better than most of the local documentaries

As someone born in the 90s, I sometimes forget how much has changed in just my short lifespan. To me, the time frame of when it was torn down still feels like it’s only been about a decade ago. Can’t believe there’s a park with so many fully grown trees already

The way Neo explains and the speed he uses fits me really well. As someone whose first language is not English, I find it both educational and recreational watching these videos! Excellent graphics and modelling!

The reason this video is so short is because he doesn't endlessly tease point after point. He simply says what, why, when, where and keeps it moving. And I appreciate that. Subbed.

its really hard to even fathom the fact that this city existed in real life and not in a dystopian science fiction movie

this would be a killer setting for a detective crime drama game about the triads

The Hong Kong film Twilight of Warriors: Walled in, depicts this building 😮

Great documentary. My father grew up in HK, but worked in Kowloon Walled City, delivering propane tanks and 50-lb rice bags up 10+ flights of stairs to its residents, for 20+ years

I learned about Kowloon walled city from my math teacher in grade 7. We took the population of Kowloon, measured it against its area, came up with a density, and calculated that the entire global population which at the time was 6bn - if crammed into a density of Kowloon, would roughly take up the area of Rhode Island.

Visiting kowloon in shenmue 2 introduced me to the concept. It was portrayed well as a place of darkness and of light. Many of the people in the tightly packed internal streets of the game were happily living their lives in peace while the main character sought out the dark underbelly of the city. Its always been in the back of my mind knowing that its based on a real place that used to exist. When i played the game as a kid i thought it was a totally seperate plsce, but knowing it was within hong kong (where the bulk of the game takes place) makes alot of sense

Imagine if they didn’t demolish it and turn it into a museum it would be the biggest tourist attraction on earth.

I am a Hongkonger and I have to say, this is the best documentary about the Kowloon Walled City so far. Even better than local TV channel's in some parts. One of my boss lived there when he was a child. What he told me was quite different than popular belief. Maybe he was lucky, or the City was still in early days. Contrary to impression, he said the neighborhood was peaceful and like to take care of each other.

Imagine a retro noir story-driven game set in a semi fictional, open world Kowloon walled city which you can enter almost every buildings and rooms. You play as one of a very few private investigators in Kowloon and you have to navigate the city overcramped spaces filled with mysteries and suspense, leading up to some multiple endings depending on your gameplay. So much potential.

The editing and structure of this video is amazing. Def one of my fav vids

I love the 3D model you created of this city! Great video, lovely editing.