Messy Urbanism

Understanding the “Other” Cities of Asia

Edited by Manish Chalana and Jeﬀrey Hou

Hong Kong University Press e University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong www.hkupress.org

© 2016 Hong Kong University Press ISBN 978-988-8208-33-3 (Hardback) All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound by Paramount Printing Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong, China

Contents

List of Figures Acknowledgments vii xi

Chapter 1 Untangling the “Messy” Asian City

1

Jeﬀrey Hou and Manish Chalana

Chapter 2 A History of Messiness: Order and Resilience on the Sidewalks of

22

Ho Chi Minh City

Annette M. Kim

Chapter 3 e Order of Messiness: Notes from an Indonesian City

40

60

Abidin Kusno

Chapter 4 Concrete Jungle or Geocultural Cipher? Reading Lineage into the Perils and Prospects of Metro Manila

José Edgardo A. Gomez Jr.

Chapter 5 e Royal Field (Sanam Luang): Bangkok’s Polysemic
Urban Palimpsest
81

Koompong Noobanjong

Chapter 6 Shinjuku 新宿: Messy Urbanism at the Metabolic Crossroads

101

119 136

Ken Tadashi Oshima

Chapter 7 Little Manila: e Other Central of Hong Kong

Daisy Tam

Chapter 8 Neutral Equilibrium in Public Space: Mong Kok Flower Market in Hong Kong

Kin Wai Michael Siu and Mingjie Zhu

Chapter 9 Making Sense of the Order in the Disorder in Delhi’s Kathputti

154

175
Colony

Manish Chalana and Susmita Rishi

Chapter 10 Messy Work: Transnational Collaboration in Chandigarh

Vikramāditya Prakāsh

vi

Contents

193

Chapter 11 Everyday Urban Flux: Temporary Urbanism in East Asia as

Insurgent Planning

Jeﬀrey Hou

Chapter 12 Messy Urbanism and Space for Community Empowerment in

215

238
China

Daniel Benjamin Abramson

Epilogue: Sites of Questions, Contestations, and Resistance

Manish Chalana and Jeﬀrey Hou

Notes on Contributors Index
244 246

Figures

Figure 0.0 Case study cities Figure 1.0 Case study sites xiv xvi

2

Figure 1.1 A large electronic billboard welcoming visitors to Chungking

Mansions in Hong Kong
Figure 1.2 Street vendors and shoppers near the Siam Square in Bangkok Figure 1.3 Hawker stands on Chun Yeung Street in Hong Kong Figure 1.4 Street vendors in Mumbai
477
Figure 1.5 Large-scale urban redevelopments in Shanghai Figure 1.6 e historic Qianmen district in Beijing
11 12 14 22
Figure 1.7 e seemingly amorphous urban fabric of Tokyo Figure 2.0 Map of Ho Chi Minh City and map of twin cities, Saigon and
Cholon
Figure 2.1 Superimposed historic maps of present-day Ho Chi Minh City from 1623 to 1950
26 31 32 33
Figure 2.2 Everyday scene of a Vietnamese street vendor selling soup, ca. 1920
Figure 2.3 Public space in front of the market building in Cholon during the French colonial era, 1920s
Figure 2.4 An elegant young woman enjoying a beverage while on the sidewalk in Cholon, ca. 1955
Figure 2.5 A street scene of Saigon, ca. 1955 Figure 3.0 Map of Batavia (today’s Jakarta) in 1904 Figure 3.1 Tillema’s model of a new kampung
35 40 45

47

Figure 3.2 Comic depiction of a riverside urban kampung, with rural below

and urban above

Figure 3.3 Comic depiction of an irregular settlement showing street scene

49

50

Figure 3.4 An urban kampung in West Jakarta

viii

Figures

Figure 3.5 A remaining kampung in a leﬅover space in West Jakarta Figure 3.6 A mudik scene Figure 4.0 Map and aerial photographs of Metro Manila and an exemplary site
52 55 60

Figure 4.1 Close-up of concrete ﬂyovers and pedestrian footbridges

63

67
Figure 4.2 Area developed in the last decade by conversion of an old army base
Figure 4.3 Panoramic shot depicting the full-blown layering of Metro Manila Figure 4.4 Section of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue on a typically busy day Figure 4.5 Neighborhood showing mature informal settlements
69 72 74

76

Figure 4.6 Iconography reﬂecting aﬃnity for a multitiered coexistence with

forces of nature
Figure 5.0 Map and aerial photographs of Bangkok and the study site Figure 5.1 e present Royal Field (Sanam Luang)
82 83

85

Figure 5.2 A map showing Rajadamnoen Avenue with the Royal Field and

Grand Palace and the Royal Plaza
Figure 5.3 A view of the inner section of Rajadamnoen Avenue, leading to the Grand Palace, with the Royal Field
93

96

Figure 5.4 e BMA fencing oﬀ the Royal Field following the 2010

renovation/gentriﬁcation of the place

Figure 6.0 Map and aerial photographs of Tokyo and the study site

102

103

Figure 6.1 Contemporary Shinjuku at the entrance to Kabukichō with West

Shinjuku in the distance
Figure 6.2 Maps of Shinjuku: 1880, 1909, 2014 Figure 6.3 Kabukichō entrance and Golden Gai
105 107 108

Figure 6.4 Jencks’s e Language of Post-Modern Architecture, with

Nibankan on the cover
Figure 6.5 West Shinjuku Plaza / Bus Terminal Figure 6.6 Maki and Ōtaka, “Group Form Scheme” for Shinjuku, 1960. Figure 6.7 Cities in the Sky, Shinjuku, Isozaki, 1960. Figure 6.8 Omoide yokochō
109 110 111 114 115 116 120 121
Figure 6.9 Arakichō Figure 6.10 Shinjuku Station, Southern Terrace Figure 7.0 Map and aerial photographs of Hong Kong and the study site Figure 7.1 e skyline of Hong Kong’s Central District viewed from
Victoria Harbour

Figures

ix

Figure 7.2 Domestic workers transform the corporate space of the HSBC
Main Building into a site of weekend gatherings
122 125 125
Figure 7.3 e gatherings of domestic workers spill into the network of skybridges throughout Central
Figure 7.4 Temporary barriers, not oﬀering any real obstruction, but nevertheless marking out a very real border

Figure 7.5 Sunday picnics in Chater Garden

126

128 136 140 142 144 146 146 147 154 160 161 162
Figure 7.6 Practicing dance moves in Central Figure 8.0 Map and aerial photographs of Hong Kong and the study site Figure 8.1 e number of unlicensed vendors from 1994 to 2013 Figure 8.2 Vendors selling their wares on a footpath Figure 8.3 A narrow pathway on Flower Market Street Figure 8.4 Flower displays along the street Figure 8.5 A woman dragging a ﬂowerpot back to her shop Figure 8.6 ree states of equilibrium Figure 9.0 Map and aerial photographs of Delhi and the study site Figure 9.1 Transit camp at Anand Parbat showing prefab dwelling units Figure 9.2 Section through the main Bazaar Street showing shop-houses Figure 9.3 Neighborhood map showing clustering pattern of community groups
Figure 9.4 Low-rise built form in the artists’ section of the colony Figure 9.5 View of the non-artists’ section of the colony
163 164

166

Figure 9.6 Open space in front of the main mosque in the artists’ section

Figure 9.7 Plan of Aman’s dwelling unit showing the courtyard dwelling unit 170 Figure 10.0 Map of Chandigarh and the Greater Mohali Region Figure 10.1 e core of the Indian Chandigarh Capital Project Team Figure 10.2 Regional Plan for Greater Mohali Region
176 182 186

189

Figure 10.3 Billboard showing planned large-scale development in GMADA

territory

Figure 11.0 Map and aerial photographs of the study sites

194

196 200
Figure 11.1 A ramen stand and its customers outside the Shinjuku Station Figure 11.2 Shanghai citizens transform a department store entrance into a dance ﬂoor and an urban spectacle
Figure 11.3 e sidewalk just outside the Hyehwa Catholic Church in Seoul Figure 11.4 Young musicians outside Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park
202 204

x

Figures

Figure 11.5 Vendors set up makeshiﬅ racks in preparation for the night market in Banka, Taipei
205

207

Figure 11.6 A performance by singer Ah-geh-ah occupying an arcade in

Bangka
Figure 11.7 Homeless men ﬁnd temporary refuge in the underground passage 208 at the West Exit of Shinjuku Station
Figure 11.8 Fashion vendors gathered outside the Eslite Bookstore in Taipei Figure 12.0 Map and aerial photographs of Quanzhou and the study site
210 216

222

Figure 12.1 Grand home of Philippine overseas Chinese Yang family in the

family’s home village of Hou Gan Bin, Shishi County, Quanzhou
Figure 12.2 Xinmen Jie, one of Quanzhou’s three most central arterial streets in the historic city, in the early 1990s
224

224

Figure 12.3 Xinmen Jie aﬅer widening and redevelopment in the early 2000s

Figure 12.4 Resident self-built home construction, in Quanzhou’s historic city 225 center
Figure 12.5 Venue for community design in Qinglong Xiang, Quanzhou,
Fujian, February 2000
229
Figure 12.6 Residents identifying assets, problems, and suggested actions on a 229 model of the neighborhood in Qinglong Xiang, Quanzhou, Fujian, February 2000
Figure 12.7 Student and professional designer discussing home upgrading ideas with a property owner, Xi Jie, Quanzhou, August 2005
232

Figure 12.8 A property in the 2005 Xi Jie design clinic

233

Acknowledgments

is book has been a collaborative project since it inception dating back a decade ago. e instigators of this work include not only us as editors but also our colleagues at the University of Washington (UW)—Daniel Abramson, Ken Tadashi Oshima, and Vikramāditya Prakāsh. Our collaboration first emerged through a jointly offered, interdisciplinary seminar on Asian cities at UW in 2006 taught by Daniel Abramson, Jeffrey Hou, and Vikramāditya Prakāsh. e course was offered again in 2008 together with Ken Tadashi Oshima when he joined the faculty. Our effort was supported through a course development grant from the UW’s East Asia Center.
rough these courses and a number of other collaborative projects on the side, we became interested in not only engaging our students in understanding the complexity of urbanism in the fast-growing and changing region of Asia but also in producing scholarship that utilizes our cross-disciplinary lenses and our collective experiences and expertise. Out of a series of conversations and perhaps from the exhaustion of trying to make sense of the complexity of urbanism in Asia, the notion of “messiness” became something of a revelation—an intellectual starting point for this project and the theme around which we began coalescing our joint inquiry.
is project would not have materialized without the support from many individuals and entities. First, we would like to thank all the contributors for joining our effort in digging deeper into the messiness of cities and urban processes in Asia. Without their participation and insights, we could not even begin scratching the surfaces of such broad and diverse geographical and intellectual terrains. We are grateful to the China Studies Program of the East Asia Center for the faculty research grant awarded to Daniel Abramson and Jeffrey Hou that supported this project. We cannot think of a more appropriate venue than Hong Kong University Press for publishing this work. We would like to thank the editors and staff at HKU Press for supporting this project. is book represents the first joint publication to come out of our new Center for Asian Urbanism in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington. We would like to thank Dean John Schaufelberger for his support of the center through a grant for support a research and teaching cluster in the college focusing on urbanism in Asia.

xii

Acknowledgments

Like most faculty members, we could not have completed this work without the help of our students who assisted us at different stages of this project. Emily GriggSaito was the first to work on a bibliography of relevant work. Nancy Chan worked on mapping of selected cities that we investigated. Amber Piona helped with formatting, copyediting the manuscript, and indexing. Weijia (VJ) Wang, a doctoral student and visiting intern from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, produced a series of maps that enable us to convey the contexts of the cities and sites that we examined. We are grateful for their assistance.
Over the course of developing this book, many others have contributed to our thinking in multiple ways. Various parts and aspects of this book were presented at conferences, including the Association of American Geographers meeting in Los Angeles (2012), and other invited talks, including at the Department of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the New School, the Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California (USC), the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS), National Taiwan University (NTU), and at the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) as part of the Future of Asian Cities lecture series in 2012. ese presentations have provided opportunities for feedback and reflections that enriched our work. Many thanks to Aseem Inam at the New School, Vinayak Bharne at USC, Melissa Cate Christ formerly at HKU, Mike Douglass at NUS, Liling Huang at NTU, and Mimi Gardner Gates at SAAM for their generous invitations.
Over the course of our careers, we have studied, lectured, and taught at different schools in Asia and worked with many colleagues there. eir wisdom, insights, and camaraderie have also enriched our understanding of urbanism(s) in Asia. is book is dedicated to them and all those living in the cities of Asia whose everyday ingenuity and tenacity constitute the substance of this work and the hope for the future.

Figure 0.0

Case study cities. Illustration by Weijia Wang.

Figure 1.0

Case study sites. Illustration by Weijia Wang.

Chapter 1 Untangling the “Messy” Asian City

Jeffrey Hou and Manish Chalana In the opening scene from Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express (1994), the camera follows one of the film’s protagonists, a wig-wearing female drug smuggler, through dimly lit corridors, crowds, and restaurant stalls in what seems like an urban labyrinth. Some passageways look as if they belong to private residences and are yet crowded with foreign faces and strangers, standing elbow to elbow. e narrow spaces lead to slightly wider corridors lined with shops, some open and some closed. Nothing suggests whether one is indoors or outdoors, in a private space or a public space, daytime or evening. No apparent spatial or visual order seems to exist; nothing stands still.
Wong’s film was set in the Chungking Mansions, a seventeen-story building located in the center of Tsim Sha Tsui in the Kowloon Peninsula, opposite Hong Kong Island. Surrounded by brand-name hotels and global fashion outlets, as well as an infinite multitude of small restaurants and shops, Chungking Mansions was notorious in the 1980s and 1990s for its reputation as an “urban jungle”—an abyss infested with crimes, prostitutions, drugs, and illegal migrants.¹As such, the building was also imbued with mystery and fear for most Hong Kong residents. Wong’s intention with the opening scene is obvious: in a matter of seconds, the rapid sequence of movements and scenes quickly injects the viewers into an underbelly of the city with all of its stereotypical density, chaos, and messiness.
Today, the infamous Chungking Mansions still stands along the busy and ever touristier Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. In its nonfictional role, however, the spaces inside the building appear to be rather orderly, in contrast to its depiction in the film. Although one can still encounter restaurant and hotel touts crowding the building’s main entrance, once inside the hallway past the money exchange shops, one finds a security guard and a large, illuminated, color-coded directory, showing types and location of shops in clear categories. On the ground floor, the stores are organized

into money exchange, garment, wholesale watch, delicious food, AV & electronic, and

mobile phones. On the upper ﬂoors, the shops are identiﬁed by supermarket, arts

products, leatherwear, hair cutting, sundries trading, and other business.

1. e Chinese title of the ﬁlm, 重慶森林, actually suggests “Chungking Jungle.”

2

Jeﬀrey Hou and Manish Chalana

e merchandise here is neatly organized in brightly lit shop windows to attract customers, who are largely traders and entrepreneurs from Africa and South Asia. In restaurants at the perimeters of the two-story mall, tables and chairs are arranged so as not to impede the movements of people in the corridors. Many guesthouses still operate on the upper floors of the mammoth building. But, unlike the dark passageways in Wong’s film, the spaces are generally well lit, with signs and even colorful murals that direct customers to specific businesses in the building. One can also find toys scattered in the hallways, signs of children and families living in the building.
Apparently, many improvements have been made to Chungking Mansions over the past decade, and new businesses have moved in, including a minimall that can be accessed only through a separate set of escalators that brings customers in directly from the street level. Named aﬅer Wong’s movie, the Chungking Express minimall has no connections with the rest of the building, however. Inside the shiny minimall, one finds a different ensemble of businesses that cater more to tourists and local customers than to foreign traders. Outside the building, a large electronic billboard hung above the sidewalks flashes images of clean hotel rooms and friendly staff.
e orderliness of the shops and storefronts at Chungking Mansions disguises the less apparent orders not listed in the building directory or Wong’s film. According to Gordon Mathews, a Hong Kong–based anthropologist who carried out extensive research on the Chungking Mansions with his students, a variety of mostly ethnic

Figure 1.1

A large electronic billboard now welcomes and greets visitors coming to Chungking Mansions, which was undergoing renovation in 2011. Photograph by Jeﬀrey Hou.

Untangling the “Messy” Asian City

3

businesses (both legal and illegal) and business networks can be found inside and around the building. ese include guesthouses and restaurants that operate out of private residences that cater to different ethnic groups at different times of the day. ese businesses hire illegal migrants at low wages to maintain competitive prices and attract budget-conscious customers. More impressively, the activities associated with Chungking Mansions extend far beyond the actual footprint of the building and its surrounding cityscapes. e concentration of wholesale businesses and multicultural services along with its central location in Hong Kong makes the Chungking Mansions a node of international trading networks that connects South China, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa (Mathews 2011). With such convergence of people and activities, the building is not only a place to find cheap food and lodging for budget travelers but also a place to conduct transactions, access business information, and build networks and relationships, all happening through a constant interplay of order/disorder, formal/informal, legal/illegal, local/global.

e “Messy” Asian City

e interplay and overlays of order/disorder, formal/informal, legal/illegal, local/ global constitute an experience that defines not only the Chungking Mansions but also life and urbanism in many Asian cities. ey take place on the streets, inside commercial towers, and everywhere in between, involving a multitude of actors and institutions, and their intermediaries. In cities from Mumbai to Manila, vendors occupy sidewalks and street corners, providing food and services to urbanites on the go, including office workers for multinationals. In Taipei, the celebrated Shilin Night Market consists of two coexisting entities—the formalized market building and storefronts vis-à-vis an army of unauthorized vendors who utilize almost all available street surfaces around the market for their businesses. In Shanghai, citizen-dancers once appropriated department store entrances, commercial plazas, and parking lots for their daily performances until such activities were outlawed by the city authority in 2013. In Bangkok, underneath the city’s modern Skytrain, vendors and other businesses continue with their activities on the street level, keeping the city alive twentyfour hours a day (Jenks 2003).
Crowded, bustling, layered, constantly shiﬅing, and seemingly messy, these sites and activities possess an order and hierarchy oﬅen visible and comprehensible only to their participants, thereby escaping common understanding and appreciation. Yet such spatial, temporal, and socioeconomic messiness (or orders) enables many of the neighborhoods and communities to function effectively and efficiently despite extremely high population densities and limited infrastructure. In some cases, such “order” enables marginalized populations in particular to stake out a place and sustain themselves in the unevenly developed terrains of cities and regions. In other