Ces images sont tirées de l'excellente expo du MoMA, "Uneven Groth".
Elles sont signées de nos amis de Map Office associés aux équipes du Network Architecture Lab. Elles sont le résultat d'une réflexion sur l'évolution de l'urbanisme de Hong-Kong sous la double influence de la croissance démographique imposée par la Chine et la montée des eaux due au réchauffement climatique qui va contribuer à réduire le territoire - plus là et là.
"Compressed between sea and mountains, Hong Kong is a chaotic, hybrid, and colorful urban territory characterized by its extreme density and geography.
Formed by a collection of more than 250 islands, mostly inhabited, the city/territory is under pressure from Beijing to absorb new waves of mainland migrants in order to accommodate a 50 percent population increase to its 7.2 million inhabitants.
The threat of exponential population growth in combination with scare land resources and rising sea levels suggest an opportunity to test an artificial island scheme that could extend to the Pearl River Delta and further along the Chinese coastline.
Man-made islands offer an alternative, sustainable urban expansion with new modes of living, working, and entertaining. Paradigms of living conditions, islands exaggerate existing modes of production and consumption of urban spaces. As territorial fragments, their construction and destruction concentrates many of the forces of human civilization and offers a way to escape the present and to project the future.
Hong Kong Is Land proposes to add eight new artificial islands to the existing territory. In this way, it addresses various needs and features of prevailing contexts while taking into account near future situations. These artificial lands should not be recognized solely as islands or generators of maritime zones. Beyond offering a response to an unbalanced geography, the eight corresponding scenarios propose a new language through which to promote universal values and raise global awareness of specific contemporary issues. Myths, legends, fictions, stories, histories - as many narratives as possible are required to define the contours of a new territory."
Leur travail renvoie donc directement aux réflexions engagées dans le cadre de notre programme Catastrophic Cities et prolonge "Vers de nouvelles relations entre la mer et les villes ?"
Valérie Portefaix et Laurent Gutierrez, les fondateurs de Map Office, furent les premiers invités des Atelier Transit City qui débutèrent en mai 2003 autour de la question "Hong-Kong, modèle urbain du XXI° siècle ?" Ça reste toujours d'actualité. Sauf qu'à l'époque on ne parlait que d'hyper-densité, et qu'aujourd'hui on parle en plus de catastrophe climatique.
