Border Ecologies: Hong Kong’s Mainland Frontier

Hong Kong’s border with Shenzhen is dissolving. By 2047, the border will likely not exist. Integration with the Mainland will remove distinctions created by the One Country Two Systems policy. The uncertainty surrounding what will happen has created anxiety relating to law, identity, freedom of speech, and voting rights. Caught in this debate is the Frontier Closed Area, a 1951 undeveloped buffer zone of estuaries, fish farms, forests, villages and military posts. In contrast, Shenzhen, has exploded into a metropolis of 15 million plus.

The book explores this unique border ecology. Design strategies inserted within this ecology promote alternate forms of development. The example widens the discourse on borders to raise critical issues that impact the contemporary city.