Kowloon City. Les Halles.

Was looking at the pictures of Kowloon City today. A moment of silence.

Check out more on the Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2139914/A-rare-insight-Kowloon-Walled-City.html?fb_ref=LikeButtonBottom&fb_source=profile_oneline


I have no slightest memory of seeing this place in person. I've been told about this place many times, on how it was a pity that such a lively and vibrant part of the city was demolished in the name of development.


For a long time, I blamed the government, and the over-pragmatic Hong Kongers.


But it was not confined to Hong Kong. Far from it. A pleasant surprise on my Paris visit was Robert Doisneau's photo exhibition of Les Halles in the 1950s.

And, demolished.

In the words of Doisneau: « tout ce quartier est pétrifié par un gel brutal, Paris perd son ventre et un peu de son esprit. » 

Word.

Overheard a few people in the exhibition who lived through that age. "It was vibrant, it was an era, but it had to go. The city evolves."

Imagine if Les Halles were still the same. How would we imagine or conceptualize Paris? How would we conceptualize Hong Kong with its Kowloon City walls?

And, must a city always move on?

ps. I don't know why, but when I look at Pavillon Baltard, I think of Souq Al-Hamidiyya in Damascus.

    

Overimagination. The only thing that connect the two are perhaps those bullet wholes on the Souq roof, fresh from French planes in 1925.