How chinese deal with overpopulation?

Overpopulation problem solution in Hong Kong

There are a lot of people in China's big cities like Shanghai (trust me there is lots and lots of people, i've been there) and Hong Kong – 7.4 million to be more specific, all in an area that’s 106 square km.

Alongside a huge population, prices have risen at breakneck speed, leaving many unable to afford the super dizzy heights of property prices.

That’s why a local architect wants to turn giant concrete water pipes into mini-flats, stacking them atop each other in vacant lots.

It looks like a construction site from far – but it might be an extraordinary solution to Hong Kong’s housing problem.

It’s an problem that’s needed a solution for a while now and it's heart breaking:

Cosmically high prices

The search for affordable homes has already thrown up ever smaller, sometimes quite terryfing alternatives.

Some architects are experimenting with insanely small flats known as “nano or pico-homes”.

One such home, smaller than a parking space at just 121 sq ft, recently sold for 1.93 million Hong Kong dollars ($242,805). Such is people’s desperation to find a place to call home :(

James Law

Architect James Law tries to build homes out of concrete water pipes and then stack them atop each other.

They are

used normally underground as storm water drainage,” said James. “And we get these very cheaply from the contractors because they actually have excess and spare production every year.

Instead of going to waste, they give them to us at bottom dollar. And then we inject a little more capital and can actually change it with furniture, with a bathroom, with a shower, with a small kitchen, with a bed… and suprisingly you have a home!”

The OPods have a modern, industrial style to them which is designed to be customised by its future inhabitants.

Law admits that this is not really a long-term solution to Hong Kong’s housing crisis. But that was never his intention.

But it's still not total solution

“At no point do I think that this OPod is a total solution to the problem, because there are so many other issues which are entangled in this whole problem,” said James.

There was another reason for the creation of the OPod: the miniature space in Hong Kong. Law maintains that while lack of land is often blamed for property prices being sky high, this is only part of the picture.

“Hong Kong is a very huge and dense city. However, the statement that we don’t have enough land is not totally true. We don’t have large tracts of land to build giant housing estates. We need to reclaim that from the sea. But if we really look at our city as it is today, you actually see a lot of leftover land. Under flyovers, on top of buildings, in between buildings that are often left empty for years and years.”

As the cost of living goes up in Hong Kong but isn’t matched by a rise in wages, until then, there will still be those who have to climb into a cage at night :(

Used media: BBC, Wikipedia, Businessinsider, Google.