「臨時性」構成香港都市設計裡相當重要的詞彙。在高度都市化的香港,城市面貌時刻在變動,變與適應成了我們的文化基因,並體現在街頭巷尾的佈局與空間挪用。1976年起定居香港的Peter Cookson Smith是建築師及城市規劃師。他這輯街頭寫真記錄了香港不斷發展,當中不少流逝的景象已烙印為社會記憶的一部份。
The notion of impermanence underlies the urban design language of Hong Kong to a significant extent. The city’s intensely urban environment has long reflected embedded patterns of change and temporality in both physical and cultural dimensions – a forever reconstructed city of dislocation, adaptation and imagination. These characteristics are intrinsically interwoven with street and spatial patterns, producing a sense of immediacy and transience, ingrained within the fabric and memory of the city. This might stem, on the one hand, from a philosophy of change inherent in cultural traditions, but it also reflects more tangible issues accumulated from historical imprints, regimes of displacement, and constant transformation of the urban environment. This collection of sketches, illustrations and essays seeks to reflect the evolving character and personality of Hong Kong – an informality in the way its older streets, urban places and spaces are used, and how this encodes the ‘everyday’ experience of the city through a profusion of visual incident, expression, and an intensity of fragmented features that exude Hong Kong’s high density urban values.
