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Walking in Mong Kok
Mong Kok is known as the place with the highest population density in the world. With over 130,000 people per square kilometer, it is very difficult to move through the traffic on foot.
Walking in Mong Kok tried to solve this problem by creating a new traffic layer as well as creating new commercial opportunities in this hot business zone.
Research
Traffic in Mong Kok
It is quite important to get to know the current transportation system in Mong Kok today.
Mong Kok was regarded as one of the places with the most developed traffic systems in Hong Kong. The traffic problem in Mong Kok is that this area is always filled with pedestrians. As one of the hottest commercial zone in Hong Kong, pedestrians are important for Mong Kok but too many pedestrians will make people uncomfortable.
As space is limited in Hong Kong, the traffic is generally planned into several different layers.
On the map above, the blue area is the MTR station area. Green circles are bus stations and minibus stations. “P”s means car parks (private car parks belonging to some companies in Mong Kok are excluded). All these methods are connected by the orange parts which represent the sidewalks and temporary pedestrian zones. So the result is quite obvious: all the mobility methods in Mong Kok are connected by foot.
Comparison with Hung Hom and TST-ETST
I compared the traffic layers of Mong Kok with those of Hung Hom and TST-ETST(Tsim Sha Tsui and East Tsim Sha Tsui) area. The result is that under heavy traffic burden, the number of traffic layers in Mong Kok are not as many as that in Hung Hom and TST-ETST area.
Connections
There are three “hot spots” in Mong Kok. The density in these three places are the highest in Mong Kok and they are all important commercial spots.
I made a statistic about it.
On the west, the first hot spot is centered with Mong Kok Street Market. Street Market is a kind of market which are basically set alongside the streets in Hong Kong. Some busy street markets even occupy the whole street. Of course, these streets will be enclosed and motor vehicles are not allowed to enter this area. Mong Kok Street Market is one of the most famous and busiest street markets in Hong Kong. It provides local residents with food and some articles for everyday use.
The second hot spot is quite famous. It is the core area of Mong Kok, located between the Nathan Road, Tung Choi Street, Argyle Street and Dundas Street, this area is an important commercial zone of fashion, electronic gadgets and restaurants. Most of the visitors coming to Mong Kok will go to this area.
The third one is relatively smaller: the Fa Yuen Street Market. It is a very important place for inexpensive clothes and shoes.
Connecting these three commercial will create new possibilities for the local business. Besides, when I inspect the footbridge above the Mong Kok street, I found its width over 10 meters. It is totally possible to build a “bridge market” there. That’s my idea about the Project Walking in Mong Kok. Actually, there are some illegal bird market on some footbridges in Hong Kong. This kind of business is definitely needed.
So, as planed, the “flyover commercial areas” looks like this:
Commercial Area Design
