Connectivity: Urban Arc-tion and Re-arc-tion - E-pathy City

The people of Hong Kong are asking, "Is this our city?," a simple question but difficult to answer. When we are assuming a detaching role as observers, everything seems to be normal, "business as usual." However, something has gradually changed without our notice, for better or worse; whether due to a paradigm shift or a social awakening, we are no longer the same people who tend to ignore our identity or deny any political inclination. The rediscovery of who we are and where we live has urged us to reconsider our passive attitude to be ruled as "dummy subjects." However, there will be no substantial weight if the currency of value is just relying on money that has dominated the city for a long time and may still prevail in the near future. But, are there any alternative values, and how are these values being appreciated? "E-pathy City" stands for a utopian vision that ordinary people, like us, will begin to share by seeing things beyond ourselves, then act along with others towards an empathetic understanding about our environment and other generations.

Wallace Chang is associate professor in the School of Architecture at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was a visiting scholar at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University.