Designing an identity: The synthesis of a post-traditional landscape vocabulary in Hong Kong

Abstract

Hong Kong portrays itself as a post-traditional city through its designed landscapes. Its contemporary plazas and parks involve design references drawn from sources in Europe and China. The result is uniquely contemporary and self-referential, with no tradition apart from an evolving local post-traditional landscape aesthetic. Two cases are examined, Millennium Plaza, a western-influenced urban plaza, and Kowloon Walled City Park, based on the Jiangnan Chinese garden style. The analysis indicates how the use of Chinese and European design elements has become a means of reinforcing a post-traditional, synthesized identity for Hong Kong.