Illegal luxuritecture: How the super-rich in Hong Kong land grab and unlawfully expand their luxury living spaces

Abstract

This article introduces the concept of ‘illegal luxuritecture’ – illegal luxury architecture – to capture the way a minority of super-rich expand their living environments without planning permissions, sometimes through land grabs of government land. Typically, illegal housing is associated with the urban poor, but it is argued that through elite capture, unauthorised building works (UBWs) have also been utilised by the super-rich. This article focusses on Hong Kong where a number of illegal luxuritectural structures came to light after September 2023 when the most severe rainstorm since records began in the 19th century caused the collapse of unauthorised building works. Illegal luxuritectural construction involves illegally altering building foundations and sometimes flood protection walls, causing destabilisation of soil and creating landslides. Although failure to comply with Building (Planning) Regulations and the Buildings Ordinance is a criminal offence which can result in fines or imprisonment, findings suggest that a minority of the elite class tends to ignore these regulations. This is because, the fines for unauthorised building works are relatively small in relation to the high value of the property or the rental income generated, and prison sentences are almost never imposed. This article contributes to the current academic discussions on the super-rich in general and the housing of the global super-rich in particular.