This is normal e.g. in Hong Kong. I have met people who live like this there with everything in one huge building. Probably similar in many other asian cities - just guessing. Really interesting. Would you like to live like that?
I don't think that is very normal in HK. Ya, they have a lot of tall buildings, but people still go out to shop/eat/work (unless you mean...they never have to go outside because of the subway tunnels in Central HK?). Maybe when the Kowloon walled city was still around, but that is just an area that turned into a bunch of buildings that grew into each other.
Right, the interesting thing is that the people here literally do not have a choice.
In non-pandemic times, HK people live like people in any other city; they usually don't work where they live, and often times they don't necessarily do all their shopping there either, because people like variety. (Although with how crazy the real estate was getting in Hong Kong, I remember each visit that it seemed like each mall was slowly turning into the same chains and whatnot in every one.)
> Although with how crazy the real estate was getting in Hong Kong, I remember each visit that it seemed like each mall was slowly turning into the same chains and whatnot in every one.
That's just normal for the rest of China as well. HK still has much more retail diversity than say Shenzhen, but the gap is closing quickly.
Yeah, I've not been to the mainland so I can't say much about that part.
At least in HK it's particularly bad in the new town areas like Tsueng Kwan O and Ma On Shan, since there isn't really much traditional non-mall retail to begin with in those areas.
Having one building house hundreds (or thousands) is normal here, and these days new properties developed tend to have shops and malls below the residential apartments (more $ for the developer), but IMHO the lifestyle couldn't be more different than what is described in the article.
It used to be the case a couple decades ago that people in public housing poked into their neighbor's businesses sometimes, but these days even if you live in a huge apartment building everyone minds their own business.
Very few people live and work in the same building, or even the same district (due in part to zoning). The signature feature of Hong Kong life is trying to cram yourself into a crowded bus or metro train (which is presumably also true of most other Asian large cities). There's a big difference living in a small town with a couple hundred people, and a dense city of millions.
I honestly don't think most Hong Kongers (that includes me) would last even a week in the Whittier winter.
