Beating out competition throughout North America and Asia, Hong Kong has claimed the title of the ‘world’s best skyline’. The large city and global financial centre is renowned as a photographer’s dream city, housing numerous buildings of over four-hundred metres and one of the world’s most well-known and recognizable harbours.
Competitors included New York City, Chicago, and Seoul – all major population centres boasting over eight million residents. With a population of eight million, Hong Kong is considered a ‘small’ city when compared to its competitors. Other inclusions in Emporis’s countdown included Tokyo, which boasts a population of almost thirty million and a larger area than other entrants.
Hong Kong’s waterfront district has long made it an international travel centre. Due to its shape and geographic nature, the small region has little usable land facing away from the ocean. With building space limited and a constantly expanding population, the city has built upwards, leaving few areas within Hong Kong Island without tall buildings or landmark construction.
In fact, Hong Kong leads the world when it comes to residential height. The majority of the region’s residents live above the fourteenth floor – an unusual statistic in most cities. Thanks to the distinctly vertical nature of Hong Kong’s housing arrangements, the cost of hotels and apartments within the city is one of the highest in the world, despite the city’s reputation for inexpensive shopping.
For urban photographers and videographers, the city’s title is certainly a major attraction. The recent Batman film – The Dark Knight – brought even more attention to the city’s skyline, causing tourists and city residents to seek out filming locations throughout the Central and Admiralty districts. From its impressive skyline to its distinct cultural flavour, Hong Kong is a city built for urban artists.
