Hong Kong’s urban farms sprout gardens in the sky
With their heads in the clouds and their hands in the soil, a group of office workers are busy harvesting the fruits of their labor on the roof of a Hong Kong skyscraper. Invisible to those below, a sprawling garden of radishes, carrots and rhubarb is flourishing at the top of the 150-metre tall Bank of America tower, a stark and colorful contrast to the monotone shades of concrete, steel and glass of the city’s financial district. The farm is among more than 60 that have sprouted across the space-starved city since 2015 — on decommissioned helipads, shopping mall rooftops and public terraces-thanks to initiatives like Rooftop Republic, a local social enterprise which promotes urban farming.
Cofounder Andrew Tsui sees the rooftop farms as a way for people to reconnect with how sustainable food can be produced in what he calls the current “instantnoodle city lifestyle” that sees so much waste. “What we are looking at is really how to identify underutilized spaces among the city and mobilise the citizens, the people, to learn about food,” the 43year-old told AFP during a blustery site inspection of the skyscraper’s garden. Tsui
believes Hong Kongers need to re-establish a relationship with what they eat that has been broken “since we started outsourcing our food and relying so much on industrialized production.”
Piles of food waste
According to government statistics, Hong Kong throws out some 3,500 tons of food waste a day-the equivalent weight of 250 double-decker buses. Less than a quarter is recycled. And around 90 percent of the food eaten by the city’s 7.5 million inhabitants is imported, mostly from mainland China. But while Hong Kong is one of the most densely packed places on earth, there is still considerable space to grow food locally.
Tsui said some seven million square meters of farmable area is currently cultivated. But more than six million square meters on the city’s rooftops remain unused. “So we could have the potential of doubling the supply of land for growing food,” he said. “The challenge for us is to design urban farming as a lifestyle to integrate into our daily life,” he added. “And the first step for that, of course, is to be accessible.”
To incorporate urban farms into the blueprints for office buildings, Rooftop Republic closely collaborates with architects, developers and property managers. Major companies are signing up. As well as the Bank of America garden, financed by property consultancy giant JLL, Singaporean banking giant DBS has partnered with Rooftop Republic to set up an academy that runs workshops for beginners as well as professional courses. “In Hong Kong, most of the people focus on the commercial value of the properties. But we want to promote the concept of sustainability,” said Eric Lau, the group’s senior director of property management.
Urban farmers say the projects also help build community spirit among those who cultivate the crops. After retiring from the public service, Lai Yee-man said she turned to farming to connect with nature and her neighbors. The 60-year-old initially learned techniques and tricks from professionals to develop her farming plot in the New Territories region of Hong Kong-a rural area close to the border with mainland China. But now she is passing on her knowledge to fellow residents working the Sky Garden, a 1,200 square-meter facility on top of a mall. There residents cultivate edible flowers and fruit trees and can attend lifestyle classes like mindful gardening. “People attach greater importance to their health now, they will buy organic food,” said Lai. “Here, we teach them not to waste... and to cherish their food,” she explained, adding that the majority of what the mall farm grows goes to local food banks. Tsui recognizes that few young Hong Kongers currently have an interest in learning how to grow food.—AFP
Two years after shaking France to the core with their protests, the “Yellow Vests” were back in the spotlight Saturday, this time in a film by one of its most innovative directors. “The Divide” by Catherine Corsini describes events at a Paris hospital during violent clashes between demonstrators and police that turned the capital’s chic neighborhoods into virtual war zones throughout 2018 and 2019. Using handheld shots and rapid edits to capture the chaos as doctors and nurses struggle to cope, the film depicts a country in deep conflict during the presidency of former investment
banker Emmanuel Macron, the main target of the angry protests.
Sparked by a petrol tax hike, the Yellow Vest movement quickly broadened to reflect widespread outrage over the plight of ordinary people and the indifference of Parisian elites. “It was hugely important for me to talk about what is going on in France today,” Corsini told AFP in an interview. “Our society has become more and more violent, and social misery has become a permanent state of affairs,” she said.
‘Must take a stand’
Corsini-who freely acknowledges being part of the progressive, educated and fashionable urbanites known as “Les Bobos”-said she came to realise “that my films must take a stand and become more political”. Riot police in the film are depicted as violent and uncaring, while injured demonstrators overrun the hospital in a desperate bid to escape police brutality. Corsini said she made nothing up: media widely reported yellow vest protesters losing their eyes when they were hit by
police projectiles. One had his hand ripped off picking up a police flash-ball grenade.
The film’s main male character, Yann, is shot in the leg by police, but worries more about losing his precarious job as a truck driver than about his injury. In hospital he meets a same-sex couple going through a relationship crisis. At first the encounter between the provincial “prole” and the artistic Parisian couple-which is inspired by Corsini’s own relationship-is testy. But then it morphs into a degree of mutual understanding, something Corsini said France, too, could use more of. “Our country is full of extremes,” Corsini said. “We want both social protection, and we also want to be liberal. “There are so many contradictions, but they have made us who we are. Opposition and rebellion hold us together,” she said, before adding: “We need to find ways to live together.”
‘Full of extremes’
France’s hospital workers are the real heros of the film. Proud to be working for a health system that, says one, “was still free of charge when I last looked”, they are overworked, underpaid and exasperated, but also full of humanity and humor. They also feel deep sympathy for the yellow vest protesters and won’t denounce them to police, despite their boss’s order to do so. “The Divide” was shot before the Covid-19 pandemic which pushed France’s hospitals and health workers to a new breaking point.
The coronavirus also put an end to the yellow vest demos, although there have been some attempts at a comeback. In her three decades of filmmaking, the 65year-old Corsini has made her mark primarily as a discreet but powerful voice for women’s freedom, exploring themes of homosexuality, patriarchy and gender equality. “The Divide” is among 24 films competing for the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.—AFP