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REFLECTION
The Importance of Abiding Building Law to Ensure Health, Safe and Positive Life Quality.
The Kowloon Walled City had 300 interconnected, high-rise buildings that had been constructed room-by-room without the help of architects or building codes. It became so dense that sunlight couldn’t reach the lower levels.Many apartments had no windows or access to fresh air because they were enclosed within the middle of the buildings. The high-rises were so interconnected that you could travel from one side of the city to the other without touching the ground, instead, just passing through the corridors and across the rooftops.One of the few rules enforced in the city was that no building could be higher than 14 stories. That’s because the Walled City was located so close to the airport that if the buildings were any taller they would’ve blocked the flight path of low-flying airplanes.
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Building law is important to ensure uniform development of buildings in a society, town and prevent haphazard development. Building law affirm public safety against noise, fire, health hazards and structural failures. It also ensure optimum utilisation of space. Building law follow approaches which safeguard complete health, safety and comfort of residents such as proper ventilation, air, light and other essentials.
The Kowloon City is did not apply building laws when contructing a living space which results in cramped space due to over population and without the knowledge, people can only keep building on top of existing buildings.
Memorable Scene
In this scene, a man bought heroin in the streets from gangsters.One doze, two dollars, they call it chasing the dragon. It's clear that the overpopulation and lack of law enforcement affects the crime rate, drug dealings.
In this scene, a woman is force to be film and take pictures in inappropriate poses. The man explain that the recorded tape will not be shown in Hong Kong. From my understanding, it is a trick to get the woman to expose herself. This happen when there's little to no education and security provided, resulting in people taking advantages from others for their own benefit.Through this scene, its clear that building law is not all about improving life quality and increasing space, it is also about contributing to individual's safety.
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