Ratna writes

As I continue to acquaint myself with what Hong Kong looks and feels like, I've been curious about the uber-efficient uses of space I see around me, how walkable the city is, and how every nook and cranny that could be turned into something useful seems already to have been. I started this Sunday morning by reading the Hong Kong Urban Planning Department's "Urban Design Guidelines" to try to start to understand why this city looks the way it does. Some notable excerpts included: "The Hong Kong Island has a magnificent natural setting with the spectacular Victoria Peak overlooking Victoria Harbour and Kowloon Peninsula. Developments in the north shore of Hong Kong Island should respect the dominance of Victoria Peak and other ridgelines / peaks when viewing from Kowloon side, in particular from the West Kowloon Cultural District; Cultural Complex at Tsim Sha Tsui; and the waterfront promenade at Kai Tak Development (Figure 3). Uncontrolled building height for deve...

Udai and I just wrapped up our first weekend together in Hong Kong! So far it's been culture shock to the MAXIMUM. With the exception of a short conference in Seoul in 2015, this is my first time since I was 19 visiting a country I haven’t been to before...and I guess I live here now! Hong Kong is unlike any place I have been, and also different from what I expected. I was prepared for towering buildings and high population density, but it also has a certain coziness and walkability to it that I wasn’t expecting. Between the tall buildings boasting (bougie) international brands there is a local any-type-of-establishment-could-pop-out-of-here energy to the streets that reminds me of Mumbai, but everything is SO clean. The sense of anonymity (the good kind, like no one is gonna get in your business) reminds me of New York. And the rest, I’ll have to keep getting to know better and better! We started Saturday with breakfast at Elephant Grounds and a tour from Udai of his neighborhood ...

Greetings from Hong Kong, where I just moved last week to join Udai, who has been working here for the past two years!  It's day 6 of my 7-day government-mandated hotel quarantine and I started my job with  PathFinders Hong Kong  this Monday. I am working on a research report to prepare for a roundtable in November -- outlining the experiences of migrant domestic workers who come to Hong Kong for work, usually from Indonesia and the Philippines. These women have multiple, complex caretaking relationships with the children they leave behind with fathers and caretakers in their origin countries, the children they look after on behalf of the employers who hire them, and the children they may get pregnant with during their time in Hong Kong. I am tasked with figuring out how to most succinctly present the challenges faced by all three kinds of children as they navigate their relationships with these migrant mothers, as well as the questions of home, identity, safety, and econ...