Abstract:
This thesis focuses on the urban development of Macau Special Administrative Region, the densest city worldwide, with particular consideration for the evolution of the Pearl River Delta megacity region. Specifically, it examines the critical concept of heterotopic space, in order to interpret the transition occurring within a place grown as global trade hub to a space of consumption orientated tourism. To date, Macau has the largest gambling industry in the world, with gambling revenues totalling up to more than $13 billion on an annual basis and generating more than 50% of its GDP. This results from the 2001 liberalisation of its gambling industry and makes this former Portuguese enclave one of the most visited cities in the world, where the 28 million tourists outnumber the mere 550 thousand residents in 2011 (Master “One Public Hospital”). One can observe that Macau is currently turning into a city defined by quasi-random distribution of elements: a ‘city of cities’ that follows the contemporary Keno-capitalism model. Its urban fabric is characterized by disconnected and interspersed new ‘Tourist Utopias’ of excess, consumption, and escapism. Being mainly themed environments of recent mega-casinos and integrated resorts, these utopias show a characteristic of ‘otherness’, hence defining multiple heterotopic space. Both for their number and extension, their system they are perceived as continuous landscape of spectacle and indulgence for euphoric consumption in the real world. A heavy reliance on gambling to create wealth has escalated social and environmental problems. These heterotopias also create a new urban dualism/Dual-city within Macau, further exacerbating the tension between the already dispirited tourists and locals. Vast environmental and economic resources are spent to benefit few, raising significant urban problems such as a lack of social and spatial integration, and scarcity of social infrastructure and civic open spaces. This thesis will explore opportunities of implementing urban strategies based on recombinant urban principles to counteract the increasing critical condition posed by disjoined heterotopic spaces. Addressing a strategic new development area in the South of the Macau peninsula, it explores through design means, a positive future for Macau.