Hong Kong as a global city? Social distance and spatial differentiation

This paper draws on on-going work on Hong Kong's socio-spatial structure to explore the extent to which it fits the dominant image of the global city. While there is a considerable literature on Hong Kong's changing social structure, there is relatively little on the spatial dimensions of social difference and division. The paper situates the available commentaries and analyses of Hong Kong's income, class and employment structure within the global cities debates. It then analyses census data at the tertiary planning unit level (TPU) to explore the spatial dimensions of social distance in Hong Kong. The conclusion focuses on the distinctive mediations which have shaped the socio-spatial structure of the territory. The integrative role of public housing is argued to be of particular importance in this context.