The Escalator: A Conveyor of Hong Kong's Culture

People believe that escalators provide a moreattractive, convenient, and physically less-demandingpedestrian access from one place to another. However, itdoes not mean all of us have to like them. Escalators do not only affect our perception of speed, butthe most important concern is that this urban objectalso influences our social relationships and humancommunication. Under the transmission of this urban object, we are treated as components (a what),rather than human beings (a who). Thus, this articlediscusses how modernist thinking affects how we see thisobject and ourselves, and examines the relative worth of it, in relation to the social lossincurred in the present or future. This article alsodiscusses how its presence in many of the daily settingsof urban life affects the culture, meaning and quality of life.Requests for reprints should be addressed SIU Kin Wai Michael, School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Kowloon, Hong Kong.