Le Corbusier's La Ville Radieuse and Hong Kong: the realisation of an ideal?

Le Corbusier's La Ville Radieuse proposed a modern dense city of skyscrapers, a space that would address the need for accommodation in a post First World War Europe. His idea to replace the centre of Paris with his Radiant City never materialised. Hong Kong, a modern, dense city appears to be the attainment of Le Corbusier's dream. The aim of this paper is to determine whether Hong Kong is the realisation of Le Corbusier's ideals, and whether some of his principles are still valid today. Interviews with eight influential architects indicate that Hong Kong is not regarded as the realisation of Le Corbusier's ideals, but its success is rather the result of a number of interrelating social, economic, geographic and cultural variables. Whilst some of Le Corbusier's densification principles are indeed still relevant today, they can only be successful when guided by local cultural practices and economic realities.