Invisible Agents:An Investigation on SARS Shaping Hong Kong and Fragmenting its Cultural, Economic, Political, and Physical Borders

Abstract

Shaped in reaction to tuberculosis and cholera, nineteenth century cities most evidently embody the coupling of urbanism and disease. Today, amidst technological advances of antibiotics and hyper connectivity, SARS (as the first global health alert of the twenty-first century) highlights how cities continue to mutate by pandemics. Originating from civet cats in the Guangdong Province of China, the epidemic spread globally through Hong Kong to more than 29 countries worldwide. Lasting only six months, SARS cost the world roughly $40 billion. Rather than increasing border control as a method to contain disease, this investigation argues that multi-centered cities with fragmented borders, are crucial for the formation of new pan-alliances against outbreaks. Connectivity is the cause of SARS, the result of SARS, but also the method for controlling SARS. Operating in a Chinese cultural context, this research paper discusses how post-SARS urbanism addresses the paradoxical benefit of connectivity as a tool to combat future epidemics.