Book: Hong Kong's informal rooftop communities

A book from China's capitalist and democratic outpost, Hong Kong:

Stefan Canham (photographs) and Rufina Wu (architectural drawings) collaborated on "Portraits from above: Hong Kong's informal rooftop communities" (Peperoni Books, 2009).

http://peperoni-books.de/portraits_from_above0.html

Publisher's description: "Self-built, informal settlements on the roofs of high-rise buildings are an integral part of Hong Kong's urban landscape. The rise of rooftop communities is closely linked to the migration history from Chinese Mainland to Hong Kong. With each of China's tumultuous political movements in the 20th century, like the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, there was a corresponding wave of Mainland Chinese migrating to Hong Kong."

From the preface: "The roof is a maze of corridors, narrow passageways between huts built of sheet metal, wood, brick and plastics. There are steps and ladders leading up to a second level of huts. [...] Later, we look down at the building from a higher one across the street. The roof is huge, like a village. There must be thirty or forty households on it. [...] Rooftop structures range from basic shelters for the disadvantaged to intricate multi-storey constructions equipped with the amenities of modern life.

"Text records of the residents' stories, measured drawings of each distinct rooftop structure, and high-resolution images of the domestic interiors of more than twenty households offer an unprecedented insight into the everyday life on Hong Kong's rooftops."

The book is bilingual, German and English.