For centuries, the fabric of East Asian cities has consisted of urban villages that are built up of small scale, informal, often ‘light-weight' architecture. These urban villages form intense, socially connected communities where strong individual identities and differences are maintained. Because they are, and have always been, inhabited mostly by the poor, land is cheap – and therefore, change comes easily...

This approach could provide housing types with terraces and roof gardens that accommodate leisure activities. This comfortable lifestyle might even attract the middle and upper classes, leading to a more mixed, and less segregated, society. Homes could even be combined with small-scale offices and workspaces. In contrast to the blocks, this new village type might enable an architecture based on individual expression and identity. Just imagine a ‘villa' for everybody!

To build the Vertical Village, a truly self-organized and initiated manner of city building is required– a model that combines individuality, diversity and collectivity with the need for densification, as an alternative to the Block Attack. A model that can generate a Vertical Village – a three-dimensional community that brings personal freedom, diversity, flexibility and neighborhood life back into Asian cities.