China's ancient water pipe networks show no evidence of a centralized authority
This checks out. This is definitely a characteristic of Chinese culture urban &quot;planning&quot; (operative term is the quotes).<p>You can see the same &quot;ad hoc&quot;-ratic development &quot;philosophy&quot; at work in Chinese cities today. A very unique aesthetic take on &quot;sprawl&quot;. Taipei, definitely has this: not just on a macro level (arbitrary street &#x2F; burrough layout, overpasses &amp; sidewalks and lack thereof), but on a micro level (placement of stairs, entrances &#x2F; exits in buildings, consideration (or lack thereof) given to pedestrian flow).<p>In my experience there&#x27;s pockets of order amid the rampant chaos, like the more recent well-to-do (read: often too expensive for almost everyone) fancy apartment developments in Taipei, Shanghai (or there, also the old French Concession), etc. Yet even there sometimes they only look nice (good finishing &amp; production value) but are still unplanned (lack of human considerations for access, flow and comfort). But overall it&#x27;s very much like how an organism would grow. Like coral. I&#x27;m sure the Chinese have some kind of pithy phrase to describe this kind of style of accreted urban development without any adherence seemingly to centrally mandated planned urban design standards and codes.<p>In my experience, the one exception is Hong Kong, which has commendable amounts of order. The design of the subway stations is particularly notable for rational, sensible and practical consideration given to pedestrian flow. There&#x27;s very few choke&#x2F;congestion points because opposing streams of flow are clearly delineated and often routed (albeit sometimes circuitously) away from each other. Very well done, HK!<p>Sometimes what looks to be chaotic, is actually ordered underneath (albeit possessing an organic order): like Jiufen in Taipei, or dense backstreets of Tokyo (both inspirations for the Neo Tokyo in Akira). But mostly, these Chinese-style chaotic urban behemoths are just that: seemingly unplanned chaotic development without order.<p>I&#x27;d be interested to compare this to the particular &quot;flavor&quot; of Sprawl you see in both more structured, a la, Paris, and less structured, a la Sydney, non-Chinese cities.