The urban history of Macao, The Special Administrative Region - From a fishermen village to the “Las Vegas of the East”

Abstract

With Hong Kong returning to China in 1997 after 156 years of British colonization, under the strong influences of regional politics, the neighboring town – Macao, soon followed this jurisdiction in 1999, making it the second “special administrative region” of China after Hong Kong, and the last Asia colony of Europe. After undergoing a rapid shifting of administrative and legal system change, Macao has experienced its peak of concentrating wealth and economy in the last two decades, backed by its intense gambling and entertainment industry. As a reaction to this economic phenomenon, Macao has eventually received titles like “Las Vegas of the East” and “Monte Carlo of the East” from the international market.

While celebrating the enormous wealth brought by the industry, the impacts that follow have fundamentally transformed the urban setting of Macao, including but not limited to the way people live, experience, local culture, and identity from the past. Furthermore, as this phenomenon has little connection and recognition by the local people, there has been limited research conducted regarding this topic.

This thesis will examine the urban history of Macao, the special administrative region, in chronological order, looking particularly into the two significant thresholds that shaped the urban development of the Macao SAR: 1st - The arrival of the Portuguese, 2nd the beginning of the casino era, thus, as Macao has such an unique typology that claimed only 32.9 kilometers square of land, which leads to a relatively small area of evaluation compared to the general understanding of “city.” As it concerns a limited area of studies, a longer study period would be more feasible for this thesis.