They remind me of the urban planners of the 50s and 60s who designed dense barren concrete monstrosities for the proles to live in as part of various urban renewal projects, from the comfort of their suburban garden estates.
The cyberpunk author William Gibson was aware of and inspired by Kowloon Walled City. Cyberpunk is characterized by "high tech low life" - it is seen as awful and dehumanizing, something people might want to read a book or watch a movie about, but not live themselves.
In hindsight, the whole Cyberpunk aesthetic being based on real world inhumane living conditions that actually already existed might be inappropriate by modern standards. It is making an amusing fantasy or spectacle out of other peoples suffering- however Gibson, etc. were using this setting mostly because they had a negative view about the impacts of technology on humanity, and were writing fiction to express and warn people about these concerns.
In 1987, I would have found KWC a step up from my homelessness.
> They remind me of the urban planners of the 50s and 60s who designed dense barren concrete monstrosities
US 2021: People were forced out of long-term rentals and found there was nowhere to go. People with money in the bank became homeless. Concrete monstrosities would have improved their poor options.
Before eliminating an awful thing, we might want to eliminate the need for it.
I find it really draws my attention in a morbid sense associated to looking at what was a very alien way of living, but I would hate to live in those conditions.