Cyberpunk aesthetics, which emerged in the 1980s, are defined by the combination of "High Tech, Low Life." It's a bleak future where advanced technology coexists with social decay, visual pollution, and control by large corporations. And that's where Kowloon comes in as the perfect inspiration.
The walled city was the ultimate embodiment of the "Low Life" that the genre so often seeks. Visually, it offered a unique spectacle: blocks where buildings touched, a tangle of wires and pipes, dark and damp corridors, and a complete absence of traditional urban order. It was the dystopian setting already established in real life
Director Mamoru Oshii, for example, took his team from the classic anime "Ghost in the Shell" to Hong Kong in search of references, as he needed a real basis for building the future city of Newport. The influence is so direct that the film is full of visual elements clearly inspired by the architecture and chaotic atmosphere of the region.
This connection between Kowloon and the dark futuristic imaginary became so strong that the city, even after being demolished, continues to be recreated and referenced.