Miniwiz’s portable, solar-powered reprocessing machines take consumer waste and turns it into construction tiles; it is one of a number of the firm’s showcase projects that highlight what recovered waste materials can really do.

The narrow streets of Taipa Village, a historical enclave of Portuguese colonial architecture, have seen a new generation of cafes, restaurants and cultural spaces open, infusing the old settlement with fresh energy.

The city’s top eateries have increasingly sophisticated and rare wine lists, and are offering oenophiles bold new food pairings

From refurbished Salisbury Garden to West Kowloon to the revamped Avenue of Stars, new life is being breathed into Hong Kong’s harbourfront, mixing with the buskers, fishermen and takeaway stalls that have been around for years.

The park in Tsim Sha Tsui sits on the site of a military barracks, and the green space hides a past that included atrocities under Japanese occupation; an underrated destination, it has a range of amentiies and some majestic trees.

Built on reclaimed land at the turn of the 20th century, Statue Square met the need for a public place in which to bask in the glory of empire; long a magnet for political rallies, today the square is a gathering place for domestic helpers.

Densely packed high-rises are the most space-efficient way to house people, but they have also been accused of creating anonymous, atomised cities. Some architects are trying to change this

A stone’s throw from the densely populated centre of urban Kowloon, leafy, low-rise Kadoorie Hill looks like a place from another world – and that’s just how the wealthy family that owns the neighbourhood wants to keep it.

Whether it’s beer, wine or bubbly, eggnog, a Flying Hong Kong or a Vet’s Antidote, bars are concocting exotic drinks old and new to go down a seasonal treat

Taking its branding from the image of performers such as Al Jolson, Darkie was launched in the 1930s, a time when racial discrimination was rife. The name was changed to Darlie in 1989 to reflect public opinion in the West.

Business of Design Week in Hong Kong devotes a day to discussion of culture-led design projects around the world, such as city’s Tai Kwun arts centre in former police station’s heritage buildings, with speakers including Ron Arad, Charles Renfro and Elaine Ng

Notoriously overdeveloped and at times jammed with traffic, middle-class Mid-Levels, midway between The Peak and busy Central and Wan Chai, is rich in history and hidden gems – it may just be the city’s quintessential neighbourhood.

Hong Kong’s original garden city, Kowloon Tong started out as a middle-class Eurasian enclave surrounded by shanty towns.

It lacks the obvious appeal of some other cities, but beneath the surface is a place that’s constantly being reshaped by immigration, with all the cultural and culinary riches that brings, and where nature is ever-present.

Free of its winter shackles, Montreal becomes an almost tropical city where life is lived outdoors and empty spaces turn into pop-up cafes, bars, cabarets and even beaches. We take a look at some of the most popular.

Known today as a relaxing getaway, compact island was a pirates’ haven and, until the 1930s, polyglot fishing community, when factories making matches and unique hand-painted ceramics drew thousands of newcomers to island

Whisky mooncakes, a whisky advent calendar and a 15-year-old Bowmore bottled exclusively for Hong Kong make for ‘interesting times’

Gianluca Cinquepalmi, founder design studio 1.618 – who is also a professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Hong Kong – talks about the building blocks of good design and his first book in the Timeless series

Hong Kong’s contribution to the annual exhibition brings together 111 skyscraper models and artist impressions by 94 architects, with each exploring different ways of making high-rise living more comfortable, environmental and social

For 60 years Yau Ma Tei was the epicentre of film-going in Hong Kong, with different cinemas for local, patriotic and Hollywood films; it wasn’t always a civilised affair, with parents glued to the screen letting children pee on the floor

Designer and former art director Louie Shum on conceiving The Playhouse, a 6,000 sq ft industrial style loft home in Tin Wan, and 200 sq ft flats in a condominium tower in Central

A co-living project in Kowloon offering stylish rooms and common areas is the latest shared space targeting graduates and young professionals whose hopes of ever buying a flat in the city have been dashed by soaring real estate prices

A restaurant on Temple Street is your best introduction to the 10,000-strong Nepalese community in Yau Ma Tei, where Gurkhas once stationed at British barracks nearby settled with their families after 1997, and drew more incomers

Yau Ma Tei is one of Hong Kong's oldest and most diverse neighbourhoods. In the second instalment of our miniseries exploring facets of its history, we recall the colourful past of Gwo Laan, the city’s wholesale fruit market

The city’s most valuable site is estimated to sell for US$10.2b, but yet no user-friendly plan has been put forward to turn the harbourfront into a place to rival Sydney or Stockholm

Global architecture firm Hassell’s three-level platform, likened to Manhattan’s High Line, will connect high-end offices, hotels and civic institutions in new city near Hong Kong, and create a colourful and vibrant backdrop for the area

Tenements in the Six Streets next to the old Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter, where people lived 15 to a flat and families ran small workshops, were flattened to make way for Prosperous Garden estate, including Broadway Cinematheque

You wouldn’t know from looking at its newest state-of-the-art store, but Pricerite began as a discount chain. It has steadily won fans through a focus on local needs, from multifunctional, space-efficient furniture to hi-tech air purifiers

A neighbourhood seething with energy by day and night, Yau Ma Tei has resisted gentrification and remains after dark the haunt of hawkers, street performers and prostitutes, as it has been for decades

German architect Ole Scheeren reveals the thinking behind the Guardian Art Centre in Beijing and Duo in Singapore, and why he is not bothered by strong criticism of an upcoming project in Vancouver