Hong Kong is one of the densest cities in the world (in some parts there are 400,000 people living in a square kilometer) and while there has been much land set aside for reforestation, there is practically no space to grow their own food.

Steve Cran is a permaculture aid worker used to working disaster relief in places like Uganda, Indonesia and Ethiopia, but when he learned that Hong Kong produced just 2% of their own food, he saw the situation as desperate enough to need his kind of help.

He believes that permaculture happens “in the cracks” so on a slip of private land outside the city center, he created a club where city dwellers could reconnect to agriculture and nature. The Hong Kong permaculture club now gardens, fish ponds, terraced hillsides, a clubhouse (built from bamboo and plastic tarp) with a kitchen (for eating all the local food) and a composting toilet and bamboo shower.

* Filmed by Johnny Sanphillippo, owner of a small, mortgage-free home. He also films stories about urbanism, adaptation and resilience for his site Granola Shotgun.

** Since filming the video, Hong Kong has announced plans to buy 80 hectares of private land and dedicate it to agriculture and increasing local food production (their goal is for 25% local produce production).