The objective in Part One of Tsung-yi Walking between slums and skyscrapers: Illusions of open space in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Shanghai is to educate the reader on her concept of dual compression (local and global urbanism) in Hong Kong. According to Huang, “global compression refers to space collapsing to serve the purpose of global capital accumulation, and local compression, space collapsing to accommodate urban densities of population and housing, aggravated by global compression” (2004). Attractions such as Hong Kong Disney and Chek Lap Kok International Airport are examples of global compression, while overpopulation and public housing are representations of local compression. As a result, banks, airports, lavish hotel chains/restaurants, shopping malls, skyscrapers and other forms of transnational urbanism dominate the prime space of the city, removing its history and further alienating the underprivileged. The goal of global compression is to maintain global city status. However, immigrants and refugees who continue to suffer from low wages and poor living conditions are the engineers of this status. Overpopulation has become a major concern in Hong Kong yet that population has been shoved into small spaces while evil paradises flood the city. “The high-density anonymous housing projects, as antonym of the monumental buildings such as the Bank of China Tower or HSBC Headquarters, are special/architectural expressions of Hong Kong as a dual city under the impact of globalization” (2004).

Although Dhaka City experiences dual compression differently than Honk Kong, alienation of land has been a historically ongoing phenomenon. Shapan Adnan discusses the features of land appropriation in the era of neoliberal globalization in "Alienation in Neoliberal India and Bangladesh: Diversity of Mechanisms and Theoretical Implications". Alienation is also termed "land appropriation or land grab, the process involves the transfer of rights over land of one party to another" (2016). 

In Dhaka City social injustices exist on a local and global level. According to Tansy Hoskins "Reliving the Rana Plaza factory collapse: a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 22", "Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest garment producer, churning out billions of pieces of clothing each year. International brands are typically attracted by cities where costs of production – including wages, employment benefits, and health and safety – are as low as possible". On April 24, 2013, a poorly built eight-story factory collapsed. This incident became a symbol of global inequality as 1,134 people died to feed the world’s appetite for cheap clothing. Prior to Rana Plaza the Tazreen factory fire occurred, killing 112 people six months earlier. Yet business continued as usual.