A renegade photographer got inside this lawless Hong Kong community that was 119 times denser than New York City

Greg GirardThe Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong.Between the 1950s and mid-1990s, tens of thousands of immigrants constructed a towering community 12 stories high across a 6.4-acre lot in Hong Kong.

It was called the Kowloon Walled City.

With a population of 33,000 squeezed into a tiny lot, at its peak the city was 119 times as dense as present-day New York City. Although it faced rampant crime and poor sanitation, the city was impressively self-sustainable until its demolition in 1993.

In the late '80s, Canadian photographer Greg Girard found his way into the windowless world.

He shared photos and thoughts about his time in Kowloon Walled City with Business Insider. You can check out the rest, along with essays and work from photographer Ian Lambot, in "City of Darkness: Revisited."