Department of Urban Development, Taipei City Government

Xinyi Planning District is a newly developed sub-center of Taipei City. The district is designed prospectively to provide better land uses and transportation systems. Both the urban landscape and service system of the district achieve the standard of a high-quality commercial and residential environment. The Xinyi Planning District hence creates a window for internationalization of Taipei City. In terms of urban design, Xinyi Planning District aims to establish a human-scaled urban environment and to comprehensively improve the urban landscape. Listed below are the applied urban design measures: (1) Land uses - Practicing zoning by creating commercial zones, special zones, business zones, residential zones, residential/commercial mix use zones, entertainment zones, parks, open spaces, etc. (2) Intensity of land use - Formulating the standard of FAR, FSR, and underground area size (<80% of site area). (3) Building height (4) Courtyard regulation (5) Minimum lot size of each zone (6) Open space - Designating the location, size and shape of public open space; increasing and consolidating the connection between green spaces and open spaces. (7) Setback - Requiring at least 1.57 meters of setback in front of buildings of 8 meters or above. (8) Pedestrian sidewalk - Designating the location and size of the dedicated pedestrian passageways; connecting the ground level pedestrian stream with the upper level bridge and overpass network. (9) Comprehensive CIS system - Placing Chinese and English CIS system at the important entries and exits within the sites. (10) Commercial billboard - Prohibiting the placing of neon light billboard on top of a building roof, considering the height, location and lighting system of a building. (11) Beautification of building roof - Encouraging the roof design in correspondence with the design of the surrounding buildings. (12) Lighting system - Allocating lightings along pedestrian overpasses and sidewalks. (13) Parking spaces - Regulating maximum parking space provision as a means of encouraging the usage of public transits. Parking incentives do not apply in this district. Various plans are carried out to deal with urban designs issues of the district, including (1) district-wide road openings, pedestrian network planning, lightings and drainage system along pedestrian sidewalks, construction of parks, open spaces, schools, and local language centers; (2) construction of MRT system and the Second Highway; (3) construction of pedestrian overpass system by the aid of private sectors; and (4) improvement plan of night time lighting system. The Xinyi Planning District incorporates department store industry, entertainment industry, headquarters of private corporations, and upscale residential developments. The skyscraper Taipei 101 has become the landmark of this Taipei City sub-center.