Department of Urban Development, Taipei City Government

The Forum came to the end at the international meeting room of the National Taipei University of Technology on the 28th and 29th of July, 2011. Attendees from six foreign universities and six local universities discussed and exchanged thoughts on urban regeneration concepts surrounding both Wanhua station and Taipei Railway workshop.
According to Mr.Ding, commissioner of the Department of Urban Development of Taipei city government, this is the second year the Taipei city government has hosted the Taipei ICU grant program. Through this workshop between local and foreign universities, the city is looking to encourage international focus and creativity among the youth to explore the potential of local features.
During the final forum, National Taipei University of Technology joined the University of Tokyo in proposing an urban design concept of a multidimensional city, based on the Taipei railway workshop perspective. That includes the ecologically-sound techniques of vertical farming, construction of artificial wetlands, and integrating a smart technology system in order to provide a complete public facility service which through the use of metropolitan marketing strategies can attract creative industry and talented people.
The teams from Chinese Culture University, University of Sydney, Korea University and Waseda University visited the WanHua community and organized a young planning program concentrating on the idea of the organic city. Regeneration is not just a hardware redesign, it is integrated in the culture and local industry to form the special features for each individual town.
ChaoYang University of Technology and Italian St.John’s University jointly addressed the regeneration of the Taipei Railway workshops. The presentation showed the newest architectural concepts and technology of Europe, integrating new and old track, cargo, machine and factory designs. Likewise, the landscape team used the newest parametric design technology, from the parameters of rain, sunshine and noise, brought a flexible landscape design that combines the environment and civilian feedback. The idea is to construct a new landmark, like Taipei 101. They emphasized focusing on both operational and financial management in developing the value of cultural assets, while at the same time preserving historic sites.
Today’s forum only shows phased results from each team. However, from the exchange of ideas and experiences in the forum, each team will continue to research and analyze the interactions with the community. The final exhibition will be held in Huashan 1914- Creative Park on the 26th of Sep, through to 2nd of Oct, 2011. No doubt there will be even more innovative proposals. We are looking forward to all citizens of Taipei interested in the future of Taipei participating in the final festival.