Land for the construction project is owned by Taiwan Railways Administration. With the underground of Nangang railway, this piece of land was leveled for material storage. The city government began to promote projects in the Eastern District Gateway Project as there are many major public projects in the Nangang area, including the development of Nankang Software Park, Nangang Station BOT Building, Taipei Music Center, and the National Biotechnology Research Park. As a means of strengthening the transportation hub, developing industrial clusters, and enhancing the efficiency of public land use, this public urban regeneration project was born with the Taiwan Railways Administration providing the land, the city government being the overall planner, and the Taipei Urban Regeneration Center being the implementer. Designed and built with the funding of Ruentex Development, four buildings (one, 32-story office building and three, 37-story residential buildings) of steel and steel-reinforced concrete structures are expected to be built. A shopping mall will be built on the first and second floors of the building with an international convention center and transit set up to provide exhibition, meeting space, and transportation functions. In addition, a three-dimensional connection system is designed to connect: to the east - Nangang Bus Station to Nangang Train Station and the Taipei Music Center; to the south - Nangang biotechnology industry base; and to the north - Chiao Thai Hsing flour mill and Nankang Software Park, playing a vital role in linking important sites and industrial clusters in the Nangang area.

        The Taipei City Urban Regeneration Office further stated that the international convention center and the transit station planned in the project were acquired by the city government through a donation of public welfare facilities of a capacity incentive. As the city government has the right to use the base of this construction project due to the sharing of funds for the underground development of the Nangang railway, the city government can use approximately 3,000 ping (9917 sq m.) for office space for new industries. An area of approximately 3,820 ping (12628 sq m., a capacity of 2,800 people) of the convention center will be integrated to be used for the surrounding related industries and Nangang Exhibition Center for joint development. Moreover, the transit station will have an area of approximately 1,509 ping (4988 sq m.), which can accommodate 23 seats on the platform and 13 seats in the spare parking lot. With great responsibility serving as a transportation transfer hub in the eastern district of Taipei, the site will provide transfer services for people traveling from the eastern district of Taipei to Yilan, Hualien and Taitung after integrating with Nangang Bus Station. The eastern district in Taipei city is expected to have a new urban appearance upon the completion of the construction project. The regeneration of the Nangang area is looking optimistic!

Deputy Mayor Cheng-Sheng Pong said that people often connect urban regeneration with “demolition”. “Rebuilding” in urban regeneration usually takes time due to property rights allocation and financial risks. On the contrary, people can see “renovation” to mean repairing and maintaining entire buildings. This type of urban regeneration both takes less time to complete with lower costs, and residents do not need to move out of their houses during renovation. The most important thing is that their living area will not be affected at all, allowing them to grow old in their old house with neighbors.

The organizer, Taipei City Urban Regeneration Office, said that in a bid to allow more people understand “renovation and maintenance”, the city government initiated a pilot project this year. In the early stages of the project, through seminars, workshops, and the companion system, 75% of willingness of seven communities was increased within 1.5 months. In addition, a drawing competition for architects was brought into the communities. Differing from other drawing competitions, people were able to vote for the winner online and on site, boosting the imagination on building renovation for local residents. In the future, the winning designs will be gradually implemented through urban regeneration review procedures.

The theme of the drawing competition is to inspire the public and show how a “renovated” city should look. In fact, the renovation of buildings concerns both the exterior of the building and residents' long-standing relationships with their neighbors. Based on this idea, the Taipei City Urban Regeneration Office has been planning policies focusing on “renovation with your neighbors”. In addition to exhibiting annual results of the 2022 public renovation and maintenance pilot project, examples of “I will renovate first” were also showcased. These projects include: Taipei City Urban Regeneration Office's long-term promotion of “Old House Transformation Award”, “New Use for Old Houses”, and “Embrace Green Life”. These projects emphasize the notion of creating comfortable living environments and space from the inside out and from a single building to a shared community space, injecting the spirit of “renovate, then age together in the local community”. 

The exhibition is held in the atrium of the first floor of the city government (No. 1, City Hall Road, Xinyi District). The exhibition runs from now until November 19. To show support for the architects, people who complete identity verification through TaipeiPASS are invited to vote for the drawing they like most in the first two days of the competition on site. The first 30 people who complete voting each day will have a chance to win mystery gifts. To save your precious time, we recommend that you download the TaipeiPASS app and register your account beforehand.

Due to the fact that renting in Taipei City has become a financial burden for many people, the equal-rent subsidy approach initiated by the central government no longer meets the needs of all families. In 2018, the city government took the lead and implemented a tiered subsidy policy for social housing and private rental housing, providing additional subsidies ranging from NT$3,000 to NT$11,000. This has significantly helped families in Taipei City, including disadvantaged families, households with three generations living together, and households with small children. In addition, the central government’s NT$30 billion rent subsidy granted to some citizens was lower than what they used to receive from the city government. To protect the rights and interests of its citizens, the city government has created its own budget to make up the difference in the amount that citizens received in 2021, helping them to reduce financial burdens.

In addition to the ongoing construction of social homes and provision of additional tiered rent grants, the DUD encourages empty housing to join the social housing leasehold management project. To attract the participation of landlords, the DUD increased the market rent to NT$39,000, and has sought approval from the central government for another 800 homes to be included in the Phase III project. Due to the high rents in Taipei City, the DUD has repeatedly appealed to the central government to relax the NT$15,000 limit of income tax as stipulated in Article 23 of the Housing Act; however, the effort has not yet been taken seriously. The DUD will continue to advocate for citizens in the hopes that the government will join forces to solve the issue of high rents.

The DUD has stressed that Taipei City has delivered great results in social housing. However, housing justice is not just a slogan—it requires the joint help of the central government and city government to reform laws and regulations regarding the transparency of information about renting, the improvement of incentives for landlords and the planning of a social housing rent policy tailored to local needs. The DUD hopes that the central government will confront this issue and improve people’s living rights.

Deputy Mayor Cheng-Sheng Pong said that the regeneration project at Beian Section, Zhongshan District in Dazhi was an exemplary project in the city government's urban regeneration Project 1.0. The urban regeneration implementer was Taipei Urban Regeneration Center and the investor was Kindom Construction, a perfect example of an urban regeneration project led by the city government and incorporating private investment. Given the fact that the issues concerning urban regeneration will attract the most attention from Taipei citizens in the coming decades, the future use of the Idea Hub will be supplemented by “Taipei UNZIP” on Facebook, managed by Taipei City Urban Regeneration Office. Through a virtual reality integration approach, a variety of urban regeneration projects and activities to explore urban regeneration issues will be strengthened. The Idea Hub features a “multi-use and easy-entry” atmosphere, containing a reading space decorated with urban regeneration themes, Podcast studios, and a spacious exhibition area that can accommodate more than 100 visitors.

During the trial run of the Idea Hub, the Taipei City Urban Regeneration Office planned a series of opening events such as special exhibitions to showcase the ten-year history and achievements of the organization. In addition to scheduled tours, an array of seminars and board game experiences were organized during the exhibition period. Furthermore, the Taipei City Urban Regeneration Office joined hands with the Chinese Culture University to hold a Mapping & Talking Book Club to elaborate on Taipei's urban issues and various imaginations in life. The initial concept of the Idea Hub was to draw the surrounding residents closer and promote community participation with a future goal of urban regeneration knowledge production and sustainability of the space.

> The trial run period of the Taipei Urban Regeneration Idea Hub (1F, No. 5, Alley 26, Lane 397, Mingshui Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei City) is October 21 (Friday) to December 31 (Saturday), every Tuesday to Friday from 13:30-17:30, Saturday from 09:30-12:30 and 13:30-17:30. The Idea Hub is open to everyone. For more information, please see the Taipei UNZIP Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/taipei.unzip/, or contact Ms. Wu of the Coordination Section, Taipei City Urban Regeneration Office at 02-2781-5696 ext. 3123.

Although construction on social housing units has been slow since 2020 due to the lingering effects of COVID-19, including shortages of both labor and building materials, the tendering of 1,105 units at 5 social housing sites was completed, with construction underway. 720 units in four other projects have been planned and are currently pending tendering online. This shows that Taipei City Government’s determination in social housing projects has not slowed down.

The City's land resources are limited and facilitating social housing projects requires a large amount of land and funding. Currently, 86% of the land among all social housing projects is owned by the city, and 96% of the funding is provided by the city government. NT$4.5 billion is funded by the central government, accounting for only 4% of the total.

As a local government with the largest number of social housing projects in Taiwan, the Taipei City Government has repeatedly shared its experience with the Ministry of the Interior and other counties/cities to help the central government and other counties/cities promote social housing. To speed up the promotion of social housing projects, the city government hopes that the central government will take a proactive approach in assisting local governments in acquiring state-owned land resources free of charge to remove land acquisition obstacles, while also helping the local government solve the labor shortage dilemma. In this way, quality social homes can be built more quickly to meet the needs of more citizens.

According to Huang I-Ping, Commissioner of the Department of Urban Development, the main purpose of today’s meetup is for young innovators living in different social housing areas to exchange views and experience on executing the Young Innovator Program. These young people, members of the programs, members of the City Government’s Young Innovator Committee, and the Department of Urban Development discussed how to continue to deepen the connection between neighbors through such activities and form a virtuous circle, in order to fulfill the object of the “good living, good neighborhood and good life” policy.

At the meetup, a video of the achievements of Dongming’s social housing youth team was played, deeply moving the Mayor. During Mayor Ko’s speech, he once again mentioned the 4 major strategic goals of social housing: housing justice, urban aesthetics, smart buildings, and new community lifestyles. Among these goals, housing justice includes social housing, a reasonable tax system, and rent subsidies. He also mentioned that these young innovators account for 10% of the power in social housing and are the basis for creating new community lifestyles. Furthermore, Ko also encouraged the young innovators to find their own sense of accomplishment in the project, which may lead them to find more friends who share the same interests. Ko hoped that the public would recommend the project to their good friends and apply to become young innovators in housing projects.

He further elaborated: “a policy must leave room for failure. While Taipei City works hard to build ‘hardware’ social housing, it at the same time strives to provide corresponding ‘software’ services. The Young Innovator Program allows everybody involved to repeatedly create and experiment in social housing. This not only helps these youngsters find their interests, it also transforms and improves the City Government’s social housing services. It is because of everyone’s involvement that we are able to further improve social housing.”

The Department of Urban Development stated that young innovator candidates for the Xiaowang and Xing-Sang projects have entered the evaluation stage, and results will be announced in the first quarter of next year. For those who missed the chance to apply, the young innovator for Guangci Park project will be introduced in the first quarter of next year. Taipei citizens who would like to live in a social housing building under the Young Innovator Program must not miss the latest information announced on the Department of Urban Development’s website or the Facebook page of the Young Innovator Contribution Program.