Shih Chien University & MIT School of Architecture and Planning
2009 International Workshop
Retrofitting Central Xizhi for Livability
Organizers：
The School of Architecture and Planning, MIT
College of Design, Shih Chien University
Participants：
Massachusetts Institute of Technology：
Architecture Department
Media Laboratory
Shih Chien-Praxis University：
Graduate School of Architecture Design
Graduate School of Industrial Design
Graduate School of Fasion and Communications Design
Proposed Exercise Topic：
「Retrofitting Central Xizhi for Livability」
Proposed Workshop Date and Duration：
Spring 2008,for 14 days
Location：
Shih Chien-Praxis University, Taipei, Taiwan
Workshop Planners at Shih Chien-Praxis University：
Ann, yu-chien
Dean, College of Design, Shih Chien-Praxis University
Associate Professor, Architecture Department, Shih Chien-Praxis University
M.Arch., University of Pennsylvania
Lin, sheng-fong
Associate Professor, Architecture Department, Shih Chien-Praxis University
Former Minister of State, Taiwan R.O.C.
Ph.D.,University of California,Berkeley
Retrofitting Central Xizhi for Livability
Taiwan’s bubble economy during the 60’s and 70’s produced many high-density pockets in the outlying areas of Taipei, the capital. However, today, with the rise in living standards and awareness for quality, more and more people are beginning to feel the negative consequences resulting from these overnight developments. There is an urgent demand for upgrading the urban quality of these regions. However, the sheer density of these urban concrete mazes, and the high costs of lands and buildings make large-scale restructuring extremely difficult. So, the question is: How can we retrofit much needed open spaces and public facilities into these highly saturated developments and turn them into livable places?
Central Xizhi: The case in point
Xizhi, located in Taipei County, ten km east of Taipei, is one of the satellite cities just outside the capital. Due to its proximity, easy access, and relatively lower land price, it started to evolve in the 70’s to become a commuter town to Taipei. Real estate speculation and adventurism rushed in to meet the increase in demand for housing. Uncontrolled growth lasted about ten years; and the speed with which it sprawled outpaced any attempts at proper city planning. Thus today, the central part of Xizhi manifests all the symptoms of a town left alone to grow at the speed of greed on the one hand, and economic necessity on the other. Devoid of charm and character, the area’s identity is defined mainly by its undesirable qualities, to wit: a lack of pedestrian accessibility and urban amenities; and public facilities that are minimal in number and function, under-equipped, and in badly chosen locations. Uncontrolled development has left several historical layers of urban fabric randomly overlapping one another. Adding to the chaos of the area is the oppressive presence of through-traffic corridors that brutally sever the area into several disconnected urban fragments and upset the residents’ daily functions.
In short, Central Xizhi is an area devoid of that necessary quality called ‘livability.’ Built to high density with little open space, and with high land prices, central Xizhi has passed the point of no return, making large scale land adjustment practically impossible. What can we do to make this commuter town livable without massive land adjustment or urban renewal?
Introduction to Central Xizhi
Central Xizhi is an area of 4km x 2km, with a population of forty thousand. The following are some key features of this area.
1. Landscape：
Keelung River defines the area’s northern boundary and hills its southern boundary. Having been lowly evaluated in the past for their real estate value, both of these natural landscape features remain largely intact, and are available as a spatial or visual amenity. The river used to be the cause of flooding but the threat was neutralized (only) recently. However, this solution has had the unfortunate effect of turning the flood control devices into barriers that prevent people from getting close to the river. The hills, although a park-like space to the locals, are not easily accessible visually or physically.
2. Older part of the city：
The train station and its vicinity, together with the old street, constitute the old quarter of central Xizhi. The old street, a market street of pedestrian scale still serves the daily function of the older quarter of the area. Although the scale of this part of the city was built for the convenience of pedestrians, there is no pedestrian-priority space or traffic planning. Moreover, the older urban fabric has not been preserved, having been randomly punctured by new development.
3. Residential quarters and high-rise housing clusters：
Of the five residential quarters in the area, two are composed of high-rise clusters. The dominant housing types are the three-, four- and seven-story row houses. In these row houses, if located along a major street, the ground floor is reserved for shops. The high-rise clusters contain condominiums, which, as recent additions to the existing housing stock in the area, have come into being in order to meet the growing demand for housing within the Taipei metropolitan area.
(Residential quarters and high rise housing clusters)
4. Corridors of through-traffic：
The area is severed by three traffic corridors from north to south, namely: the Datong road by-pass, the railroad, and the Xintaiwu express way. The Tairail Company has recently elevated the railroad, thus making it transversable. But these three traffic corridors, taken as a whole, must still be seen as obstacles that impede the optimum flow of slower traffic and thereby downgrade the quality of livability of this area.
5. Public facilities：
The city hall, two primary schools, one middle school, one high school, the old street,
one train station, some poorly planned parks, and one night market: these Public Facilities remain unpleasant to access on foot, and difficult by car, due to a lack of sidewalks and parking lots, respectively. Given the situation, the motorcycle or the scooter remains the most convenient means of access.
(Traffic corridors cutting through the area)
We conclude that the poor grade of livability in central Xizhi is caused by four eminent problems:
1. The three traffic corridors: they have the negative effect of partitioning the city into disconnected sub-areas, and making the unavoidable passing across these barriers life-threatening.
2. Lack of pedestrian-prioritized planning: major traffic corridors and local roads are all pedestrian-unfriendly.
3. Substandard quality of public facilities: they are minimum in number and function, poorly planned, poorly located, and difficult to access.
4. Neglect of the potential of the river and the hills as amenities and open spaces.
The Vision and the Retrofitting Strategy
The Vision: A livable Xizhi, free of disconnection-causing traffic corridors, with well-planned, well-situated public facilities that are accessible to all by walking or bicycle. A green Xizhi, with easy access to the nearby river and hills, with a network of open-spaces that lace the city.
The Strategy: With minimum land adjustment or acquisition, the retrofitting strategies might include:
1. Pedestrian layer：
This layer, functioning as a network, would include
1. Bridges and skywalks placed over major or minor roads where necessary as well as over the residential quarters, in order to connect to the hills across the river.
2. Pedestrian-priority zones in which roads would be placed underground and/or traffic limited.
3. Open spaces which would include the riverside, hills, parks, school yards, open spaces of public and major commercial facilities, and
4. Side walks.
Skywalks and bridges should be considered as urban spaces, and treated as such, rather than merely transitional spaces, so as to vitalize the spatial barrenness of this area. The possibilities for activating the roof spaces – by way of sky lobbies, squares and gardens – of public and commercial buildings and condominium should be integrated into the pedestrian system. The system should accommodate bicycles as well.
2. Physical communication layer：
This layer would include the public and private signage systems; the color scheme planning of the public domain; the design of functional and user-friendly street furniture. Given the large number of children in this area, as evidenced by the increase in primary school enrollment, special attention must be given to the needs of children in terms of space, signage and street furniture design.
3. Information layer：
There should be a trial-run to introduce information- and media-technologies to facilitate and enrich the urban function of this area. We navigate through an environment by reading sign boards, building types and the activities in and around them. But often some of the urban public functions, or even some commercial functions are debilitatingly opaque. When the information needed of daily function is properly transparent, it makes the environment more user-friendly and convenient. There are abundant media and information technologies available in Taiwan, and the area’s close proximity to the Information Science Park of Taiwan makes it an ideal candidate to serve as a showcase for the integration of information- and media-technology with urban design.
4. Ecological layer：
The ecological barrenness of this area is due solely to administrative negligence, not lack of potentials. There is a river to the north and hills to the south of the area. Within the area, there are some parks, school campuses, etc. There should be more efforts to connect these green areas. By combining tree-planting programs for the streets, pocket parks, open spaces, and vegetations for sky lobbies, roof gardens, sky walks etc., we can create a web of ecological corridors in this area.
In search of a model solution
Central Xizhi, a by-product of a bubble economy, is an urban problem begging for a solution. The “Xizhi Syndrome” can be found commonly in many Asian cities where high-density, uncontrolled development and exorbitant land prices make it impossible for large-scale urban restructuring. (China is the exception. There, massive clearing is still possible). “Retrofitting” three-dimensionally into the existing urban fabric layers of spaces and functions, and reconnecting fragmented urban sub-areas with pedestrian accessibilities and communication technologies is one possible solution. The four layers introduced into the fragmented central Xizhi would not require massive acquisition of lands or clearing of buildings. Implementation of this proposal could make central Xizhi a livable and connected community. If retrofitting by layers should prove possible in Xizhi, it could set an example worth emulating throughout Taiwan as well as in other parts of the world where poorly planned, under-equipped, pedestrian-unfriendly developments have unnecessarily degraded the quality of urban life.
( Location fo the Central Xizhi; and Shih Chien-Praxis University, Taipei.)
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