The ruling and opposition parties have now decided their candidates for the year-end mayoral elections in the five special municipalities. The establishment and development of these cities marks Taiwan’s entry into a new stage of urban and economic development. We hope candidates and voters alike can identify with a new kind of self-awareness, which for the moment I will call “new urbanism.”
This new urbanism is based on a recognition of the deficiencies of existing patterns of urban development, and in practice it points toward urban renaissance and refinement.
The first point for reflection is that the existing approach to urban construction is guided largely by the convenience of car drivers. Although this development pattern gives rise to so-called transport convenience, it has generated many drawbacks, such as noise, exhaust emissions and ecological damage. Above all, under the restrictive conditions of car-oriented planning, a large proportion of space in our cities is devoted to cars. This puts intense pressure on people’s living space, and on the space required for sustained survival of nature. Put simply, it runs contrary to humanistic and natural principles.
The second point is that we have long held romantic illusions about urban growth, imagining that it is okay for cities to spread without limit. We have allowed them to sprawl across plains, climb over hills and crawl along riversides, creating a featureless environment. As a result, chaotic scenery that is neither city nor countryside can be seen all over Taiwan. These marginal zones have neither the facilities of a real city, nor the beauty of a rural setting. They are subject to property speculation, and those who live there are in a limbo where it is hard to identify with one kind of lifestyle or the other.
Third, Taiwan’s population structure is changing. Notably, families are getting smaller and there are more and more old people. These changes urgently call for a different kind of city.
At the same time, as the gap between rich and poor grows, exacerbated by intentional speculative manipulation, a wealthy elite controls the distribution of individual space, and only this elite enjoys choice of location. In our cities, the cost of housing leaves many families out of pocket. While the wealthiest communities are quiet and orderly places set amidst beautiful scenery, poor people, who make up a considerable proportion of society, are forced by social, economic and spatial pressures to live in another kind of city altogether.
Squeezed by high rents and house prices, many people, including the middle classes, have to move into ever more dilapidated areas or into those marginal zones that are neither city nor countryside. As the price of land and houses gets pushed ever higher, more and more people can hardly afford a roof over their heads.
New urbanism arises in consideration of all these factors, and is really a collection of ideas about how to make cities better. To put it simply, it is a search for a better society. We long for cities that are good, just, beautiful, clean and friendly to the environment, and that allow social participation. The right form of urban planning can lead to a better social environment — safe, clean, equal and comfortable — one in which people can optimistically work for their own betterment.
In such an urban and social environment, everyone would be able to watch their children play in parks near their homes. Poor people would no longer be forced to live in hopeless, dirty and rundown houses. Everyone could look out of their windows and see verdant trees, grass and flowers, and smell the fragrance of plants and blossoms. This should be more than just a dream. One day, it should be the reality of everyday life.
Lee In-ming is vice president of the China University of Science and Technology.
TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG
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