Spatial Strategic Planning and Urban Planning Principles (Under construction)

1. Short-term:

Demolish most of the buildings in the factory district and evolve it into a green space. In the interim hold different activities to motivate residents to observe the changes in the urban space.

2. Long-term:

a.Outside the site:

1. Consider the amount of open space accessible to the people here.

2. Allow the structure of the entire spatial system (such as the bicycles, the setback of streets, the green belt) to bring connective spaces and activities.

b. Inside the site:

1. Designate future developments, making suggestions based on the proportion and location of the remaining open spaces.

2. Designate ideal division of urban land use and establish its building coverage ratio and floor area ratio.

3. Propose UDG urban design principles that show Nangang characteristics.

Planning content (under construction)

1. After a series of research and analysis, we allow the residents to experience the process firsthand. Through short-term projects, we enlighten the residents to think about the city - that it is not all just about “additional development”. The main goal is to let the government slow down and think, to look forward to better planning or orientation.

2. In this process of reduction, we thought about the role of the site, which is mobile and allowing short-term rest/stay. This allows the community residents to feel the dynamic and the openness of the site, allow designers to think about their designs, and allow visitors to receive clear messages and etc., a place which allows infinite imagination.

Consensus, Vision

After organizing the surrounding development of Nangang bottle cap factory and collecting the opinions of government officials, residents and community planners, our planning team proposed “Petri dish” as the future vision for bottle cap factory.

“Petri dish” concept: Through the role of the bottle cap factory as the Petri dish, cultivate the interflow of diverse tangible and intangible elements and provide an open platform for [URS-Urban Regeneration station]. Allow different cultures to enter, and use people as the main theme to include the 3 parts listed below:

1. Activate Industry Compared to the infiltration of these emerging industries, how can Nangang find its unique characteristic/allure? We can increase the diversity of the industries and use cultural industries as the foundation to allow the entire space to exude unlimited creativity.

2. Connect with creative industry’s service platform The creative industry should have world vision, but also be able to integrate with the city and community. It should include “internal” upgrade of living quality and characteristic and “external” visibility to the world and tourism, in order to create an integrated service space.

3. Recreational space The open recreational space can be a transitional space to adjust the surrounding developments to the region, these can include:

a. Memorial:To preserve the unique historical memory of the bottle cap factory district.

b. Commercial:The urgent task is to enhance service for the residents, and the direction is to provide comfort and convenience.

c. Cultural:The exhibition/performance/entertainment of culture-related activities to revive the surrounding developments.

d. Social: To create not only an activity space for the community but also a public sphere for the residents.

SWOT Analysis

1. Superiority (S):
a. Transportation: it is one of the rare sites with a station that combines the 3 transits of Taiwan.
b.The five major constructions make Nangang unique from other districts.
c. Nangang is to become a window of Taipei to the world and should be a good city visibly.

2. Weakness (W):
a. Nangang district’s development lacks holistic urban planning, resulting in ineffective connection of landscape to usage.
b.There is a huge gap between the old and new districts in Nangang, lacking transitional and interactive spaces.
c. High-density spatial development, oppression of the environment and lack of foundational facilities decreased the living quality of the residents.

3. Opportunity (O):
a. Nangang breaks away from the dark village image and seeks to find local characteristics to create effective spatial connections.
b.The bottle cap factory is in an intermediary location. It can be a bridge to allow interflow of old/new and low/high density spaces.

4. Threats (T):
a. Future large-scale developments can create large population inflow, creating substantial influence.
b. Large amount of emerging industries with few service industries still cannot keep people here.
c. Local collective memory and cultural identity face threats of industrialization and globalization.

Interview 2010.04.26Nangang Interview 1

Interview Synopsis:

Coordinate with [URS-Urban Regeneration station] started in 2000 by Department of Urban Development for Taipei City Government. Through symposiums collect the opinions of Nangang local residents, enterprises and community in regard to the bottle cap factory. Allow Nangang district to have more diverse development and use.

Interview Result:

a. Predevelopment:
(1)Bottle cap factory should clearly define land use categories for future sustainable developments.
(2)The planning of the land freed by bottle cap factory should contribute to the community.

b. Future development of the bottle cap factory
(1)The node of the cultural creative city
(2)Integrate local characteristics: tea and sweet osmanthus
(3)The transitional bottle cap factory should coordinate with its future plan and prepare for its transition to international center or cultural center.
(4)Nangang area is hoped to have more commerce activities to drive the local economy and prosperity. The bottle cap factory is hoped to be used as a commercial district.

2. The future of Nangang:

a.Further discuss Nangang district’s development from east to west and also the linkage between the activities of different districts.

b.Commerce park, central research institute, and Nangang living spaces should create tri-regional economic prosperity and increase ease of traffic flow.

c.In the future the development of international or cultural centers can attract tourism with interesting theme spaces to drive Nangang local developments.

d.Nangang Software Park and the existing Nangang industrial and newly developed areas should coordinate and work with each other.

Interview2010.05.03Nangang Interview 2

Interview Synopsis:
This interview was for the schools to discuss the future development of bottle cap factory land lot from educator’s point of view.

Interview Result:

1、Schools lack activity center and hope this site in the future can be an activity space for the schools and the residents.

2、Nangang has many cars. The current land use does not accumulate people. In the future it is hoped that the site can become a public space for gathering people.

3、There is no recreational space along Nangang Road. Hopefully there can be open space or sports park.

Interview2010.05.29Nangang Interview 3

Interview Synopsis:

This interview was for the community planners, to discuss the future development of bottle cap factory land lot from planner’s point of view.

Interview Result:

1、 Allow the development to have connection with surrounding planning and create the concept of a district.

2、 There are 3 parts of preservation: time period, architectural method and historical significance. Historical significance is most valuable. However, Nangang bottle cap factory should focus on future use/development of the site and not just simply preserve the existing building.

Interview2010.05.29Nangang Interview 4

Interview Synopsis:

This is mainly a community conference for allowing city hall representatives to explain [URS-Urban Regeneration Station] and to hear more thoughts and suggestions on the bottle cap factory from different industries.

Interview Result:

There are four requests as follows:
1、Sports Recreational Open Space- propose low-density development of exhibition/performance space.

2、Cultural Art Performance Space- create a performance space to combine culture art, film, drama, and music. There is no need to develop large-scale building.

3、Preservation of the Building Value- the value and commemorative elements of bottle cap factory should be preserved, such as the form of the factory, the roof and etc. These elements allow one to know instantly they have arrived at Nangang.

4、Economic Development- in the past, Nangang was a dark village, with severe air pollution. The development of 202 Arsenal promoted the regeneration of Nangang area. However, some people hoped to open up the land for lawn, this is an impediment to the development of Nangang. We hope the government this time can nicely construct the bottle cap factory area. Through the new underground corridor of the underground railway, connect the Pop Music Center, tri-railway construction and create a second Xinyi District in Taipei.

Interview2010.05.29Nangang Interview 5

Interview Synopsis:

This interview was to let people share their thoughts on teamwork planning projects, to encourage people have other views and opinions on Nangang bottle cap factory.

Interview Result:

1. The bottle cap factory land lot is limited. It should combine with Nanxing Park for a holistic planning. It should also be used as an open space and integrate different uses such as recreational and cultural spaces.

2. The bottle cap factory existing building can be preserved to maintain partial memories of the past, looking at examples such as Nangang Tire Chimney for reference.

3. Take into consideration the impression and feeling of people seeing Nangang when they come out of the railway station, after the completion of Nangang Station. Carefully contemplate on landscape design.

4. Future categories of bottle cap factory usage should cohere with promotion of Taiwan culture or cultural creative industry. A platform that promotes culture should be designated, don’t repeat the kind of space like Huashan Culture Park.

Interview2010.06.09Nangang Interview 6

Interview Synopsis:

This interview was for the upper government officials, mainly to ask them about the future role and main direction of the bottle cap factory.

Interview Result:
1. The role of Nangang:
Nangang is the most malleable area in the high-density developed Taipei. It embodies the high-potential strategic zone for transportation and can coordinate with the 5 major constructions of the Central Investment Holding Co. Nangang is now transforming from the high-density industrial dark village of the past to a new area interwoven with Taipei technological industry, cultural industry and performance/exhibition center.

(1) Major Industry- Taipei-Keelung Metropolitan Area Development Technological Corridor
Looking at the geographic location of Nangang, it is located at the easternmost region of Taipei city district. However, looking at the site from Taipei-Keelung Metropolitan Area development, Nangang is located at the center of Taipei’s most important technological corridor. It is hoped that the newest technological industries can be attracted to Nangang, to promote Taipei as a global high-tech industrial headquarter in Asia, and to include research center, educational center and planning/management center. It is hoped to create a new century of knowledge-based economy in Taipei.

(2) Potential Industry- cultural creative industry
The northern city government of Taiwan already has a good foundation and concept on all kinds of cultural creative industry. Currently, the city is further actively integrating all sources to connect the Taipei Art Center in Shilin, the City Museum of Taipei along Zhongshan North Road in the Yuanshan District, the Songyan Cultural District, and the eastward Nangang’s “Taipei Pop Music Center”. It then plans to coordinate with Nangang’s “performance/exhibition center” to form a L-shape belt for the cultural creative industry, to speed up the agglomeration of Taipei cultural creative industries and effectively upgrade the quality and global competitiveness of its products.

2. What should the role of the bottle cap factory be to promote the holistic synergy of the Nangang district?

The five major constructions of the Central Investment Holding Co. hope to become the catalyst to start the development of Nangang district. From west to east, the facilities for Nangang are cultural creative center, train station, biotechnology center, performance/exhibition center and software center. Nangang bottle-cap factory is a rare large public land lot that is still vacant. The five major constructions are of singular large-scale developments. The major constructions by Central Investment still need to connect with the surrounding community and local industries to really exert their effect as a catalyst for a holistic district development. Also, in order to effectively fill in the gap of the different developmental stages between the major constructions and local developments, and to achieve a balanced role for the Central Investment, the city government is currently negotiating with the Ministry of Finance State Property Bureau. They hope to use Nangang bottle cap factory as the core for a short-term reuse plan to integrate the efforts of local residents and industry to find the unique characteristic and local value specifically of Nangang.

3. During previous interviews the public brought up the need for green and open space. This is the view of the government:

There are two meanings for green: one is the real physical green, the other is the conceptual green (environmental protection, reduction of pollution and etc.). Architecturally, green is another concept, like green architecture has 9 target regulations, which can transform outdoor horizontal green to vertical green. Besides green one needs water. Green without water will not achieve the target of biodiversity. If there is water as well as green, birds and organisms can become active.

4. Is there a holistic design plan for integrating all of Nangang open spaces and transportation systems?

Most projects have to go through urban renewal, urban planning and urban planning committee. When the project is passed, it will go through discussions to inspect and regulate the width of streets, open spaces, handicap accessible facilities and etc. Therefore, there shouldn’t be any problem about having a holistic design plan.

5. Will the future of bottle cap factory really move toward the development of commercial district?

Due to the inflexibility of current land use regulation, it is easy to break the law when using the lot. Therefore, the bottle cap factory land lot will move toward developing into a reserved district for special use, which hopefully will not limit the future development of the factory land.

Related Plans

1. Station Center Plan:This coordinates with the underground railway construction and the integration of 3 major transit means (the high speed train, train, and MRT mass rapid transit) to make Nangang Station the center of development. To allow development to provide all-new services for business travel and tourism, as well as spaces for an international conference center and enterprise headquarters.

2. Software Center Plan:The software center is aimed to build a smart industrial park to speed up the upgrade of Taiwan software industry, in order to establish an international prototype for the information software and knowledge-intensive industry in Taiwan.

3. Cultural Center Plan:The cultural center hopes to enhance mainstream music development and nurture and strengthen the superiority of the mandarin pop music industry in Taiwan and its Asian market through performances at the Pop Music Center.

4. Exhibition Center Plan:To use the Nangang commerce park’s Nangang Exhibition Center as the center of trade development. This also allows the development of support spaces for use as an international hotel and international conference center for a holistic exhibition center development.


5. Biological Center Plan:Academia Sinica is the mecca for Taiwan’s scholarly researches. In order to develop Taiwan’s fundamental researches on genetic and biological sciences, the Taipei city government provides the 202 arsenal land lot (ex defence use) for constructing a national biological research park.

Urban Environment Analysis

In the process of development for Taipei City, along this axis of west to east there are districts such as: Ximen, Zhongxiao, Dunhua and Sonshan. Based on the spatial structure of Taipei City, our goal is to allow the site to integrate the unique spatial characteristics of Taipei so that it can shine globally.

Taipei City development is inextricably linked to the railway. After the 1980s, theold Japanese railway began to be replaced underground. This changed the urban development pattern, allowing the urban spaces that were back to the railway to gradually face the new ex-railway open spaces.


This kind of change also allowed large-scale factory remnants from the Japanese colonial period near the railway to undergo makeovers, like Wanhua Sugar Refinery, Huashan Winery, Jianguo Brewery, Songshan Tobacco Factory and Nangang Bottle Cap Factory (all of which are properties of the government Taiwan Monopoly Bureau). Currently the role of the bottle cap factory is not clearly defined.

To analyze the site environment, we used the bottle cap factory as our point of departure and avoided districts outside of our control, thus redefining our scope of discussion.


1、Regarding land use, the site is a middle ground for residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Currently, surrounding activities are suspended due to the abandoned bottle cap factory.

2、In the future, the high intensity (high density) developments of the surrounding areas will impose great pressure on the site, forming it into an oppressed urban landscape.3、Finally, there is the traffic problem. Future traffic overload brought on by tourism for the major exhibition centers will paralyze this area.

3、Finally, there is the traffic problem. Future traffic overload brought on by tourism for the major exhibition centers will paralyze this area.

Site Background

In late 1991, there was a rise of China coastal cities as emerging factory sites for the world.
Cheap labor and low capital cost also induced many Taiwanese industries to invest there. Nangang industrial district that once flourished is now long gone and irretrievable.


Local residents gained environmental awareness. Nangang, the longtime notorious “dark village of Taipei”, sought reform. In 2004, Nangang announced the closing of its bottle cap factory, freeing these places as open spaces.


Our plan continues the vision of the bottle cap factory but rethinks the opportunity for factory remnants to restart, so that the entire area can be revived.

Introduction

1. Starting from 2000, the Department of Urban Development for Taipei City Government began the program URS-Urban Regeneration Station which introduces Taipei to domestic and overseas urban planners, as well as adds new energy to this vibrant and amazing city.

2. The Urban Regeneration Station [URS] views the city as a living organism and urban renewal as a life cycle. It seeks to encourage short-term reuse of publicly-owned buildings/properties that are vacant or abandoned in the city’s spaces, to build an integrated system of related discussions and activities with local participation, to establish goal-oriented active urban regeneration sites, to turn old districts into renewed catalyst centers, to provide a holistic platform for urban renewal, to organize local networks through innovative activities and works, to encourage creativity, and to help upgrade local industry and promote local development according to the atmosphere and issue of different districts.

3. Our planning team has presented “Bo! Opening the Bottle Cap to Discover Nangang- A Strategic Spatial Planning Exercise with Local Participation”. Using the regeneration of the old bottle cap factory and the local Nangang industrial district as the point of departure, we have set future goals for its regeneration:

a. From bottom-up, to encourage the creative power of the Nangang bottle cap factory and increase the international allure of Taipei city through “activities with local participation and international experience”.

b. To combine vision and activity for Nangang bottle cap factory‘s future development in proposing tangible management strategies for sustainable development.