Regional Revitalization of Taichung’s Cultural City within a City

Regional Revitalization of Taichung’s Cultural City within a City

“The city is a vessel for the culture and the culture is the soul of the city”. Taichung City has a large number of valuable assets accumulated over the past century, and the preservation of cultural assets represents an eternal value of a city.

The old town of Taichung City was once called “Dadun Road”. Settlements started to develop into streets and shops during the last few years of the QianLong reign in the Qing Dynasty. During the period of Japanese rule, the "Urban Improvement Plan" was implemented, involving extensive construction, river training, design of checkerboard shaped roads, and construction of famous buildings such as Taichung Park, the police dormitory, the dormitories of Japanese colonial-era prison officials, and the Taichung Prefectural Hall. Since then, Dadun Road became increasingly prosperous day by day and was once the most prosperous area of Taichung City. It ranges from the area south of Wuquan Road, north of Jiancheng Road, east of Linsen Road, and west of Park Road, including the Central District and parts of the East, West, South, and North Districts and is one of the few cities that preserve the old city center and the Japanese cultural landscape. 

Historical predicament of the old town area and the reproduction of its historical value 

The old town area flourished in the 70s and 80s, but with urban expansion and development, the direction of the urban development has gradually shifted, leaving the old city district with serious problems of urban decline. Therefore, Feng Chia University, under the leadership of Vice President Yang, has launched the "Regional Revitalization of Taichung’s Cultural City within a City Project" that involves the Department of Urban Planning and Spatial Information, the GIS Research Center, the Graduate Institute of History and Artefacts, and the General Education Center. The aim of this project is to revitalize the old town area of Taichung City in five major aspects: culture, education, tourism, service, and marketing. 

“In order to take history and culture as an entry point, we have collected ancient maps from the Qing Dynasty to the post-war period. We have also used UAV technology to preserve the spatial patterns of the old town area, and systematically constructed the historical buildings using 3D modeling technology (Figure 1). As the city is growing and prospering beyond our imagination, I think our future generations will have a more strategic way to understand this area if these historical buildings can be preserved”, said Professor Tsu-Chiang Lei from Department of Urban Planning and Spatial Information.

Therefore, different academic departments, the General Education Center, and the Foreign Language Center are all involved in this project. Through professional courses, students will study historical building features, conduct inventory of spatial resources, and receive training in 3D modeling and preservation of ancient buildings, digital environmental simulation, spatial data analysis, app design, bilingual guided tour design and related competitions, so that students can move from learning to practice (Figure 2 to Figure 4) to understand the pattern of Taichung’s urban planning of the old town area in different periods. Ultimately, the connection between people and the old town area of Taichung is expected to be established and strengthened.

Fig. 1 Model construction of the Taichung Prefecture Hall 

Figure 2 From Learning to Practice – Forum for the Humanity Innovation and Social Practice

Fig. 3 From Learning to Practice – Contest of programming lessons for beginners 

Fig. 4 From Learning into Practice – Presentation of a research project: the application of urban planning and spatial information in the improvement of city streets.

Local Stories and Cultural Beliefs

In traditional societies, religious beliefs and temples are magnetic fields for human activities. The Wan Chun Temple is nearly 300 years old and was demolished in 1913 as part of the Japanese government's Urban Improvement Plan. After the war, local merchants took turns worshipping Mazu, and the building was rebuilt at the initiative of local gentry to become the magnificent hall it is today. After the inauguration of the Taichung Railway Station and the Second Market in 1917, a ceremony was held to

pray for the blessing of the goddesses of the seven temples for 40 days. The Wan Chun Mazu is commonly known as Taichung Mazu, and the Wan Chun temple is one of the temples at the old town area in Taichung. It serves as a venue for spiritual services and private prayers between human being and goddess. The team, led by Mr. Jian-wei Li from the Institute of History and Artefacts, will study the history and culture, lieux de memorie (sites of memory), religious and folk artifacts, literary works, poems and songs, and architecture and art in the project site. Through project-based curriculum planning, students will be able to practice their professional skills during the course of their studies. In addition to understanding the historical context of the temple through documents and on-site interviews, this project also trains students to use "surroundings photography" in order to record the spatial imagery inside the Wan Chun Temple with technology (Figure 6). 

Through the establishment of a web integration platform (Figure 7), we integrate teaching and application results, supplemented by narrative reports and the construction of spatial resources, in order to record local history systematically and achieve the objectives of adding cultural value.

Fig. 5 The Great Gathering of The Seven Mazu

Source: Taichung City Government Civil Affairs Bureau

Fig. 6 Curriculum and local links - Wan Chun Temple Surrounding Photographs

Fig. 7 Regional Revitalization of Taichung’s Cultural City Within A City Web Integration Platform

Fulfilling University Social Responsibilities x Bringing New Life To Revitalization Of The Old Town Area In Taichung

The Old Town area in Taichung City has undergone prosperity and decline, and is now entering the stage of recovery. An industry-academia cooperation agreement was also signed with “Classic Railway International Co. Ltd.”, the company in charge of the BOT (build-operate-transfer) project of the Taichung Railway Cultural Park in (Figure 8), in order to promote the social responsibility of universities and corporations and give the old city a new look. The cultural-based urban revitalization strengthens renewed physical, social, and economic expression.

The Feng Chia University Regional Revitalization of Taichung’s Cultural City Within A City aims to provide students with a deeper understanding of the old town area in Taichung through the use of rich teaching resources, training of basic skills and innovative ideas, and the fulfillment of the university's social responsibility by using their knowledge to contribute to this historical birthplace of Taichung. Not only do we hope to revitalize the energy of the old city, but we also hope that in the future there will be more people who are willing to immerse themselves in Taichung history and culture, in order to achieve the goal of a sustainable cultural legacy.

Fig. 8 Link with local enterprises-visit “Classic Railway International Co. Ltd”