Tamsui Port completes the outline of the Greater Taipei Ocean City

Text/Agnes Chen  Pictures/MotionElements、Shutterstock

Aerial shot of Tamsui River in Taipei City. Image source: Shutterstock

Taipei City is surrounded by mountains. Although it is not far from the sea, it is difficult to feel that it is a maritime city.


Taipei City, which is developing eastward, is finally closely connected with the deep-sea port in the northeast.

    
Taipei City develops all the way east, from Wanhua, Ximending, Railway Station, Zhongxiao East Road, Xinyi Business District, Internal Medicine, Nangang Exhibition Hall… Taipei City is a rare capital city in the world that is surrounded by other cities (New Taipei City and Keelung City). Recently, the Keelung MRT and New Taipei Minsheng Xizhi Line have finally been approved for auction, which will extend eastward through Xizhi and finally reach Keelung’s medium-volume MRT network. I believe it will bring TOD development of the storage corridor behind the eastern section of Xizhi, and I also believe that the transportation network will eventually be integrated more closely and efficiently in the future.

Looking back at the origin of Wanhua, Menga, urban regeneration planning is in progress intermittently along the banks of Dadaocheng Wharf, where the Keelung River merges into the Tamsui River, and to the mouth of the Tamsui River.
     

Tamsui River to the north

The pier outside Dadaocheng Shuimen is the largest new green space for nearby residents. During the traditional Chinese Valentine’s Day, the fireworks on the river are brilliant and it is a favorite pilgrimage place for Taipei people.

(Extended reading | Taiwan Walker: Fireworks at Dadaocheng Pier in summer )

The confluence of Keelung River and Tamsui River
    

Looking south from the Marriott Hotel at the height is Highway 1 running northeast to southwest. To the northwest, there is the rebuilt Shilin Night Market, which attracts many tourists with its unique food for the common people. The Taipei Performing Arts Center, which will open in mid-2022, also has an ingenious design, allowing people who don’t buy tickets to watch the theater to see the light and shadow going on in the theater from the outside, and at the same time, they can go inside and visit this and neighboring theaters through a dedicated tour loop. The “preserved egg tofu” architecture echoes the night market’s spicy hotpot. Across the Shuangxi and Keelung Rivers, which intersect the Taipei Children’s New Paradise, the National Taiwan Science Education Center, and the Taipei Municipal Astronomy Science Education Center in the south, we come to the area where the Keelung River merges into the Tamsui River.             

Put digital transformation, smart infrastructure, and sustainable governance into urban regeneration design

Beitou Shilin Science and Technology Park was launched in 2019 and is preparing to become the last piece of land for a science and technology park in Taipei City. It is also the base for the latest evolved version of the science and technology park in Taipei. In addition to no longer building a high embankment, but elevating the entire base to prepare for flood control in low-lying areas, the park’s underground road engineering plan integrates the entire area’s pipelines into common pipelines, and reserves in advance the required power, telecommunications, tap water and other life-support pipelines and There will be space for pipelines such as traffic signals and street lights, and pipeline branches will be set up at each street corner so that future developers will not need to re-excavate.

The park is designed to combine the human resources of nearby hospitals and medical schools and use this 25-hectare industrial area as the industrial development goal of “smart health x digital technology x emerging technology”. This is the first time in Taipei that “low energy consumption CEMS smart buildings”, “smart green transportation MaaS”, and “smart infrastructure” (such as distributed energy storage, virtual grid, common poles and common boxes urban Internet of Things…) The latest smart and resilient city elements are designed in the dedicated technology industry zone, making it an experimental field for the latest technology, and making rolling revisions as a reference for more progress in other areas in the future.

(Extended reading | Chu Zhang Wang: The latest development progress of Beitou Shilin Science Park ; Beitou Smart Industrial Park | Development planning and governance )

Ecological Shezi Island

Night view of Shezi Island. Image source: MotionElements

After the 50-year ban on construction was lifted, the current situation on Shezi Island proves that banning construction without management and development is not the best solution to protecting the environment. Actively incorporating the concept of sustainable low-carbon into urban planning can protect land, environment, human rights, and assets in the long term. Of course, it is inevitable that once the direction is established, consensus on implementation still needs to be integrated, focused, and discussed on a rolling basis. The problem of Shezi Island, or the siltation of Tamsui River Estuary…Many floods are caused by the management of rivers and soil and water conservation projects in the entire area. They must be integrated into a more holistic change to create a better home concept. Looking forward to the regeneration of Ecological Shezi Island in 2025.

(Extended reading|Railway Office: Shezi Island Development Project ) 

      
Livable settlements created by green parks along both sides of the Tamsui River
     

From Zhuwei Station, Mangrove Station, all the way to Tamsui Station, through the protection of coastal landscape, the residential community developed from the MRT station has gradually become a beautiful riverside city. The only pity is that the old factories and buildings overlap here. Sporadic major violations seem to have long been an obstacle to the renewal of this area.

When you cross Guandu out of Taipei City, you will see new buildings on both sides of the red Guandu Bridge, along the waterfront on both sides and on the mountainside of Guanyin Mountain and Datun Mountain. The few river boats and small yachts in the river are very beautiful. Many diplomats, pilots, foreign expatriates, and returnees who have lived abroad for a long time prefer to live in the Tamsui area – blue sky, white clouds, green mountains and clear waters, as well as Tamsui sunset, one of the eight most beautiful scenery in Taiwan. When you come to the river mouth, in addition to the pedestrian areas on both sides of Fisherman’s Wharf, which are very leisurely and pedestrian-friendly, the ongoing Tamjiang Bridge project will also become an important landmark in Greater Taipei. It is the world’s longest single tower designed by the late Zaha Hadid architect. The asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge connects the east and west banks of Tamsui River Estuary with beautiful lines, accompanied by the sunset in Tamsui.

As early as the Age of Discovery in the 16th century, Tamsui became an international port as a port. It has experienced nine different regimes: the West, the Netherlands, the Ming and Zheng dynasties, the Qing Dynasty, Japan, Britain, Australia, the United States and the Republic of China. Hongmao City still stands, and there is a bronze sculpture on the river bank commemorating the arrival of Missionaries Mackay. The Mackay Hospital system has also become an important medical system in Taiwan, benefiting and influencing society.

To the east of Tamsui River mouth is what is commonly known as the North Coast. Follow the coastline to Sanzhi, Shimen, Wanli and then to Keelung. When it opens to traffic, Taipei Port, which is eight miles to the west, still has more room for development in the future. The landscape is too busy and may be further corrected in the future. Finally, take Coastal Highway 61 from Taipei Port and you will arrive at Taoyuan Zhuwei Fishing Port, and then transfer to Taoyuan International Airport and the nearby free trade port zone.

So Beibeijitao is a city of 9 million people with one core and two wings. We look forward to the future, with the improvement of the concept of sustainability, Greater Taipei will be transformed into a sustainable ocean city with mountains and water. …[For more exciting articles, please read the 2023 Spring Issue of WalkingBlock ]

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