Interfacing Kaohsiung city : a new strategy in-between the urban conditions in Taiwan

Abstract As we know, in the past, variety of enormous strategies, and mega-scale urban regeneration had been applied to our cities in order to change and improve the quality of urban spaces, to figure out and solve the issues from the cities. It was true that those mega-scale urban reform might change, and revitalize the appearance of a city visually and significantly, however unfortunately, such bird’s-eye-view planning attitude constantly ignored people’s real life, and omit every actual, tiny, fragmental spaces everywhere which directly impact and link to every citizen’s daily life. That is, such bird’s-eye-view planning attitude focused on physical urban spaces mainly. In nowadays, more and more mega-scale cities emerge, the urban realms sprawl widely, over half of the population on earth live in urban areas, urban spaces become much more complex, cities can not be controlled like the past any more. Therefore, we need a new attitude toward this new era, we need a new strategy to improve the quality of the urban spaces where we live in every single day, we need new treatments on the urban spaces which already differ from those in the past, What is the new, possible view that could be? Instead of concentration on physical urban spaces only, a new attitude for a designer to realize the complexity of cities today, to understand the multidimensional urban lives, to reveal the actual, specific urban spaces, is to create a working-in-between design process and a research framework which interface all the existing urban conditions above. Therefore, what is and how to build the working-in-between design process and the research framework? Avoiding practicing any conventional bird’s-eye-view planning methods, In this thesis, a framework composed with 3 strategies is applied: 1. Research A : Urban life in Kaohsiung city (urban-scale research) Goal: Understanding of the general life style in Kaohsiung city and how the life connecting to physical spaces. Method: 1st 5 typical urban life and urban open spaces are indicated and mapped 2nd Cross-mapping 5 categories above to reveal the “Central park” are as a main plot to work on. 3rd Issues indication - disconnection of urban activities 4th Respond presentation - linkage of disconnection 2. Research B : District spatial condition (intermediate-scale research) Goal: Understanding of the actual urban spatial composition. Method: 1st 5 urban spaces and 4 urban fabrics are revealed. 2nd Crossing-comparison the conditions above to concentrate on 2 specific urban spaces (Urban alleys and voids) 3rd Issues indication – needs of parking in urban alleys and low usage efficiency on urban voids. 4th Respond presentation - new usage proposal for the urban voids and parking issue respond 3. Research C: Detail spatial condition (detailed-scale research) Goal: Understanding of the detailed spaces in the neighborhood. Method: 1st 8 specific spatial conditions are listed 2nd Crossing-comparison the conditions above to concentrate on 1 specific condition (building gaps) 3rd Issues indication – disregard of the fragmental spaces 4th Respond presentation - fragmental spaces integration In conclusion, this working-in-between attitude and the interfacial-framework method composed with 3 strategies above could become a principal tool to help a designer to research the urban issues deeply, reach the comprehensive realization of a city widely, avoid the rough disregard of the urban environmental conditions which come from the simple bird’s-eye-view planning attitude, moreover, approach a possible respond that integrate multi-layers of urban conditions appropriately.