Refabricating Taichung’s Productive Landscape

Taiwan’s contemporary productive landscape is undergoing rapid urbanisation, leading to a decline in agricultural land and unemployment in farming. Taichung City, like most of the country’s metropolitan regions, is witness to massive urban development and various government proposals that reconfigure farmlands into programmes that yield higher economic profits.

This design research thesis focuses on the coastal region of Taichung City, located in the western part of the Dadu Plateau that divides Taichung into mountainous and coastal regions. Historically, international trade brought prosperity to the region, particularly during Japanese colonialism when industrialisation was introduced for agricultural production (primarily rice and sugar). Fertile alluvial soil and a systematic irrigation framework resulted in a great degree of efficiency. At the same time, diverse commercial activities were naturally attracted to the coast and prospered in the vicinity of a natural harbour. However, over time, various development and infrastructure projects were launched to achieve ever-higher profits. The landscape was brutally exploited and massive land reclamation changed natural ecologies: water and flora/fauna ecologies were fundamentally sacrificed.

Robust industrial areas arose near the coast and small factories began to occupy cultivated plots, filling fields with concrete. Ultimately, a fragmented land occupation is evident in the region’s rigid grid system. The dispersed patterns reveal a mix of urban activities, resource extraction and agriculture (Fig 1). The systematic irrigation structure between the coast and the plateau began to lose its primary purpose under such invasions. The increase in rainfall, as a consequence of climate change, further increased the flood vulnerability of the region. Chaotic circumstances from climate, pollution, fragmentation, urbanisation, etc. pose threats to the liveability of the inhabitants as well as the environment. At the same time, the territory continues to suffer from massive deforestation due to real estate development on the plateau and the expansion of industrial zones near the coastline. The little farmland that remains is often abandoned, since the younger segment of the population is increasingly interested in non-farm work, while the ageing population cannot cope with the required physical work. Water and air pollution from continual environmental disruptions pose threats to food and water security as well as the overall health of inhabitants. Finally, the growing severity of climate change intensifies flooding in the coastal plain.

The thesis develops a vision that accentuates the ecology of the region, which is being rapidly transformed

The thesis develops a vision that accentuates the ecology of the region, which is being rapidly transformed. The design works across a number of scales, from territorial to urban design, seeking opportunities for the re-establishment of natural ecologies in the coastal region. Strategies were developed to mitigate industrial pollution and adapt to predict consequences of the climate crisis. At the scale of the territory, forest figures are strengthened as are coastal wetlands. Abandoned open spaces were recognised as strategic opportunities for new rural-urban relationships and to create a flexible mosaic system in the agriculture fields. Robust forest and wetland systems were proposed and new typologies were developed to respond to new ecologies (Fig. 2).

The project sought to weave ecology into the rigid, grid geometry of the irrigation system through a process of landscape transformation and with new interplays between nature and socio-economic activities. Through the reconfiguration of the existing geometry, ecology could be accentuated to work simultaneously with urban demands and the climate crisis. The approach is one of initiating natural processes and succession thus gradually reconquering the landscape to form a flexible mosaic that is attuned to a future that necessitates more space for water. Flooding thus became an evident generator of new spatial relationships and ecological qualities rather than a threat. It was developed over time, in order to respond to the growing challenges.

By 2050, a mosaic pattern would be woven into the field following the grid system for flood mitigation in the most vulnerable areas. In 2080, transformation of the mosaic pattern will proceed in the cultivation fields and industrial sites, which would otherwise be threatened by severe flooding. Finally, by 2100, further evoluti on in the mosaic would result in a new productive landscape where the grid geometry would lose its rigidity by renaturalisation of the flood plain (Fig. 3). The dynamic mosaic pattern will, in turn, correspond with flooding severity through time, where native vegetation adapts to wetland ecosystems. New urban morphologies and typologies are developed to create a flood resilient way of living, working, moving and producing within the territory (Fig. 4).

All photos: Jui-Yi Hung