Builds New Taipei City a waterfront city through the experience shared by others
Domestic and international experts assembled together to share successful experience about riverside transformation. New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu attended “2013 Golden Twin Cities – New Taipei City and Taipei City Riverside Planning International Conference” on 12/13/2013, and indicated that the most beautiful scene of a city was its riverside, and due to God’s blessing, New Taipei City had Tamsui river system flowing within the city, so he would actively make more efforts to build New Taipei City to be a real waterfront city.
“Tamsui river system was the most important river system in Taiwan, including Tamsui River, Xindian River, Dahan River and Keelung River. However, due to the redistricting of the municipal zones, Tamsui River became the borderline between New Taipei City and Taipei City, and also became New Taipei City’s frontier which used to be full of illegal construction, garbage and pollution. With the long-term efforts, illegal construction was dismantled one by one in New Taipei City, and garbage did not exist any more as well as water became clear in the city,” Mayor Chu represented.
Chu also said that river remediation meant not only making river clean but also making river close to people because riverside could become wonderful leisure space, and riverside surroundings could be developed to residential areas or commercial districts. A government should consider about the issue on how to integrate waterfront environment building into urban planning. He hoped that through this conference, he could interact and share information with riverside transformation experts from global metropolises, so he could make the project of Greater Taipei Golden Twin Cities Riverside City progress more smoothly.
Urban and Rural Development Department indicated that New Taipei City was continuously committed to researching on waterfront urban design after its upgrade. Starting from 2011, the city entrusted Sinotech Engineering Consultants, LTD. to handle Golden Twin Cities urban planning project, and to develop urban planning principles on important regions of the both sides of Tamsui River basin and the river itself, so New Taipei City waterfront urban environment could be enhanced, and ultimately the city could became one of the international waterfront cities.
The department also said that the international conference ran from 12/12/2013 to 12/14/2013, and international well-known experts, scholars and related government agencies were all invited to share information and successful experience on riverside transformation. They also interacted with domestic experts, and it was hoped that through this conference the waterfront urban design of New Taipei City could be elevated, and in the nearly future the city could became an outstanding international waterfront metropolis.
