The Death and Life of Jian-Cheng Circle: A Place in the Local Politics and the Urban Design
Date Issued
2010
Date
2010
Author(s)
Chang, Chin-Wei
Abstract
Jian-Cheng Circle, a building typology of tremendous historical value in Taipei City, Taiwan, was the spatial form shaped by the economic, social and political processes in specific historical stages, its styles of activities rooted in everyday lives of people including food, drink and leisure under escapism of colonization. The common sense of local value emerged when the identification formed through the contexts of congregating, consuming and exchanging. However, the circle night-market which had sustained for more than a century fell away under the governance of modern state; an urban place that was filled with collective memories vanished. This paper was carefully written by reviewing considerable quantities of historical literatures and published reports, using empirical research methodology for demythologizing the death and life of Jian-Cheng Circle. I tried to engage in not only theoretical thinking before immersing myself in the history of Jian-Cheng Circle, but also look after world experience, then, brought up the analytical hypotheses of three main dimensions, including economy, politics and ideology: (1) night-markets are informal spaces in the city, (2) city planning is the spatial intervention of local state, and (3) the result of creative destruction caused by the technological bureaucrat and modernism. After dissecting the dynamic development which fairly structured Taiwanese society by juxtaposing and authenticating the theories and empirical fact mutually, this paper reached the conclusion: Jian-Cheng Circle, a derivative of the informal city in Taiwan under dependent development, was harassed by the state apparatus whose institutions are rigid and torn by the local politics whose advantages are diverse in world cities penetrated by modernist theories and global capitalism. Finally, Jian-Cheng Circle died because of the reformed project of urban design, with the manifesto of “Modern Circle of Life”, roughly implemented by the modernist architects, and can never be redeemed.
Subjects
Jian-Cheng Circle
urban place
state
local politics
urban design
Taipei
SDGs
Type
thesis
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