Urban regeneration has been a hot topic for major cities around the globe, including London, New York, Sydney, and now, Taipei. The Grand Green was officially revealed to the public in August and is Taipei’s first urban regeneration station (URS). The project is also given a unique identification number: URS 27.
The URS concept is driven by the Taipei City Urban Redevelopment Office. It’s an on-going, large scale urban renewal project that plans to renovate old and abandoned buildings into more functional and aesthetic pleasing spaces. Rather than completely knocking over old buildings, the project wishes to preserve some of the historical artifacts and building details.
The Grand Green was originally an abandoned train station of gray debris and an old standalone building covered in graffiti.
Now, it’s an open space park with a stretch of lush green grass and an unobstructed view of Taipei 101. It even offers Wi-Fi through Wifly. The deteriorated building has been revamped by the artist Wu Keng Chen. It’s been transformed to a white building plastered with red cut out butterflies.
The lawn is surrounded by Jen Ta Hsien’s artwork that features shapes and outlines made with welded metal wires. Jen’s artwork stood out the most out of the 331 artists who entered the Taipei Arts Awards in 2006.
There are more urban renewal projects like the Grand Green currently being worked on in Taipei and around other cities in Taiwan too. It would be quite interesting to see how the others turn out. From abandoned spaces, to a usable and creative environment.
The Grand Green
Address: Corner of Civic Blv. and Linshen St.
MRT: A 3-5 minute walk from Shandao Temple Station, Exit No. 1.
Public Buses: 202, 212, 253, 262, 299, 307, 604, 605
Canadian expat Carrie Kellenberger has kept a home base with her husband in Asia since 2003. A prolific traveler, Carrie has funded her travels primarily as a writer, editor, travel blogger and photographer, but she has also worked as an educator, voice over artist, model and nightclub singer. She draws upon her 15+ years of travel experience to write about travel-related issues and the countries she has visited on her award-winning web site, My Several Worlds.
Her photography and travel articles have appeared in both print and online publications around the world, including Travel and Leisure Asia, Unearthing Asia and Hip Compass Escapes.
