Work done?

Work done? No.

But our website is up and running and our final report has been returned to the professors and we are eagerly awaiting their comments. As soon as we get some feedback we will (if need be) do some changes and then publish it on our website (and here).

So what's left then? Well, just everything. It is NOW that it all begings, it is now that the changes should start to happen. Our work was only meant to be a seed that we planted and we hope that with your help it will grow big and strong.

Now is the time to be active.

Presentation held

So the presentation is done and now "only" remains to finalize the report by monday. We are on good way with it, just need to add a few things to make it as good as possible and we will upload that.

In the meantime feel free to check out our flashsite: http://www.wix.com/taipeiriverurbanism/flash

Presentation Day

Today is the day of our presentation. Are we nervous?... no, but still finalizing our final speech. The sun is shining outside and the temperature is almost 19 C degrees and it should be illegal for people here to spend their day indoors!

Our group is having the last presentation of five and the expectations will be high since we actually went to our target destination. We are planning to give the audience the "one piece of presentation" they are asking for! Go gO GO

Sneak Peek

Here's a little sneak peek of what to come. Bringing nature through the wall and into the city. More to come on monday when we have our presentation.

Not gone, just busy busy busy

Don't worry. We ARE still here. We are just very busy with our project right now and the upcoming presentation we will do on Monday. No matter how much we have done it seems that with every page we put into the report we find it necessary to write two more.

But all in all that is a good thing since it means we will get the best possible results. Hopefully. As of now we are doing the layout of the final report, producing some pictures/drawings for the report and presentation and coding the webpage.

Lots to do, so few hours in the day.

Divide and Conquer

Today we sat down with the group and discussed our project. We made headway and divided up some tasks among the groupmembers seeing as we are all quite busy and making time to meet as a whole is quite difficult. Our plan now is to be finished a week ahead of schedule just to have the last week for doing final touches.

On a side note we had discovered two competitions which we are looking into entering just to spread the word even more (since that is one of our goals). The competitions are the "2011 AECOM Student competition: Urban SOS: Water" LINK and "Global Design Village: Disaster reduction: Saving lives through design" LINK.

Meeting with Ulla and Matleena

Yesterday we had a meeting with Matleena and Ulla and they were really interested in our trip and work and were asking a lot of questions. We told them about all the hard work and all the fun stuff too. We even showed them the presentation we had made for our last day over there. Well we just showed it in brief, after all, it was 50-60 slides. They seemed quite pleased with our work so far even though we still have quite far to go.

After the meeting we went out and had a group lunch (and later coffee) so that we could discuss our project a little bit more now that we had gotten some input from Ulla and Matleena. Some progress were made and we are quite confident the project will be finished before the deadline, well not realized (our time-span for that is about 20 years), but finished as in "one part of it is done".

Home at last

Our flight home took a little bit longer than expected due to the fact that our plane got a little bit delayed and we weren't able to make our connecting flight. After our 33 hour-journey home we are all tired but the mood was still good due to the great experiences we had gotten from this wonderful trip.

Our work however is not done yet, we still have a lot of work to do.

Presentation done

Now the presentation is done.

Our plan now is to do some shopping and packing and then have a party and sauna with our new found friends at the ruin academy. we are looking forward to the party and hope that as many as possible are able to join us.

But now we have to get busy to be able to do everything we have to do before the party.

Eight Day

So the time is about 03:00 and we are still working hard. It is a good thing noone expected a vacation when coming here and that is probably the only reason that we have been able to get the resaults we have. All day today was spent working on our presentation for tomorrow which we have high hopes for.

Personally I have so much more to say but I feel that it is paramount to get some sleep now so that we don't look too tired while presenting tomorrow.

Good night and wish us well tomorrow.

Sixth and Seventh Day of the Workshop

Yesterday we went and had a talk with the people at the Taipei Urban Development Office. They had prepared a nice presentation for us and were kind enough to answer some of our questions eventhough we went over our scheduled time. We got to see what they were planning and already doing which gave us something to think about.
After that we went back to the Studio with some great coffee from the Urbancore Cafe and worked hard until late.

Today we took a hired bus up to the mountains to see the Feitsui Reservoir which was really intresting and gave us another view on the river. Up there the river was blue and clear compared to the gray muddy water that's going trough the city. The nature around there was really healthy and beautiful.

On our way back we stopped at a small local restaurant and had a nice meal before going to a aboriginal settlement and locked at both the river there and the construction of the village itself. Our guide told us a lot about the place and we got to see yet another side of the complex problem that we are supposed to try and solve.

The last place we visited before returning home to work was the Dihua Sewage Treatment Plant and got to walk around and see the facilities. It was a very modern plant that showed good cleaning resaults and it was also designed so that since it was underground there was a park constructed on top of it. The only problem we could see there was that only 63% of Taipei was connected to it.

Fourth and Fifth day of the Workshop

First off, sorry for not updating the blog yesterday. We were working hard during the day and in the evening we went and talked with the student of the Tamkang University which led to us returning around midnight.

Today however we started the day off with going to the City Hall and talking with the Hydraulic Departement. They showed us some specifics on the riversystem and then they started talking about their plans that are in effect. We learned quite a lot during the session we had with them. Afterwards we had a look at the Discovery Center of Taipei before part of the group took the long way up Taipei 101 to get a bird’s eye view of the city before returning to the Ruin Academy to work some more.

Later in the evening we kept a short presentation for the Tamkang and NTU students about our work and how it is connected to their work, after which we discussed with them about the technical solutions on some of their plans before returning home.

Third day in Taipei

Today was sunday and it was again filled with lots to do. We started the day off at 9 am and were a bit tired from yesterday because we stayed up quite less discussing what we had seen during the day.

Today we went and met up with Mrs. Chen who was the matriarcal leader at Tresure Hill and talked to her about the river and its pollution. She gave us a great view in how things have been and how the have changed. She even invited us to join her and some other people for a big dinner outside.

After having eaten a great meal we went to the International Fauna Expo and there we took a boattrip on the river where we could see among other things a dead fish floating. Due to the long bus-lines at the expo we decided it was faster to walk to the docks instead of waiting for the bus and as an added bonus we got to see part of the expo.

After the expo we went to the night-market to have something to eat before returning to our studio to do some planning.The planning went well and we felt we did som headway. But again we have been too excited about the project and stayed up a little too late. So now it is off to bed.

First post from Taipei

After a long fligth to Taipei via Amsterdam which took about 23hrs (and a timezone difference of + 6hrs) we finally arrived at our destination. Jetlag and getting settled took the best of us the day of arrival but we managed to get a few things done still. Today we started of with getting breakfast at 7-11 which consisted of a triangular riceball and something to drink. After that we took the MRT (metro) to our meeting.


We met with some fishermen who took us on their boats on a trip around the river. We got to see alot of the city from a different viewpoint and it was quite the experience. In the middle of the boattrip we stoppad at a local tempelsquare and tried some of the local cuisine. We had some noodles, pigsblood-soup, fried fish and had some jelly dessert. We saw some frogs and turtles but no one dared to try that.


After our lunch we got to go on the river some more before we arrived at the start of a walkway on one of the sides of the river. We walked for a long time before we took a ferry over to the other side of the river and walked along that. We noticed that it was lowtide and we walked out onto the riverbed and could see with our own eyes the shape it is in.


Later we had a fantastic dinner curtesy of JUT Foundation before going to the Tamkang University and meeting up with the other students involved in this program. Right now it is half past two and we should go to sleep so that we are well rested tomorrow.

Last Minute

Just about 6hrs until we are meeting at Helsinki Airport and travel-fever is rising. The last things are being taken care of and some items still remain unpacked. Let's hope we do not forget anything important and that everything runs smoothly all the way to Taipei.

Next update will be done from half-way around the world. Wish us Godspeed.

Travel Fever Rising

Well the departure draws closer and closer. Now it is just tomorrow left to do everything that has to be done before we can leave. Still no sponsorship for the flight-tickets but we will not let that dampen our spirits.

Last Meeting

Today we had our last meeting before the trip. We discussed our plans and how we are going to do our work while in Taipei. We also concluded that we will have a lot of time at the airport and in the plane that we could use to our advantage. Everyone is excited about getting on the plane in a few days, however, there is some concern about the situation in Japan (the powerplant in Fukushima) but not enough to make us cancel our flights just yet.

Idea Swap

Today, in about one hour, we will have an idea swap. Since past week has been exam week several of our members have been preoccupied with studying for exams and we have not been able to meet. That is why we decided to work separately during this week and then get together today and discuss our results. Perhaps we will see some ideas today that would not have come to light if we were to have worked as a group this week.

Getting innovative!

The trip is getting closer and we are REALLY exited. We have also made new promising moves for the funding. Now we are focusing only for the planning. We are turning our creative senses to the max to get wild ideas! Then we will mix them in some serious brain storming to get even wilder ideas.

Our Accomodations

Just wanted to show you where we will be staying when in Taipei.
http://webecoist.com/2011/03/02/urban-ruins-abandoned-building-houses-architecture-academy/

Some Bad News

Some bad news for the group. The scholarship we were looking forward to fell through. We are however still hopeful that we will recieve some financial help for the planetickets.

Group Lunch Pt. II

On Monday we had a group lunch and discussed a bit about the trip and what to do there. We also made some decisions regarding where to go from here. These decisions regarded the end result and what each of us should do before the trip and what part we are to play in the process creating our visionary plan.

Of course we had some crazy ideas as well but at this point we felt that it is a good thing not to limit ourselves. A few times the discussion got derailed but that usually led to some useful idea coming to light in the end.

Our casual meeting gave good results and we are to work independently with certain tasks until we meet again to discuss our progress.

The other group's Workshops

Last week we took part in the other group's workshops and quite enjoyed the experience. When listening to the comments of the teachers at the end of each group’s workshop we too learned of things to keep in mind when doing our own workshop in Taipei.

Inspiration from Travels

In attempt to find solutions to Taipei River Urbanism, we will look into existing river urbanisms all around the world to find out how other cities are coping with varying water issues. As a starting point I began thinking of the places I have recently visited: Amsterdam (NL) and Berlin (GER).

Both cities have different problems regarding water. Somewhat ¼ of the Netherlands is below sea level, but still they have succesfully managed to build metropolis such as Amsterdam on soaking land. The Dutch know-how of construction methods and controlling the ocean and danger of flooding astonishes me. I heard that water pumps are active 24 hours a day to keep the ocean away and drain the land.

In Berlin, the problems with the river are more or less political. The public are fighting in opposition against Mediaspree, a large German property investor and one of the largest urban renewal projects in Germany. Mediaspree is a developement project that would demolish most of the old industrial riverside (ex-GDR heritage) of Eastern Berlin to make space for new corporate offices, hotels and high-profile housing. According to critics, the project would inevitably cause an increase in costs for long-term residents, a cultural change and loss of cultural diversity.

I think there is a great lesson to be learned from both case studies. Despite their problems, both Amsterdam and Berlin value their water nature and use it for a wide range of recreational activities. One of the most interesting uses was that of the river Spree in Berlin. ”Arena Badeschiff” is a floating swimming pool created from a recycled river cargo container that floats on the river. It is covered with tarpaulin during winter and used all around the year as a public bath. Similar interesting recreational activities could be introduced to the people of Taipei in our visionary plan.

by Emmi

Table Three

At table three the different roles within each group was awarded a corresponding ammount of chips. Each group had the same ammount, however the different roles had different ammounts. In front of the participants was drawn 8 arrows, each with a word (Nature, Health etc) and they were to place their chips on the values they thought were important. And more chips = more important.
The different groups acted differently. One group was very coherent and talked to each other and pretty much agreed on everything. One group was quite quiet and placed their chips before saying why and one group was a mixture between the two, where some of the roles talked to each other and some didn't. We did get some valuable input from this but the real test is to do it with actual people rather than people who has to try and act according to a role. All in all it was a good exercise and we got some good input during the critique afterwards.

Table Two

"How should the city be built?" - a question asked to each group at the beginning of this second activity.The participants were using blocks and composing the town around the river by giving their different arguments of the choices they made.
On the three groups, one had been working as a team where everybody was in accordance with each-other. For the others, there was some discussions between business-man/politician and old-granny/fisherman.
Globally, the city was built around the river with business buildings in the center and fishermen's area near the sea along the river. The other participants were locating their houses near commercial centers and hobbies. All the groups took in consideration the "green parks" in the city center.

Table One

This are the conclusions of the person facilitating the first table.

The different groups behaved differently, but all of them where very active. People were mostly agreeing on what should be built and where. The politician in each group took a role as a facilitator engaging others and listening to their opinions. Some people where anyhow confused with the situation and had a little input. This is not what we are going to expect in the real situation since people from different classes will have different background and understanding of the situation, and above all they will have a personal stake in it. It will be interesting to compare the test workshop to the real one.

Workshop done!

So, we held our workshop last monday and got great results. We noticed some small details that could be changed but overall everyone involved seemed to enjoy it. The mentors and teachers gave great response and seemed to be pleased with our work.
The workshop started off with a small introduction of Taipei, our groups goals and the task at hand. After that they each took part of small tasks at three different tables after which we had some time for comments and discussion.
We gave the participants roles which they were to play and choose their actions according to (we aim to use this workshop, as a whole or in part, in Taipei and then we will have "real people" to ask so the roles will perhaps not be necessary then).
More on what happened at each table to come soon.

Finalizing the Workshop

Today we did some final planning of the workshop we are about to do on monday. Originally we were supposed to do it one week later but the schedule got changed. It was a good thing we had planned a lot already so that we could actually get it done by this monday.
This will be a dress rehersal for our work in Taipei. We have already learnt to think on our feet and how to deal with changed timetable.

Finding the Funding

The quest to find funding for the project and especially the trip to Taipei is well on the way. Some applications have been sent and we are positive about getting some funding! Still some applications to send and then calling around to companies and so forth...

Meeting with Ulla

Today we had a meeting with Ulla who helped us with comments on our project proposal and plan for the workshop we are going to do four our fellow students. However we do intend to use the same workshop, in part or as a whole and perhaps somewhat modified, while in Taipei to gather information from the locals. This do of course depend on the outcome of our workshop, we might learn that some method use is not ideal or that there is a flaw that needs to be addressed. Or it might be that everything runs smoothly and we get great results and therefore choose to use it as is in Taipei.
Ulla pointed out a few things and gave good advice on what else we need to think about and take into consideration. All in all, she thought that it had no serious flaws or foreseeable problems and gave us the "go ahead".

Group Lunch

Today we had a lunch-meeting with the group and planned the details concerning the workshop we are about to host for our fellow coursemates. Not to go into any details, as we want it to be a surprise, but we managed to get the rough layout of what's going to happen. This allowed us to think of materiels and time needed. Now all that is needed is to get our idea approved and to make this rough outline into a detailed plan of action.

Let the blogging begin

Okay, so the blog-site is basically done, absent a few tweaks here and there. Therefore, the blogging will commence now. The blog itself will mostly be about our work, so for background information about us, our university and our project, we have added links at the top of the page. We hope that you all will enjoy following our progress in our blog.

First Post

Hello and welcome to our blog. Unfortunately it is still under the process of being created.