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Redefining Taipei’s
Urban Renewal
:
Adaptive Reuse and Behaviorology
Insights from Japan’s 'Make Do with Now'
Movement
Abstract
This paper attempts to address the issue of Taipei’s urban renewal condition. These insufficient and straightforward strategies, which focus on reconstruction after demolition, cause the loss of Taipei’s characteristics. To fulfill Taipei’s predicament, expand the territory of adaptive reuse and compensate for its shortcomings. Furthermore, look at the relationships between buildings and others by analysing Behaviorology from Atelier Bow-Wow to keep the existing urban fabric. Studying projects from the Japanese' Make Do with Now movement with the perspective of Behaviorology, using the behaviour framework, reveals how these adaptive reuse projects work. Based on Taipei's current circumstances and regulations, filter sites with reuse potential and look at their roles in the city context.
This study aims to discover the perspective of examining the urban renewal condition with the adaptive reuse strategy, including considering other aspects besides spatiality. The premise is to reconnect the relationships between humans and the environment with buildings while undergoing a gentler urban renewal process.
1. Introduction
Taipei is now experiencing an urban renewal process. Compared with other significant capitals worldwide, due to the varied changes in governing power, old Taipei did not have long-term and stable urban planning development. These governments usually wiped off Taipei’s existing city appearance to make profits and demonstrate improved development. Of course, Taipei is growing effectively, but people can doubtlessly notice gaps between plans and strategies; the profit-oriented regulations are ruining the city’s fabric and memories. However, a city’s prosperity should focus on people’s living experiences rather than building fancy, giant volumes. Researchers often objectively review a city—usually data and numbers—to examine its progress, but many aspects are difficult to quantify. Because architecture and urban design are not a profession that deals with spatial problems only but are closely related to our daily lives.1
A massive earthquake hit Taiwan in 1999, and many buildings and structures were deeply affected. Furthermore, according to the Taipei municipality’s report, by 2024, over 70% of houses are older than 30, and the average housing age is 38.47.2 Taipei’s urban renewal is urgent. Under normal circumstances, based on the regulations and codes, owners wait for their houses to be demolished and rebuilt on the same site. Motivated by government policy incentives, developers propose reconstruction plans to the residents to build larger apartments for profit. However, during the city renewal process, demolishing and tearing down also cut down the connection of existing urban fabric. At the same time, such behaviour is unwise from the perspective of materiality, economic efficiency, and environmental protection. In a city, environments, buildings, and humans are intricately connected; they wove a tight network together with relationships, memories, and a sense of belonging.3
It is a great chance to explore the potential of adaptive reuse, which fits in Taipei’s scenario and elevates the value of existing contexts. However, how to examine the conditions of buildings and the environmental consequences became an issue. When designers deal with a city planning scale level, how do they ensure these methods maintain the urban fabric and the intertwining relationships? How do architects regard these “aged” buildings with the premise of exploring the hidden relationships? Thus, it is worth investigating the bonding between humans and space to determine what attitude and methods people should use to respond to these outwardly strong and inwardly weak buildings. Exploring what factors could be the criteria that keep relationships still but achieve the goal of urban renewal would be the primary goal of this paper.
2. Aim of study & Research delimitation
This paper will explain how to regard adaptive reuse and why it answers Taipei’s urban renewal problem. Furthermore, Atelier Bow-Wow’s Behaviorology4 can help us comprehensively examine this concept on a larger scale and then use it as the lens to analyse successful adaptive reuse examples from Japan’s “Make Do with Now” movement.5 Afterwards, I will review Taipei’s current execution methods and explore Taipei’s streetscape to see the potential of the hidden buildings. Look at humans and space through this new lens, re-observe the relationships in the alleys and neighbourhoods, and find elements or places worth preserving or transforming. Finally, Taipei can retain its existing characteristics while undergoing urban renewal.
Behaviorology is using a new perspective to regard the position of architecture to people. This concept emphasises that architecture is not just spatial work but also about the outcome of a series of relationships. Architecture is a behaviour system outcome that interacts with everything around it.6 Through Behaviorology, we can reveal why buildings in an area are constructed a certain way. To see residents’ hidden motivations for changing the building’s appearance or function. Thus, understanding the theory makes it possible to point out what makes Taipei’s streetscape unique. Moreover, by identifying these features, retain and amplify these characteristics to serve as the anchor points in the adaptive reuse condition and help prevent the city from losing important qualities while undergoing an urban renewal process.
By studying the “Make Do with Now” cases, it is essential to understand the driving factors of these projects and the societal challenges the Japanese face. The motivation for learning from Japan stems from the similarities in our urban development, characterised by high population density, rapid urbanisation, and limited land use. Taiwan’s social structure also faces demographic ageing and a ground-level birth rate. Moreover, environmentally, we all suffer from earthquakes and typhoons these kinds of natural disasters. In this movement, some architects focused on reusing materials, some emphasised the connection between neighbourhoods, and some considered overall architectural development. In short, our cities have remarkably comparable conditions, and the approaches these architects and practices take to address these issues are well worth studying.
Research Question:
How can viewing Japanese adaptive reuse projects from the Make Do with Now movement through the lens of Behaviorology help develop a considerate urban renewal strategy for Taipei’s existing context?
3. Method, empirics, and theory
The Potential of Adaptive Reuse
We have believed that until we can begin to understand how buildings affect individuals and communities emotionally, how they provided people with a sense of joy, identity, and place, there is no way to distinguish architecture from any everyday act of construction.7
To consider urban development, the argument that Charles Moore indicates that architecture has a prominent place in making the collective memory of people and the environment can help establish the premise. Architecture plays a role in the city, influencing the people within and establishing a connection with everyone who experiences it. Therefore, when construction companies erase buildings from the city, these invisible relationships are severed, and the connection between architecture and others is broken.8
Unlike traditional methods that focus on preserving historical monuments in their original form, the emergence of the adaptive reuse concept offers a new perspective. It allows for the renovation of architecture while introducing supplemental new ideas, extending these buildings’ life cycles. This approach preserves the memories of the past while also embracing a vision for the future. However, as society continues to evolve, many urban and environmental issues are rising to the surface. The method of adaptive reuse can effectively respond to these emerging societal problems. Many countries have become aware of reuse and have improved their laws and regulations, with some notable successful projects.9 At the same time, this concept is gradually shifting towards focusing on discussions around materials and physical aspects of buildings rather than broader
considerations.
Does the ‘ form’ equal the façade and the ‘ function’ equal the interior? Is the old equal to the building exterior with the possibility of an ever-changing new building interior? Where does the identity and the memory of a building lie? Is it only in its exterior form and style or is it in its lived interiors?10
Adaptive reuse can easily fall into a shallow and basic discussion based on materiality if architects only consider form, style, and function or try to insert new programs into existing spaces. The discussion might lead to assumptions about what can be demolished and what can continue to be used, which undoubtedly limits the possibilities of adaptive reuse. However, if people regard adaptive reuse as an opportunity, a means of connecting the past with the future, it becomes a framework for redefining relationships, which expands the scope of reuse.11
When approaching the identity and memory of a building from an adaptive reuse perspective, it should encompass not only the building itself but also humans, along with considerations of the surrounding environment’s influence. It is not just about the design of the building; rather, it should be seen as a transformative process.12 Through adaptive reuse, past relationships, memories, and elements can also be reorganized, offering additional value—a kind of elevation of the past. Thus, this makes us wonder how to examine this concept, which almost suits all aspects and every level of consideration of the city. What kind of perspective should be put on to include this thinking of humans, buildings, and environments? Behaviorology from Atelier Bow-Wow gives us clever inspiration.
Behaviorology
In Behaviorology, the most crucial concept from Kaijima and Tsukamoto is to expand the field from discussing human behaviours to architecture. Architecture is a systematic outcome influenced by natural elements, urban context, and still human beings; buildings are constructed and formed through these interactions. They suggest that vernacular architecture from different regions could glimpse the concept of Behaviorology. In this sense, architecture transcends itself; it is evidence of intertwined behaviours and even generational differences.13 They think “each building can be viewed as a sentient creature.”14 While examining architecture through the lens of “creature,” there might be a clearer understanding of how buildings respond to these systems. The aggregation of these relationships gradually shaped our cities. Understanding behavioural studies from architecture and recognizing the influence of various factors is an opportunity to use architecture to investigate the underlying motivations behind these interactions. By developing the Behaviorology below, people will be able to understand how it fits seamlessly into various scales in the city and how it enhances the approach of adaptive reuse.
- Architecture is more than itself.
How does architecture transcend itself? Kaijima and Tsukamoto discussed behaviours of architecture through the interplay of human beings, natural elements, and buildings within larger contexts will give us the evidence.15 Architecture is more than Itself. The construction of buildings requires context—environmental, cultural, social, and even political. Take the natural environment as an example; the same elements in different regions and climates developed into diverse types of buildings to respond, and based on these factors, building varies in form, size, and material. So, the building was shaped and grew into different appearances to behave in different contexts. Furthermore, if people regard these outcomes as a dating system to track hidden behaviour, it can examine even more background knowledge, like period and policy.
When those embodied rhythms emit a certain suitable frequency—and correspond to suitable material or location—they can begin to form the shape of buildings and of urban space.16
-Architecture is more than itself.
The discussion can also switch to a different direction. The same house can take on different forms depending on the lifestyle of its inhabitants. On a small scale, how a house is lived undoubtedly reflects its users’ attitudes, personalities, and habits. A building has the potential to be designed, changed, and transformed by people, and it could influence people, too. Also, on a larger scale, when people experience these buildings in the city, using, seeing, and passing by, they leave a remarkable impact on people’s senses and memories.17
By exanimating relationships in these contexts, we could witness these behaviours that had happened by different subjects. Expanding the territory of behaviour is visible in living creatures and demonstrates how these still beings take essential parts of the urban system and react to the context. In addition, the bonding between humans and space proves that these behaviours and those impacts genuinely exist.
- Architecture as a creature
Each building can be viewed as a sentient creature, endowed with its own unique intelligence and a defining set of living characteristics.18
Phenomenology19 from Merleau-Ponty can help us anthropomorphise buildings and understand their characteristics. This theory helps expand the discussion of creatures from Behaviorology as a framework to know how these vast entities experience the world and how they affect humans and the environment. We can draw an analogy to the solid and void of space, structure, and program by deconstructing architecture into body and perception. How humans inhabit such spaces evokes quite different sensations on two levels.
The first aspect is physical differences, such as form, surfaces, structure, texture, and material. The structure is the body of architecture; this limits the program’s options, just like humans have different body shapes that allow or restrict us from engaging in various activities. The influence of a building’s Body Schema20 is its interaction with the surroundings, and as such, the relationship between people and the environment changes accordingly. For example, when a canopy is installed on a wall, people can use it for shelter from the rain, animals rest in its shade, and moss slowly grows alongside the canopy. The relationship between these objects and the building begins to shift. Similarly, people experience buildings differently depending on their size and environmental factors like wind direction and temperature change due to the density of buildings.
Second, different programs in the same building typologies can be viewed as the soul of the creature. Humans can only experience one flesh; with the additional attachments on the body, we can slightly have different feelings for being. The perception is dissimilar from person to person in experiencing the world, just like the program difference will also affect how these spaces are used. The program (how people use the space) will shape the building. Architectures have more possibilities and flexibility than humans; when inserted with new programs, they have a more comprehensive tolerance range, which is why adaptive reuse has potential. However, when these creatures undergo a transforming process, they require mindful care.
Adding
When people carry loads on their shoulders, they must position the weight appropriately; otherwise, people will feel pain and hurt afterwards. Take buildings, for example; if a swimming pool is suddenly added to the roof, the house may start to leak, and the structure may be damaged.
Removing
When the human body gets amputated, this might lead to an unexpected condition, the chance of phantom limb syndrome. The human brain continues to “feel” the missing part, even if it no longer physically exists. When vastly changing the building’s structure for a new purpose, the new program with different spatial qualities and conditions might rejected by the existing space. The cut-away parts might leave previous atmospheres to the original structure.
Through the comparison, we can think of architecture as an active participant in its surroundings, which involves interacting with humans and environmental factors, which makes architectural behaviours recognisable. Between life and architecture, these creatures, whether moving or still, must be thoughtfully considered in terms of transforming, adding, and removing elements. Before adaptive reuse revaluing, these still lives should be estimated based on lifestyle habits, allergies, and behaviours so that the body and perception will adapt after transformation.
- Groups of architectures
If certain building behaviors are repeated, they may even begin to occupy sizable amounts of territory.21
In certain areas, after every behavioural interaction entangled together, such as humans, buildings, and the environment, these buildings form one of the vital context factors and blend into the environment. By understanding the hidden reasons for environmental patterns, the forming process of these “creatures” reveals how these various external influences affect them through time. According to this, dividing the systematic process into several categories based on similar patterns can help define strategies for adaptive reuse. Furthermore, specifically, humans play a crucial role and are one of the dynamic components within the complicated system of relationships. Architecture shapes itself while reflecting the collective systems from its surroundings. In an ecosystem, if one organism (building) is replaced (reconstruction), the ecosystem requires time to restore balance. However, a large-scale extinction (urban renewal) may alter systems entirely. The environment (city) and organisms (humans) are affected, and maladaptation can lead to imbalance, resulting in the loss of urban fabric and shared memories. Architecture and cities take time to form through appropriate materials and placement interaction gradually.22 Typically, vernacular architecture follows shared characteristics and “behaviours” with the premise of materiality, form, and typology. Vernacular architecture is evidence that buildings naturally grow as part of their surroundings to respond to the context.23 These buildings demonstrate society’s different climates, cultures, resources, and contexts through diverse architectural elements. It could start with a tiny scale of elemental aspect; for example, Taipei has many steel frames outside the windows because, at some point, there was a high crime rate in the city. The processes of forming the building pattern can categorised into three layers:
- Emphasise the context, dealing with surroundings' relationships.
- Starting from the physical aspect, solve the construction problems.
- Based on humans' eagerness for quality of life and living experiences.
These processes can start from the environment (outside in), humans (inside out) or the building itself. Therefore, we must recognize various factors influencing architecture when discussing adaptive reuse. In the urban renewal context, we must consider the entire framework, not just a simple replacement of old buildings with new ones. As mentioned earlier, we can view reuse as a process—adjusting and translating the building created in the past into a new way of narrating the existing environmental condition. Implementing different perspectives from the system can result in unique outcomes.
4. Analysis
Make Do with Now
In the Make Do with Now movement, some Japanese architects reflected on the urban context in their works, showing the dynamic societal challenge they have been dealing with. By reviewing these projects through the lens of Behaviorology, we see the essential corresponding design ideas and appropriate strategies to elevate from the existing context in layers of humans, buildings, and environment. The analysis outcomes can be used to guide and unleash Taipei’s potential.
Human ⇔ Building ⇔ Environment
The Lens of Behaviorology
Examining these three layers, human, building, and environment, revealed their relationships in each project and the determination of architecture’s behaviour. It allows us to see the project’s starting anchor point, the primary focus aspect, and the design path to the result. This analysis process views these buildings through the lens of Behaviorology to understand how these architects deal with the context and their crucial concepts. Finally, the creature’s behaviour explains why it works as a better adaptive reuse strategy.
/
Holes in the House24
Fuminori Nousaku and Mio Tsuneyama
From the Behaviorology perspective, this transformative project starts explicitly with the humans, and the building responds to these humans’ behaviour. The beginning is from the inside to the outside. The construction focuses on the human living experiences within the space, then making the spatial parts afterwards. There is no specific construction finish deadline; it is open for renovation, review, and evolution between the people and the space.
Human
This project redefines the users’ role in the space; they are the residents, the constructors, and the designers simultaneously.25 Human behaviours are the foundation of transformational ideas. With a new member in the family, such as a newborn child, everything has to be carefully considered; they use the net to cover up the holes in the building and set up the cotton canvas board for safety issues. As a result, the space coordinates with the people based on people’s needs and desires.
Building
This building grows with the owner, and the materials and methods were chosen by different construction periods. It seems rough at first, with the itchy concrete surface of the ceiling and hanging wires around the house.
However, as time passed, wood, aluminium, and paper were used to build the house. A massive hole was cut in the middle of the house, and a giant steel staircase was inserted to connect the cramped space instead.
Environment
The primary strategy, a hole in the middle, holes around the building’s corner, opens the space for light, air ventilation, and for the neighbourhood community. Thus, the interior space was bright and fresh, welcoming the people to engage with the forming process and stir the surrounding relationships.
Creature / Behaviour
Opening the holes also opens the possibility of this creature. In this context, it is a slowly recognizing process for each, with the firm skeleton and the flesh gradually filling up the in-between space. The behaviours and gestures became clear, re-brushing the relationships. Through this creature’s soul, the body continually thrives and grows sturdily; the characteristics develop distinctly.
/
Mokuchin Recipes26
CHAr
By collecting various repair methods and categorising them with different ingredients, this database helps people find a suitable way to extend the life of their houses. Based on similar typologies of the wood houses in Japan, these old houses face comparable problems. Easy access through the internet to know the buildings' potential.27
Human
In this project, humans are the examiners who meet the building’s needs and investigate what part of the building requires improvement. The factors for chosen options can be the cost of the construction methods, the size of the buildings, and experiences from other property owners who have used them. This architectural firm provides the vision of living scenarios, defining conditions and helps people peek at the inside desire.
Building
The buildings often ruin from a small part, and it spreads the whole body gradually, causing severe problems. Instead of being torn down the whole, these buildings need some adjustments to recover from the poor conditions. Prototyping the problems, shortening the analysis time, and applying for houses combined. These buildings’ problems were set in various categories and hashtags, starting from the elements’ angles by fixing, repairing, renovating each part and modifying the whole.
Environment
The community was back to prospering by fixing the problems in different buildings. Sharing the same structure and construction typology leads to similar conditions and elevates the sense of belonging in the neighbourhood. These houses’ repairs make collective efforts, which helps improve the environment. Also, based on the recipes, these ingredients encourage the owner to open the space to welcome communication with the site, buildings, and people. This method can make sure the community has good spatial quality.
Creature / Behaviour
Through similar conditions and corresponding characteristics, it is a process of knowing self-existence from others’ perspectives to understand how to behave well and become a better living creature. This predictable process involves examining and correcting similarities and differences—an abounding and comprehensive response after observing the behaviour of individual creatures in a group.
/
Kagiya Building, Santen Building28
403architecture
Several projects were under reconstruction in these two sites to reuse these buildings. These projects used gentle strategies to renovate the space and shared mutual materials within, giving these materials and space second life periods.29 Also, placing multiple programs in the space brings people to the building and revitalises the city.30 It is a sequence that changes the space first, then bridges people together.
Human
In these projects, people redefine the space through different programs, such as art galleries, clothes shops, hair salons and workshops. These proposals penetrate the building, bringing a vibrant atmosphere to the space. Review the new possibility of these spaces, settling by young shop owners and attracting people to visit the building by looking at the conditions of each space.
Building
The existing context of the building became the foundation of design. Materials have been exchanged during the construction process. These materials were rearranged, created distinct functions based on the original size and conditions, and shifted to a different use; for example, some waste wood boards from the loft were used for a new function, a resting space for a salon. Finding a suitable way to respond to this space takes more time and needs more design considerations. The construction process was concise; most projects only took one to two months, but the design phases varied from one to ten months. Therefore, applying and repeating practical methods lowers the required skill and makes the space repairable.
Environment
With the limitation and inspiration from each space’s condition, these buildings can maintain the relationship of the neighbourhood but undergo different reconstruction processes; these partial pieces are transformed, thereby improving the entire building. Similar methods were applied to other buildings by partially reconstructing them to benefit the whole, therefore changing the surroundings and the city. Through these spots, with the successful reuse, change, benefit and connect the city.
Creature / Behaviour
Examine the existing conditions in each room of the buildings, use these materials, and apply them to different methods. These well-functional buildings make an impact and take root in the city. Houses in this behaviour are like living creatures; the body checks the conditions of each organ, finds suitable immune cells, and heals the corresponding part. Cell memory could be applied to similar situations. These healthy creatures can then grow together and form groups. This perspective is a way to combine the behaviour between humans and buildings.
/
CASACO31
Tomito Architecture, Miho Tominaga and Takahito Ito / Gomito architecture
This project aims to adapt two vacant buildings into international student housing—the design phase starts with an analysis of the neighbourhood’s activities. The community bonded together during reconstruction, with people donating materials and putting efforts to finish the house.32 This hospitality space is the community centre, where people gather for food, exhibitions, and unique events. Among all the behaviours, this project shows a simple but clever way to link these different relationships together from the spatial and human perspectives.
Human
Neighbour’s contributions play a crucial part in this project. Initially, architects focused on the neighbourhood’s daily routines, documenting every detail according to where people live and visit, how the relationships are connected, and what influence they have. The architects find the reason and reaction for the overlap area by looking at neighbours’ patterns. With people’s help, they collected waste materials and built the space together. Thus, humans are the foundation of the reconstruction. After finishing this international student housing, with various events, people exchange diverse cultures.
Building
Removing most of the drywall on the ground floor and keeping two staircases in the middle of the house creates a massive space for multi-function activities. Many spaces were spread around the centre, giving people the sense of being in separate spaces but under one roof. Plenty of the reconstruction materials were collected in town from various locations and eventually adapted to the space. One of the house corners was removed, welcoming people into the space through the transparent glass.
Environment
This building is the collective outcome of the neighbourhood and the housing environment. Look after the relationships and welcome people to participate in the space. People regard this building as a dream-fulfilling space, holding different workshops, lectures and whatever they want to do with the community. As the previously drawn event map, the further details were shown, presenting this town with a greater sense of togetherness.
Creature / Behaviour
This building is open to engaging with all the possibilities, from materials to people and community participation. It is like a person interacting with others, environments, and the world to know what she is during the process. When time passes, it also helps others understand her personality. By amplifying people’s collective efforts, interactions during the reconstruction seem vivid after the work. Architects created this frame that helped the neighbourhood accept this building.
/
Chiadori Bunka33
dot architects
While most part of the existing structures, after reviewing and stabilising, these houses have the potential to convey the original intentions of inhabiting such space. This project became the city art culture hub, connecting residents to this multi-program space.34 Removing drywall and part of the facade opens the space to the public, making it accessible to people.
Human
Humans’ behaviours were reflected in the space, showing and evolving with the living conditions. Some of the construction traces left by previous residents have become the design foundation. After reconstruction, adaptations from different groups of people started to activate the building through different kinds of programs, events, and meeting chances.
Building
The architect’s investigations and archiving of the existing building condition, not only for sufficient structural strength but also to preserve these historical memories. After making the space transparent and removing unnecessary elements from these houses, an enormous threshold in the centre and across spaces timber helps establish a sense of connection with each building.
Environment
This project echoes the context and demonstrates the importance of maintaining the existing condition. Under the spatial planning structure, multi-programs can adapt the building and influence the community. This building can extend to a second life, becoming a creative centre and maintaining the neighbourhood fabric.
Creature / Behaviour
This behaviour is like plunging into the living experience of a creature through osteopathy, checking where the issues are and how the corresponding ways are improved. Finally, the muscles were relaxed and had the flexibility to move. We can see people’s behaviour patterns by adjusting the building’s structure. Leave some empty spaces for further possibilities.
5. Discussion
Taipei's condition
Currently, two principal regulations govern Taipei's urban renewal process.35 One is the Urban Renewal, which focuses on large-scale land development (≥ 1,000 m2 or ≥ 500 m2 with the municipality's approval), and it offers the highest floor area ratio (FAR) incentives. However, this method comes with a significant challenge- it requires 80% agreement from the original residents on the same site, making it a time-consuming and complex process.36 The disagreement requires significant coordination, making this method the most challenging approach in Taipei's urban renewal.
On the other hand, the Reconstruction of Urban Unsafe and old buildings have no land size limitations, which is more about reconstructing the building.
The process starts with 100% residents’ agreement in the same building, so it is easier to achieve. However, this often results in fragmented land parcels, with new and old buildings intermingling, creating an incoherent cityscape.
With more intricate urban renewal situations, the municipality later designated the Building Maintenance area, aiming to improve building conditions through smaller-scale actions. Buildings in these areas can undergo structural reinforcement, the addition of elevators, and facade repairs. These three measures are intended to address the problems of ageing buildings and unsightly city appearance. However, in the analysis of projects from Make Do with Now, we see the different approaches regarding reuse. Within the lens of Behaviorology, including other relationships enhances these buildings and helps them fit in the context. An adaptive reuse strategy cannot be implemented without considering factors other than building. To affect humans and environments, it has to transcend from building to architecture, with comprehensive thinking about the influential factors. This approach, which considers the human, building, and environmental aspects as a complete context during the reconstruction process, is urgently needed in Taipei’s urban renewal.
Potential sites
When reviewing Taipei’s urban renewal process, there is a significant gap in the current methods for maintaining the existing urban fabric. Besides demolition and partial repair, more appropriate strategies must be used to deal with the renewal problem. This is a crucial issue that needs to be addressed.
By mapping out the building maintenance area, as well as the buildings’ construction year and conditions, it is possible to identify overlaying regions and sites that have the potential to develop better than maintenance plans or demolition. Moreover, based on the analysis results, these sites can be categorised using corresponding methods.
6. Conclusion
Taipei’s urban renewal problems are the starting point of this paper. These problems show that the current building’s reconstruction regulation needs a thorough consideration of the human and environment. The potential of adaptive reuse to prevent the loss of urban fabric from demolition and rebuilding offers a promising prospect for Taipei to retain its unique characteristics.
By expanding adaptive reuse, we can create a truly comprehensive strategy. This approach deals with spatial quality and provides an opportunity to enhance the existing context, including human, environmental, and city memory.
Exploring the theory of Behaviorology is a chance to see how these architectures’ behaviour impacts different scales. Beyond the spatial field, it also involves the discussion of phenomenology and collective influences in the context of humans and environments.
Applying the theories to projects from Make Do with Now proves that these projects consider other factors besides spatiality when reusing the building. To see how these projects achieve coherent relationships between humans, buildings, and the environment. In addition, using the creature’s behaviour, which refers to how these buildings interact with their contexts, reflects these designs’ interventions.
When selecting sites in Taipei for renewal, it is crucial to consider various factors. The current regulations from the Taipei municipality filter old and poorly conditioned buildings with the potential for adaptive reuse, extending the existing city fabric. Learning from Japanese experiences, we see that including the human factor and surrounding elements makes the renewal process more thoughtful and inclusive.
Finally, Behaviorology broadens the discussion of the examination of adaptive reuse. These Japanese projects from Make Do with Now demonstrate the tracks that Taipei could learn and show the possibility of developing its characteristics.
Appendix
Potential departure point for diploma project
The departure point is to develop new strategies for Taipei’s urban renewal condition, with the premise of keeping the characteristics and elevating the existing circumstances. The diploma project will be systematic, focusing on sites from the perspectives of humans, buildings, and environmental relationships, using the lens of Behaviorology and renovating as creatures. With the learning experience from Make Do with Now projects, applied to these potential sites in Taipei.
Reviewing these list sites in Taipei reveals the hidden reasons that form the current condition through uncovering compelling connections within the neighbourhoods. Reflecting these behavioural relationships on architectural materiality, programme, and typologies throughout the design process, we can reuse and combine these sites to retain and expand Taipei’s unique urban fabric characteristics. Furthermore, through new strategies, Taipei could find an urban renewal process instead of demolition and reconstruction.
1 Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Momoyo Kaijima, and Atorie Wan, eds., Behaviorology (New York: Rizzoli, 2010).
2 National Land Management Agency, ‘R.O.C. Ministry of the Interior’ (National Land Management Agency, Ministry of the Interior, Q2 2024), 2011/2/25 until now, http://pip.moi.gov.tw/V3/E/SCRE0401.aspx.
3 Tsukamoto, Kaijima, and Atorie Wan, Behaviorology.
4 Tsukamoto, Kaijima, and Atorie Wan.
5 Yuma Shinohara, Andreas Ruby, and S AM Schweizerisches Architektur museum, eds., Make Do with Now: New Directions in Japanese Architecture (Basel: Christoph Merian Verlag, 2022).
6 Tsukamoto, Kaijima, and Atorie Wan, Behaviorology, 11.
7 Quote from Bloomer and Moore, Body, Memory, and Architecture, ix.
8 Bloomer and Moore, Body, Memory, and Architecture.
9 Francesca Lanz and John Pendlebury, ‘Adaptive Reuse: A Critical Review’, The Journal of Architecture 27, no. 2–3 (3 April 2022): 441–62, https://doi.org/10.1080/13602365.2022.2105381.
10 Quote from Lanz and Pendlebury, 455–56.
11 Lanz and Pendlebury, ‘Adaptive Reuse’.
12 Lanz and Pendlebury.
13 ‘Part 2: Yoshiharu Tsukamoto “Window Behaviorology” | Series’, WINDOW RESEARCH INSTITUTE, accessed 2 October 2024, https://madoken.jp/en/series/4976/.
14 Tsukamoto, Kaijima, and Atorie Wan, Behaviorology, 9.
15 Tsukamoto, Kaijima, and Atorie Wan, Behaviorology.
16 Quote from Tsukamoto, Kaijima, and Atorie Wan, 12.
17 Bloomer and Moore, Body, Memory, and Architecture.
18 Quote from Tsukamoto, Kaijima, and Atorie Wan, Behaviorology, 9.
19 Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Donald A. Landes, Phenomenology of Perception (Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2012).
20 Merleau-Ponty and Landes.
21 Quote from Tsukamoto, Kaijima, and Atorie Wan, Behaviorology, 10.
22 Tsukamoto, Kaijima, and Atorie Wan, Behaviorology.
23 ‘Part 1: Yoshiharu Tsukamoto “Window Behaviorology” | Series’, WINDOW RESEARCH INSTITUTE, accessed 11 September 2024, https://madoken.jp/en/series/4959/.
24 Shinohara, Ruby, and S AM Schweizerisches Architektur museum, Make Do with Now, 65–73.
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26 Shinohara, Ruby, and S AM Schweizerisches Architektur museum, Make Do with Now, 97–104.
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