Taipei’s Forgotten ‘Virgin Land’ – Will Development Bulldoze Tradition? | CONNECTED Money Talks

More people than ever are living in Taiwan’s cities. But as older buildings and infrastructure show their age, the question of how to modernize Taiwan’s urban spaces without bulldozing communities and their time-honored traditions is hotly contested. At the epicenter of this debate – Shezidao, a river peninsula known as Taipei’s “last virgin land”. Urban development expert Liao Kuei-Hsien explains why Shezidao is such an outlier and how government and private developers can force land out of the hands of communities they’re meant to be helping. A special feature also goes in-depth on the communities of Shezidao, exploring whether their century-old rituals can survive as developers close in. Host: Divya Gopalan Featuring: Liao Kuei-Hsien (professor at National Taipei University and expert in flood-risk management and sustainable development) 00:00 Why Taiwan is rethinking its cities 01:07 Urban renewal or urban redevelopment? 04:24 Why housing keeps getting less affordable 09:52 Why Shezidao became so controversial 13:21 Can redevelopment preserve communities? 15:12 Inside Shezidao's Earth God procession 17:37 The planning dilemma behind Shezidao 20:57 Two competing visions for the peninsula 22:14 The land expropriation debate explained 23:42 What residents fear losing most #Shezidao #TaipeiDevelopment #TaipeiCity Find us on socials: Instagram:   / connected.taiwanplus   Threads: https://www.threads.com/@connected.ta... Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/connectedtwp... More news stories from TaiwanPlus News: Facebook:   / taiwanplusnews   YouTube:    / @taiwanplusnews   Twitter/X:   / taiwanplusnews   Website: https://www.taiwanplus.com