Boston Unplugged: Mapping a Wireless Future

Reviews a variety of models that would allow Boston to provide free or low-cost high-speed Internet access citywide. Outlines the benefits and mechanics of citywide WiFi, and lists factors to consider in designing, developing, and deploying a system

Universal design and accessibility in Taipei City: Definitions, design, and the Disability Rights Movement

Abstract In Taiwan, the disability rights advocacy movement has existed since the 1980s. The lift of Martial law in 1987 allowed multiple social movements to flourish. Specifically, the disability rights movement adopted language developed by other global social movements, such as Universal Design. This social movement worked closely with the government to make effectual infrastructural change to institute accessibility in Taipei, the capital city. However, a close review of government objectives and initiatives in published works, and the goals and initiatives of disability advocate groups, reveals that there has been a shift in the definition of accessibility in the advocacy rights movement from infrastructural accessibility to social accessibility. This project is an analysis of the media and published works of the Taiwanese government in relation to universal design goals, and the same media from advocacy groups about their own goals and objectives for disability rights, outlining the definition gap and finding the true definition of social accessibility. The advocacy rights movement has shifted its view of accessibility to a fully liveable society in which disabled persons may thrive and have fully realized social rights, whereas the government of Taipei City still views accessibility as a right to accessible built infrastructure

River Cities in Asia

River Cities in Asia uncovers the intimate relationship between rivers and cities in Asia from a multi-disciplinary perspective in the humanities and the social sciences. As rivers have shaped human settlement patterns, economies, culture and rituals, so too have humans impacted the flow and health of rivers. In Asia, the sheer scale of urbanization increases the urgency of addressing challenges facing urban rivers, leading to the importance of historically, socially, and culturally relevant solutions. However, cities are also uneven landscapes of power, affecting chances to achieve holistic ecological approaches. The central premise of River Cities in Asia is that a “river city” is one where proximity between a river and a city exists across time and space, natural and social dimensions. Recognition of these deep connections can help to better contextualize policy solutions aimed at rivers and their ecologies, including human life

Rebuild, Retreat, or Resilience: Can Taipei Plan for Resilience?

Taiwan is ranked as the country most exposed to multiple hazards (The World Bank 2005). Taipei City is the capital city as well as the economic and political center of Taiwan. The United Nations report World Urbanization Prospects: The 2011 Revision places Taipei City third on the list of the worldâ??s top 10 urban areas exposed to three or more natural hazards, with the highest risk of cyclones, floods, and landslides. In order to gauge the vulnerabilities and damages of Taiwan and Taipei City, this research creates a natural disaster density indicator (NDDI) to conduct a comparative study of Taiwan, Japan, China, U.S.A., U.K., France, and the Netherlands over the past three decades. The results indicate that Taiwan has both the highest disaster occurrence and highest death toll among these seven countries. The Taipei case study, a chronology of policies implemented to prevent flooding, explains that costly engineering structures, rebuilding, and fortification against floods eventually created a false sense of security, which has encouraged more intensive residential and commercial developments in flood-prone areas, and led to a higher level of vulnerability. This research further simulates and evaluates the vulnerabilities of population, land value, properties, GDP, and critical facilities in three scenarios: heavy rainfall, typhoon conditions, and extreme weather rainfall, through the technology of Geographic Information System (GIS) by using ArcMap 10.2.2 software. The results indicate 40% of Taipei City is located in flood risk areas in an extreme weather scenario. This percentage is higher than other global cities such as Londonâ??s 15%, Tokyoâ??s 10%, and New York Cityâ??s 25%. Based on the 10% of total flooding areas above 0.5 meter, the vulnerable population is estimated at 200,000 people, or 7% of the total population. The GDP impact will be more than $28 billion. More than$67 billion of land value is vulnerable. A least one million subway passengers will be impacted each day. There is little evidence that the urban poor are particularly vulnerable to floods. On the contrary, some neighborhoods with high income households face a higher risk of floods. Very few medical centers, oil and gas stations, and electrical power substations are located in flood-prone areas, but, a large number of public schools, administrative buildings, and major subway stations are susceptible. Additionally, the likelihood analysis of flooding in an extreme weather rainfall scenario concludes that the possibility will be five times that of the existing assumption with a flood in every 200 years. Thus, Taipei Cityâ??s infrequent once-in-two-century floods are likely to occur more frequently. Further, the 1% of Taipei metropolitan region flooding above 1 meter will possibly cost up to $ 1.5 billion in damages. Therefore, in the future, rather than strengthening and rebuilding costly structures, Taipei should focus on land-use and environmental planning for resilience. Urban policies should include environmentally responsible development in the face of continued population and economic growth, and being resilient regarding natural disasters. Most important is the need of a strong political commitment and leadership to initiate and implement urban policies toward resilience. In doing so, resilience can be achieved in Taipei

The Construction of City Images in Micro Films: A Case Study of Taipei City Government

In recent years, with the rapid development of the media, an increasing number of corporations and even government agencies are using the new format known as the micro film as a means of advertising and marketing. In this study, we took the micro films produced by the Taipei City Government as objects of analysis to investigate the image of the city as constructed in and produced by these films. Furthermore, in this study, the symbol of image in three such micro films was studied: Love@Taipei, My Micro Tour of Taipei, and Happily Ever After. It was found that in these films, the characteristics of the city of Taipei have been presented accurately and successfully by means of the [appropriate selection of] celebrity performers, the romance narratives used, and the lively presentation of these films. Therefore, these films have foregrounded an image of Taipei that is free, friendly, diverse, and progressive; furthermore, they have successfully conveyed the idea that “Taipei is a city that is positive and capable of outstanding achievementsâ€. These films, designed to attract audiences, have been made with great skill and portray little elements of the government-run campaigns they are actually part of, thus making them even more entertaining for viewers

Proposals for low-income housing in the Taipei urban area

Thesis. 1977. M.Arch.A.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.Bibliography : p. 58.by Cheng-Ping Wu.M.Arch.A.S

Urban Air Rights as Market Devices: Exploring Financialization in Taipei Metropolitan Area

This thesis is the first geographical study which critically explores the role of urban air rights - the right to build upwards on and above a land tract – in processes of urban financialization. The thesis highlights the economic lives of air rights in the Taipei Metropolitan Area, Taiwan, showing how they are not only a market-based urban policy and planning tool but are also closely involved in economic processes of making markets, assets, and profits. Three types of urban air rights - Bonus Floor Area (BFA), Transferable Development Rights (TDR) and Incremental Floor Area (IFA) – that are prevalent in urban Taipei are explored in detail. The thesis examines the relations between the proliferation of air rights production and urban financialization through an experimental methodology of ‘following urban air rights’ through the socio-technical operations of their assembly and circulation. It argues that air rights are ‘market devices’ and, as such, they are constitutive of the contingent processes of commodification, marketization and capitalization that amount to urban financialization. Through case studies, the thesis shows how airspaces are commodified and, significantly, how they also become an asset class that is marketized and traded and/or capitalized upon and borrowed against (i.e. leveraged). Moreover, by exploring these processes, the thesis shows how air rights ‘overflow’ into popular urban politics: air rights become a site of struggle over rights to the financialized city. More broadly, the thesis contributes to theoretical debates on urban financialization by examining how the urban-finance nexus is teeming with socio-technical practices. By focusing on air rights as market devices, the thesis provides an analytical grammar for studying how urban air rights constitute urban financialization. It also demonstrates how a methodology of ‘following the air rights’ enables exploration of the multifaceted qualities and multiple markets that air rights configure

River Cities in Asia

River Cities in Asia uncovers the intimate relationship between rivers and cities in Asia from a multi-disciplinary perspective in the humanities and the social sciences. As rivers have shaped human settlement patterns, economies, culture and rituals, so too have humans impacted the flow and health of rivers. In Asia, the sheer scale of urbanization increases the urgency of addressing challenges facing urban rivers, leading to the importance of historically, socially, and culturally relevant solutions. However, cities are also uneven landscapes of power, affecting chances to achieve holistic ecological approaches. The central premise of River Cities in Asia is that a “river city” is one where proximity between a river and a city exists across time and space, natural and social dimensions. Recognition of these deep connections can help to better contextualize policy solutions aimed at rivers and their ecologies, including human life

Taipei's Use of a Multi-Channel Mass Risk Communication Program to Rapidly Reverse an Epidemic of Highly Communicable Disease

BACKGROUND: In September 2007, an outbreak of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC) occurred in Keelung City and spread to Taipei City. In response to the epidemic, a new crisis management program was implemented and tested in Taipei. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Having noticed that transmission surged on weekends during the Keelung epidemic, Taipei City launched a multi-channel mass risk communications program that included short message service (SMS) messages sent directly to approximately 2.2 million Taipei residents on Friday, October 12th, 2007. The public was told to keep symptomatic students from schools and was provided guidelines for preventing the spread of the disease at home. Epidemiological characteristics of Taipei's outbreak were analyzed from 461 sampled AHC cases. Median time from exposure to onset of the disease was 1 day. This was significantly shorter for cases occurring in family clusters than in class clusters (mean+/-SD: 2.6+/-3.2 vs. 4.39+/-4.82 days, p = 0.03), as well as for cases occurring in larger family clusters as opposed to smaller ones (1.2+/-1.7 days vs. 3.9+/-4.0 days, p<0.01). Taipei's program had a significant impact on patient compliance. Home confinement of symptomatic children increased from 10% to 60% (p<0.05) and helped curb the spread of AHC. Taipei experienced a rapid decrease in AHC cases between the Friday of the SMS announcement and the following Monday, October 15, (0.70% vs. 0.36%). By October 26, AHC cases reduced to 0.01%. The success of this risk communication program in Taipei (as compared to Keelung) is further reflected through rapid improvements in three epidemic indicators: (1) significantly lower crude attack rates (1.95% vs. 14.92%, p<0.001), (2) a short epidemic period of AHC (13 vs. 34 days), and (3) a quick drop in risk level (1 approximately 2 weeks) in Taipei districts that border Keelung (the original domestic epicenter). CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: The timely launch of this systematic, communication-based intervention proved effective at preventing a dangerous spike in AHC and was able to bring this high-risk disease under control. We recommend that public health officials incorporate similar methods into existing guidelines for preventing pandemic influenza and other emerging infectious diseases

Designing the superblock : a model for Taipei redevelopment

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1996.As many other cities in developing countries, the City of Taipei is currently confronting enormous redevelopment pressures. These pressures endanger the survival of the city's physical and social fabric. But they also offer the opportunity for the city to improve its environment. The thesis argues that these redevelopment pressures can instead be well absorbed through the strategic adoption of selective examples of traditional Taiwanese urban form. Development interventions can then be enhanced through the incorporation of successful precedents from both the local context and from abroad. Thus, the thesis presents a flexible redevelopment proposal by re-designing a typical urban super block in the City of Taipei; it illustrates the importance of historical precedents, as these may fit one or more particular situations in a Taipei super block. Both the process itself and the outcome of these prototypical design strategies should be applicable to other similar Taipei super blocks. The goal of this design of the redevelopment process is to create a super block of livability, flexibility, and feasibility. Livability is realized through the rediscovery of traditional Taiwanese urban design strategies and their adaptation to the contemporary city of Taipei. Flexibility is accomplished by offering the possibility for various redevelopment scenarios, thus evolving a complex, finegrain urban fabric. Feasibility is demonstrated by proposing a series of public actions, such as direct government interventions, redevelopment regulations and guidelines, transfer of development rights, and various incentives and disincentives that lie within the power of government today in Taipei. The thesis starts out by inspecting different aspects of the contemporary physical context of the city. Traditional urban design strategies and new urban development trends are then juxtaposed to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of both. The main body of the thesis describes the redevelopment project, which consists of a series of design strategies. A number of diagrams, ranging in scale from city-wide analyses to larger-scale studies of the super block explore various layers and aspects of urban information. These different readings serve as the foundation upon which the redesign proposals are based. Precedents from Manhattan, New York; Savannah, Georgia; and Beacon Hill and Back Bay in Boston are studied and compared to reveal the distinctive characteristics of each. Inspired by, and based on the above research, four different super block redevelopment scenarios and three housing prototypes and block consolidation approaches are put to the test as design exercises. Meanwhile, calculations of projected population, density, and demands substantiate the design proposal. On the basis of the previous steps and some general observations on the city itself, the thesis argues that making streets special "places", is a powerful organizing principle for urban design. Good paths, especially streets, do not only carry the function of traffic circulation, but also foster social interactions, commercial activities, and surprises that enrich the urban experiences. In addition, various configurations and sizes of blocks will help creating a complex, fine-grain urban environment, and will positively affect land values. Hence the redevelopment of the super block becomes primarily a street-design and blockreconfiguration project. The design of three major streets within the super block demonstrates how the public and private realms can work together and reform the physical shape of the urban environment without aggressive maneuvers, such as massive destruction, massive rebuilding, and large-scale redevelopment with highdensity tower buildings.by Li Pei Wang.M.S