Taipei - Order within Chaos

Just like any other typical Asian city, Taipei is chaotic to American’s standard. Traffic doesn’t really follow the rules, especially the millions of scooters that roam around the city streets like cockroaches or mice, squeezing through the tiniest gaps between cars zipping through the turbulence of traffic flow. The city itself seems to have no planning at all. It is somewhat like Boston where the streets were established without future in mind. The architecture is simply non-coherent. There is no logic or style that one can pick up. It’s whatever that works. Sheet metal, tiles, bare concrete. No one was really worried about living in a good looking house. There was definitely no dream garage. No lawn and definitely no backyard. It was crowded and narrow high rises that have no outdoor space whatsoever. It was more like a prison, a cell that people sleep at night. The cityscape has little characteristic to speak of. Yes there’s the famous Taipei 101, but it was more like the “odd one out”.







Having an observation deck on the Taipei 101 is pretty useless because Taipei is always hazy. Being surrounded by mountains, the polluted air from the bad traffic never gets dispersed. It just accumulates like living in a vacuum cleaner dust bag. In the summer, the pollutants that float in the air traps the heat and moisture, making Taipei’s summer unbearable. It is like being baked in a dirty sauna, absolutely disgusting. In the winter, the clouds seems to like this place a lot, so there’s hardly any sun. It is also like Seattle where it rains all the time. So between the lack of sunlight, cold and rain, there’s hardly anything attractive about Taipei’s winter.







So what is it that lures people to this city? This is after all the capitol of Taiwan, the biggest and most vibrant city on this island. This is where everything happens, and where everything will happen. I remember my dad telling us of his young days. It was a time where the city was booming and every young soul living in the country side wants to try it out in the city. It was the NYC of Taiwan, and the Taipei Train Station was the beginning and the end for many destiny seekers. This is where dream started for many, and the incredible boom of Taiwanese economy.

No matter what it is that attracted people to dwell in this city, chaos has long been a part of the daily order. The erratic scooter riders stream into order in tiny streets when traffic becomes tight, allowing both sides to pass through. The endless shops on the streets seem to find a balance between businesses so that there isn’t too many competitions between similar business within the same block. There seem to be a solution to the lack of breathing space within the prison-like high rises, with the tiny caged balconies turned into little hovering gardens. There is always an act of counter balance to every bit of chaos or constrain, just enough to keep people sane so that they have something more to look forward to. The better future, with blue sky and endless pasture, living in houses with exotic cultural architecture elements. Or so the housing developers are trying to paint, with projects themed and named after foreign cities and exotic places that have absolute no resemblance with those cities that the projects are named after. After all the advertisements and buzz, it'’ all the same old thing. Tiny high rise apartments with no breathing spaces, and balconies just big enough for a few pots of plants like as if it was designed to be so. Taipei is like a pot of honey and its people the ants that are trapped in it. Taipei’s order is in its chaos. It is a struggle of contradictions, which ironically, makes it a beautiful city.









A city is nothing but the people who live in it. Taipei’s real problem isn’t about a lack of unique culture. In fact, Taipei is just as unique as any other major city in the world. What Taipei lacks is the recognization of self-identity of its people. Highest density in 7-11 convenient stores, night markets and specialty goods retail zones are all lifestyles that define Taipei, but its people are always using foreign examples as a gauge to judge themselves. Why can’t Taipei itself be the standard that others use to compare themselves with? The only symbolistic element of Taipei that has been embraced by its people is the Taipei 101, now the world’s second tallest building. But what’s the juice here? There is no heritage in Taipei 101 that represents Taipei. What has happened to the story of hundreds and thousands of countryman seeking a dream, with the Taipei train station as the main portal to their success? What happened to all the history of hardwork and resilience from those who built Taipei’s economy that put Taiwan on the world map? This IS the dream land, not New York, not Paris, not Tokyo, not Dubai. Now, it’s a land of lost dreams.

Taipei was an entity that was made up of the rest of the country. Now, it’s disconnected from the rest of the country. Taipei can no longer use a “Taipei’s perspective” to read Taiwan, but retrace its origin which lies within the tiny alleys of the country side, where everything springs from seeds.

Taipei's backyard.















More Photos HERE