Its great to see the Taiwan planners coming up with eco friendly, modern designs. There is however one major issue that designers always seem to overlook: maintenance. You know they build these nice buildings, paths, walkways, etc. but it seems like they never take the weather/environment into consideration on how to build and take care things.

I will give you two perfect examples of what I mean. In Peitou the city built a beautiful walkway along the small hot spring stream about 3-4 years ago. If you go there today, most of it is already in dilapidated condition. The wood is rotted out, the lights are all broken and full of bugs, nails and screws are sticking out because the wood is warped, etc. Why do they
allow things to fall apart so quickly? If they just put a good coating of shellac over it to begin with, then put a new coat on every year or two, it would last a long time even with Peitou’s harsh environment. This is so common sense and logical, but it\’s not done.

Another example is the DaDaoCheng wharf area near where I live. The city just finished re-developing the entire area last year. But this year, everything is already broken: wood is rotted out, plastic wood is warped, screws and nails sticking out, concrete cracked, bricks are broken, lights busted, railings rusted out, It\’s a disgrace. These are just two examples, I can list 50 more, but the point in not to be negative, it\’s to point out what should be done to make things last: – use the right materials, inspect the construction job before the final payment is made, incorporate a maintenance plan into the cost structure. Of course by having things fall apart quickly, people can make more money rebuilding all the time. Its no
wonder why many cities in Taiwan are having financial problems.