In 1981, so as to save Taipei's declining West End, the Taipei City Government decided to make its three shopping streets into a pedestrian precinct, in the hope that this would again attract the tide of people and keep the prosperity of Hsimenting.

According to the hopes for pedestrian precincts held by other countries at that time, the preservation of areas of historic culture or busy commercial districts would give people a greater appreciation of cultural scenery and happier shopping. Most of the precincts thus planned facilities such as green areas, flower terraces, squares and the occasional holding of cultural activities.

But the most important principle for the making of pedestrian precincts was the complete expulsion of motor vehicles within stipulated periods so as to create a real "pedestrian paradise."

Pedestrian paradise: In fact, the appearance of pedestrian precincts is closely linked to the development of human communications.

Walking is a basic human ability and right. However, since the appearance of the automobile, cars have become the only consideration in the planning of roads which, despite their social costs, have shrunk the distances between the places they connect. Roads are no longer there to supply space for the use of pedestrians, whose rights have been gradually pared away so they now have to hurriedly move through a fragmented urban land of arcades and underpasses.

Take Taipei as an example: Heavy traffic flows along the main roads and spreads out into narrow lanes which are full of parked cars and motorcycles; real plans to give pedestrians more space are limited with expanded tiny sidewalks becoming spaces for illegal parking and crudely designed underpasses turning into dark, no-go areas.

Roads are not only spaces for communication: It seems to have already become wishful thinking for people to want to walk in comfort in Taipei. The distance between the Taipei Post Office and Taipei Railway Station on Chunghsiao West Road is only a short 200 meters, yet pedestrians have to cross two bridges and go through an underpass. This is a confusion of means and ends when the expending of energy should be done by the cars which cause it and not by people giving way to cars.

"Roads making people feel uncomfortable and insecure is where the conflict between cars and people arises from," adds Lin Chien-yuan, associate professor of building and planning at National Taiwan University.

Communications seek efficiency, but the experiences people have of being active in the city do not just end with the aim of "getting to a place quickly." "People all have different experiences of why and where to go," says Professor Yu Tsao-ching of Chungyuan University's department of architecture. For a long time roads have gradually come to be seen as being the same as just space for communication; in fact, roads should be an important open municipal space in which people can understand the city and enjoy its activities.

This is where the idea of pedestrian precincts begins.

Retrieving respect from under the wheels of the car: At the end of the 1950s, Europe, the source of "car civilization," had already begun to realize that "only people are the masters of the city," and to establish pedestrian precincts to counter the authority of the automobile. By the 1970s, most large cities already had some specially designated zones into which cars were not allowed to enter.

In the United States today many city roads have been redesigned for pedestrians, with sidewalks widened, small alleys and spaces converted into parks and recreation grounds, and developers encouraged to provide facilities such as squares, cloisters and fountains to give people a feeling of happiness.

In 1990, with Taipei seeming to have already sunk under a tide of cars, the Hsimen pedestrian precinct was established. There was finally one place where cars were told: "I want to walk the streets in comfort, do not disturb me."

It was not long before the city government planning department had planned a "recreation-alley" and "park-alley" in Yungkang Street. The most enthusiastic mover of the plan, student of urban planning Hu Pao-lin, explains that if people think about it a bit they will be surprised to realize that after the culture of the car changed our use of the land, people certainly lost not only their walking space.

Recreation alley and park alley: The building of roads often brings intense changes in community and neighborhood relations. Originally children could play in the road and adults would gossip there and play chess; but when the road is widened and cars come in, a barrier goes up that restricts daily contacts between people.

No matter whether it is in Eastern or Western culture, people all have a large common living space in their lives. The four-walled courtyards and hutong alleys of northern China, and the lanes of the south are all such cases, with mutual security, help and neighborliness all springing from these places.

Today it would seem that it is only the alleys of Taipei City which can revive community culture. The original ambition of scholars of urban planning and the Taipei City Council's urban planning department was for communities of 10,000 people in Taipei City to find a number of alleys to greenify and have times when parking would be restricted so as to let people renew their street life, get out of the house, and ease the pressure of space and conflict.

The domination of cars is still not over: Yet ideals return from whence they came. So how are the "roads for the use of pedestrians" faring today?

The largest is the Hsimen pedestrian precinct with its flourishing commercial activity. Today the area occupied by businesses has increased from three to four tenths, already achieving the aim of commercial revival.

Yet the domination of the car has still not retreated from the pedes trian precinct. Arising from the original plan, so that the businesses could park their cars and bring in goods, the restricted periods were somewhat looser than those found in other countries, with cars only being forbidden after 6.00pm. However, cars still invade after nightfall, influencing whether or not pedestrians come in.

Because the parking facilities are not sufficient around the Hsimen pedestrian precinct and the mass rapid transit system will not reach there, it lacks a convenient way of attracting people. Many people who drive their car into the city just take what space they can and park inside the precinct.

"Everyone wants to drive straight to their destination. In fact, if you just use the time it takes to park to walk to wherever you are going, then you will get there earlier," says Hsu Li-hung of the Taipei City urban planning department.

As for those who break the rules and park inside the precinct, Hu Pao-lin reacts that since its establishment, the first city-center pedestrian precinct in Germany has never ceased to see the police shuttling back and forth.

"The city is something that grows up and does not appear from a plan, so it needs careful management," says Hu Pao-lin. It is wrong to think that planning pedestrian precincts and recreation alleys is not important. We must guide people in how to use them and let people understand the significance of pedestrian streets. It is for this reason that today there are "no parking" signs in the recreation-alley and park-alley in Yungkang Street, not only because most Taipei people do not know of the existence of these two alleys, but because even the local residents are not clear about their purpose.

Roads are for people: Last year the urban planning department decided to conserve the Confucius Temple, Paoan Temple and Shujen Academy in Talungtung with the idea of planning an historical pedestrian precinct. But because areas that are mainly for the conservation of historical relics must impose restrictions on the types of business and have tight conditions of use, along with the loss of roadside parking space that occurs when a pedestrian precinct is established, there arose opposition from the local residents. The second pedestrian precinct thus came to nothing.

"People today always think that roads are developed for them to park their cars in," says Hsu Li-hung. It is only when people thoroughly understand that roads are for people, and that, at least in pedestrian precincts, roads are for people to walk in, that "pedestrian precincts will be successful."

[Picture Caption]

Roads change neighborhood relations--how much can a recreation-alley do to revive local culture?

The Hsimen pedestrian precinct: streets are not just places for communication but also spaces for enjoying the activities of city life.

The Hsimen pedestrian precinct: streets are not just places for communication but also spaces for enjoying the activities of city life.