An example of Taipei Garden City Sites.
In the white paper, Mayor Ko proposes to turn Taipei City into a garden city with urban farming. To achieve this policy goal and set a new example for urban farming, a garden bank is established under this program to integrate garden sites, develop guidance for urban farming skills, and administer garden sites through bottom-up participation of citizens. By doing so, the program aims to let citizens grow and harvest crops personally to enjoy the fun of urban farming, experience the toils and efforts of farmers, understand the processes of crop production, realize the true value of soil and water resources, understand the importance of organic farming to the maintenance of environmental sustainability, and thereby change the way how people treat food.
The Garden City Program aims to “develop Taipei City into a garden city for green health, green education, and green lifestyle.” The Program objectives and meanings are as follows:
1. Garden city for green health
(1) The garden city is built upon the urban ecology framework to extend and supplement the greenbelt system to compensate urban ecological functions.
(2) The garden city integrates urban farmable areas and develops a city that integrates the food system and sustainable ecology.
(3) Instead of traditional greening or farming, or just urban farming activities, the garden city turns idle and odd urban spaces into garden sites to build edible landscapes without eliminating original functions and planning of these spaces.
2. Garden city for green education
(1) Besides cultivating farmable areas and educating people to inventory farmable areas at the same time, apply the garden city concept to fundamental education and social education.
(2) Ingrain good dietary habits and valuing resources in fundamental education; implement the School Garden Program at schools to provide students with opportunities to learn farming, and take care of and harvest crops through food and agriculture education for students to see the original form of food.
(3) Provide guidance for farming skills during citizen participation in building edible landscapes for them to develop a correct green garden concept.
3. Garden city for green lifestyle
(1) The Garden City Program is implemented through a bottom-up approach featuring public participation. By developing interpersonal interaction through farming, the Program aims to promote “sharing” for the civic ethics of “self-management.”
(2) The Garden City Program aims to enable the public to grow and harvest crops personally and experience the fun of farming and the toils and efforts of farmers, in order to change their way of treating food and make them realize the true value of soil and water resources.
(3) The edible landscape in Garden city is a new green and healthy living attitude that integrates visual landscape and promotes community esthetics.
Vegetable harvest of Pengcheng Happy Farm in Songshan District.
Farming by citizens at Pengcheng Happy Farm Site in Songshan District.
Citizens at Pengcheng Happy Farm in Songshan District.