"Mutual support" participatory design: building community environmental character brick by brick

To encourage Chiayi residents to take part in community environmental renovation, this year continues the "Good Home in Chiayi" theme, using participatory design and the core concept of mutual companionship, "mutual support," to begin resident community planner renovation. In response to the 2021 Taiwan Design Expo in Chiayi, the Chiayi City Environmental Protection Bureau is helping communities upgrade from a single greening concept to a spatial form of diverse interactive dialogue; from merely adding or removing hardware, it is incorporating the recording of collective community memory and encouraging local residents to join in public affairs with a sense of participation and identification.

The Chiayi City Environmental Protection Bureau said that through community planners and local residents jointly participating in environmental renovation, in 2020 the Jingzhong Community - Hidden Streams won the "Architecture Garden and Landscape Award," known as the Oscars of the architecture world, in the community cultural landscape creation category; in addition, in 2017 and 2019, the Taiping Community and Houyi Community received recognition in the same category of the Architecture Garden and Landscape Award.

To welcome the 2021 Taiwan Design Expo in Chiayi, expand the concept of community greening and beautification to take root locally, enhance aesthetic literacy, and connect a new silk road of urban culture, the Chiayi City Environmental Protection Bureau has arranged 120 hours of free community planner training courses this year. After completing the training, in October a banquet-style results presentation will be held to celebrate the highlight communities.

The training courses use architects to lecture on the macro aspects of understanding the city, with instructors leading micro-level field investigations, and compile community characteristic resources and cultural history. The content includes field surveys, participatory design, workshops and other courses, and through hands-on workshops allows trainees to actually participate in community building work. For related course information, please check the Facebook page Chiayi City Community Planner Resident Environmental Renovation Project and the Facebook page Taiwan Field School.