Creating Wanhua's own Cheonggyecheon, letting the Kutou waterway see the light of day again

Many people know that Seoul's Cheonggyecheon in South Korea was once treated as a drainage ditch and covered by an elevated road, and after restoration it became a new urban recreation spot in Seoul. In the Wanhua District of Taipei, there is also a "Kuzaitou waterway" whose development potential rivals Seoul's Cheonggyecheon; although its scale is far smaller than Cheonggyecheon, its ecological and cultural value potential is even greater. At present, local residents, cultural and historical workers, and elected representatives are joining hands to restore it, hoping to turn the Kuzaitou waterway into a water-friendly space, Wanhua District's "little Cheonggyecheon."

Kuzaitou in Wanhua District is a living spring where an underground stream emerges, forming a small pond and a water channel that flows into the Xindian River. In the early days, it not only provided most of the community residents' domestic and irrigation water, but was also an important place that consolidated local memory. However, in recent decades, most of the Kuzaitou waterway has been covered over, leaving only a section of several dozen meters of waterway exposed, and nearby buildings discharge wastewater into it, causing mosquito breeding problems; in addition, some residents worried about safety petitioned for the remaining waterway to be covered.

Wanhua's Kuzaitou, a microcosm of Taipei's waterway history

Although Taipei has continuously carried out urban renewal in recent years, for old communities like Wanhua, large-scale renewal and development do not seem to be the best choice. City councilor Guo Zhaoyan said that sometimes it is not necessary to rely on urban renewal to renew a city; although Wanhua has cultural highlights such as Youth Park and Longshan Temple, if the cultural value of small places in daily life is discovered and properly restored and renewed, perhaps they can take on a completely new look, becoming a base for community cohesion or even a new tourism highlight.

Kuzaitou in the Jialazai area of Wanhua, although only a small section of waterway, embodies the memories of residents over several generations. If it is managed with eco-friendly construction methods, solving not only the mosquito problem but also the safety problem, it may become the center of community development in the Jialazai area, and can also bring limitless imagination to future urban planning models.