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Revitalizing Taichung City Through Urban Development

Ching-I Wu's "Impression of Railway" project aims to awaken local citizens to preserve history and culture while renovating the image of Taichung City with magnificent cultural assets. The project, completed in February 2020, covers 15287.57 square meters around Taichung Railway Station in Taichung, Taiwan. The development integrates the areas around the station with the urban environment, land utilization, industries development, urban image, and cityscapes. This integration reorganizes resources, reforms the surrounding environment, and improves the quality of public facilities with a cultural and pedestrian-friendly urban corridor, enriching the cultural development of the city center.

The urban development strategy, initiated by people advocating the preservation of the old railway and implemented by the municipality, presents a new paragon of landscape urbanism. The Eco-Museum composed of the century-old heritage of railway culture renovates the closed railway facilities into an urban recreational area with diverse features of ecology, culture, and life. The project serves as a crucial municipal construction based on public participation, connecting the historical and cultural assets in the central, western, eastern, and southern Taichung City, as well as the urban stitching plan.

The "Impression of Railway" project overcame the challenge of creating a green corridor that attracts numerous people to different historical sites. It offers four different themes of half-day sightseeing tours, including art exhibitions, Japanese-style dormitories, plain life along the Green River, and cycling. Each route satisfies different sightseeing needs and starts from Taichung Railway Station, providing tourists with experiences of local culture and food. The final spot of each tour is accessible to other business districts in Taichung City, allowing tourists to prolong their half-day tours as they desire.

Ching-I Wu's "Impression of Railway" project was awarded Platinum in the A' City Planning and Urban Design Award in 2021. This prestigious award recognizes the exceptional and highly innovative design that contributes to societal wellbeing and advances the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology, making the world a better place.

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