Taipei is in danger of losing most of its heart, literally. They are ripping down the gongyu and five story buildings on main streets at a prodigious pace.
I see camera street looks to be next for the chopping block. @afterspivak will have a stroke if they get to his fave cafes.
I too feel a lot of nostalgia for the Taipei I knew for the first few years I was there, part of it is the things that barely exist any more like record stores and bookstores.
I found a record store near Gongguan, near the Taipower building. many vintage records! the moldy smell was the sign of quality haha
Well I should say CD/music store. The stores with no front that you could just walk in and browse and hear the music being played. I wasnât into vinyl records at all. 
You know Taiwanese basically gave up listening to music and live music over the last 20 years? They switched from an interest in music to other virtual things. To me that is justâŚughhhh. Lack of decent buskers or any buskers on the streets, lack of outlets for live music, or listening to music. They also gave up reading books but I can hardly be hypocritical on that part.
Controversial statement but I think I have a point.
Most are fucking shit. They are also unsafe. Anything built before the 1999 earthquake has not necessarily been built to withstand earthquakes. Regulations only came In afterwards, so eventually everything in theory needs to be replaced
Increasing the housing stock is a good thing
There will still be enough shitty building
I donât think they are all shit they could easily be renovated, many look great when done up. These are the solid townhouses on the main avenues in Taipei that have shops on the first floor, they are made with reinforced concrete I believe. Knock away the shit stuff in the back streets or in Zhonghe and Yonghe.
They just want to âdugengâ and build massive 10,20,30 story buildings everywhese. This also tends to break up the qilou these days, and itâs the qilou that give Taipei and Taiwan a more special character plus protect you from the sun and the rain.
Iâve seen Songjiang Nanjing area transform over about 8 years and itâs not very interesting now, if they knock down the remaining market area thatâs it done for.
Iâm not against the é˝ć´
Increasing the amount of housing stock is necessary
No itâs not at all. This is ludicrous. There is a massive amount of housing stock out there. They literally donât need to build any more houses anywhere in Taiwan, you could renovate and still have more than enough houses for everybody.
Itâs also highly environmentally harmful to be knocking down existing buildings and then building huge buildings from scratch.
By the way Taipeiâs population is actually decreasing and the reason is simply because of expensive housing. Dugeng doesnât make the housing cheaper whatsoever.
Most cities need to increase housing stock and building upwards is the only way. Taiwan also needs to stop people holding empty properties
âKeeping characterâ is a luxury. And we arenât talking about beautiful Parisienne neighborhoods
All of the new social housing I have seen is good. Uniform, functional, shops on first floor and keep the Qilou and lots of space outside for kids to play.
All look better and nicer than the luxury HaoZhai with stupid European names
Most cities means nothing you know it 
Taiwan has a massive wedge of old people that is growing and the youth population is plummeting.
Most capital cities or commerce hubs. Would say most major cities. London and Dublin certainly need to build upwards
The future is urbanization. Jobs and people are moving to cities. Taipeiâs population may be decreasing but surrounding areas arenât.
If you stop people speculating on property, then increasing housing supply should lower prices, even building luxury housing will as those who can afford it will buy it
I couldnât stop Taiwanese people doing anything they want to do. Nor does the government seem to want to either , hence the ridiculous scooter and traffic situation in 2023.
Taiwan doesnât need to increase housing supply there are lots of empty houses but still the price is maintained or goes up. Newer places asking prices are also higher.
Yeah thatâs why I support the huge social housing projects being built, itâs the only way that anything will change.
Both parties are unwilling to stop the property casino that both they and their wealthy supporters get filthy rich on.
So true, renovate older homes is possible, building new ones creates massive amounts of rubbish
Of total waste in the United States, 90% comes from the demolition of structures,
Yea I hate it too. Seen it happening in zhongxiao fuxing. Nobody will benefit from this besides a handfull of rich who will only be happy about how close and conveniently they live. But the question will become how close to what? this continues. If you replace a vibey central neighbourhood with all new buildings then you lose what was there. I agree just build them elsewhere, those places with whole communities of new developments - for example in taichung - are actually nice but we donât need them replacing the downtown we already have.
Renovation is taking place in the qing and japanese era buildings in Di hua jie, i hope the same idea can become popular with post war gong yus.
Waste and the huge CO2 emissions and the damage to the river beds and mountains. Also the danger from the concrete mixing trucks and gravel trucks. Itâs incredibly damaging.
There isnât enough housing in the places where the jobs are. All over the world. You canât just renovate old buildings
Having more density in cities is the best thing we can do for the environment. Means less people are traveling by car, living in smaller homes and sharing resources
Sure you can in TAIWAN. You canât throw a stick without hitting a building. Also Taiwanâs cities already have extremely high density neighborhoods.
Renovation wonât increase the housing stock. If the housing stock is so high, why are the prices so high ?
Sure there is. (enough housing in Taiwan) Construction industry generates huge profits for many, is big reason new Construction.