this yt channels offers a glimpse of taiwan’s historical legacy and beauty…perhaps the label of ugliness wouldnt apply to taiwan had it not been for the government
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and WW2
I always wonder about the ugly ass looking buildings. Makes me think they might have been built in haste to meet a housing need? I don’t know how much Taiwan got bombed during WWII or whatever but they did find a bomb during a MRT construction a while back.
I mean the newer buildings are looking a lot better and more livable (which is why they are so expensive to buy or rent), but some of their design choices are questionable to say the least… Like one has a mini Taipei 101 on the roof, and another has a tiny wind turbine (as if that’s going to make the building any less unsustainable than it already is).
This problem isn’t unique to Taiwan. If you see a beautiful building in Europe or anywhere in the world, it was most likely built before 1950.
Not much to do with bombing during WW2. In Taiwan, some major infrastructure and important buildings got bombed by the US, but most people’s homes (i.e. most buildings) were untouched.
Today’s ugly buildings everywhere in the world are mostly a result of a combination of shifting artistic styles, newer inexpensive materials that are ugly, more expensive labor costs, construction skills not transferred to the younger generations, and rapid post-war population growth.
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its also a factor of the population not caring about the exterior of their houses.
for example Public housings in Singapore or concrete block houses built in post war Japan arent an eye sore like in Taiwan…
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You can’t compare high-rise towers to four-story walk-up buildings. If Taiwan built high-rise public housing towers in the 60’s I’d imagine they would look much the same as those in Japan and Singapore.
You also can’t compare buildings built by the government to those built privately. Ones built by the government will look more uniform.
Also, keep in mind that Taiwan is a laid-back, mountainous tropical island. I don’t think the houses here are any uglier than the ones found on Oahu in Hawaii. You should have seen the homes I lived in there.
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they where hit bad enough
Regular bombings of various cities began in late 1944 and continued until the war ended. Official documents from the colonial Taiwan Governor-General’s Office show that US strikes between Oct. 12, 1944 and Aug. 10, 1945 killed a total of 5,582 people and wounded almost 9,000. A total of 45,340 buildings were destroyed or damaged.
then had the influx of over 1m people to accommodate with infrastructure still recovering
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Not a problem unique to Taiwan after WW2. Most countries had a large influx of post-war population to build cheap and quick homes for, which is why most buildings built after 1950 are ugly everywhere in the world.
Never stated it was, I said it was a point to be taken into consideration with the other factors at that time.
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Chinese cultural problem imo.
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We need some polish influence here.
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I was mostly replying to the OP. The title of this thread suggests it’s a Taiwan problem.
In 100 years will they look at the new buildings like that? I guess not.
I’m guessing buildings in 100 years will mostly be built/stacked using simple, boring modular components, to house billions of displaced climate refugees. My great-grandchildren will be posting holograms on Forumosa of charming old 2020’s Taiwanese walk-up buildings from the old days when Taiwan wasn’t yet part of China.
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Hong Kong is still quite spectacular now, it’s the most densely packed vertical place I’ve ever been. Makes central Taipei look pretty shabby in comparison.
Although I’m sure it would have been even better had the historical buildings been preserved. Central shanghai has kept the old European buildings, the ones on and around the bund at least - (plenty of other stuff has been destroyed) and it’s to great effect.
Even those adverts are classy compared to the advertisement horrors we have in Taiwan.
Lack of regulation plays a bit part in how shite the living environment is here. Take away the worst offending advertisements -which cover peoples windows, window cages and rooftop clownery and things would improve …somewhat.
I imagine the demolition wasn’t done by the Taiwanese government, but by the US Army, with bombs and stuff back in the great war…
Taiwan did build high rises in the 70s, they look a lot worse than comparable era Japanese ones.
Singapore is just as tropic as Taiwan, so is Okinawa, and houses there, both low rise and high rise are not as ugly.
Taiwanese culture doesnt pay attention to the exterior of the house, hence the ugly bars, the electric wires, plumbing etc…
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A fair bit was. But not nearly the majority I’m sure. Luckily an invasion never went through, that was very seriously considered.