Better Cities, Better Lives Forum

中華民國不動產協進會理事長張麗莉（左起）、國家住宅及都市更新中心副執行長柯茂榮、台中市住宅發展工程處副處長陳靖怡、仲觀聯合建築師事務所主持建築師林洲民、建築師事務所主持建築師戴育澤。圖／主辦單位提供

The Real Estate Association of the Republic of China (ROC) held its 17th and 1st Membership Meeting, and before the meeting, it simultaneously organized the National Excellence in Construction Award (NECA) National Excellence Forum for this year, with the theme of “Practice and Prospect for Social Housing in Taiwan”, inviting experts and scholars as well as public departments and authorities to join the meeting to discuss the issue.

Mr. Nanyuan Huang, Convener of the Judging Panel of the National Award for Construction Excellence, said in his opening speech that how social housing can realize the value of housing justice is an important issue in the near future. Huang Zhiyuan, Director of the Real Estate Development Committee of the Real Estate Association of Taiwan, used Du Fu's poem, “A thousand thousand buildings in peace, sheltering the world's poor people with joyful faces” to break the topic, emphasizing that how to enable today's young people to achieve a better home life has become an important issue.

In the keynote speech, Chen Jingyi, Deputy Director of the Residential Development Engineering Department of Taichung City Government, took the lead in sharing the results of the promotion of social housing in Taichung over the past seven years, especially that social housing should emphasize management and the feelings of the tenants as a priority, and rediscover the warmth of the human relationship; Lin Chou-min, the architect in charge of the planning of public housing on the north side of Xiao-Tung Road in Tainan City, who had once served as the Director of the Urban Development Bureau of the North Municipal Office of the City, analyzed the experience of public department services in the North Municipal Office and explained how to make a better home life for today's young people. He analyzed the significance of social housing construction with his experience in public sector service.

Lily Chang, president of the Real Estate Association of the Republic of China (R.O.C.), the organizer of the forum, said that by exploring the “Practice and Prospect of Social Housing in Taiwan,” the forum hoped that all sectors could strike a balance between housing justice and industrial integration in response to the pressing issues of the present time.

Mr. Ke Maorong, Deputy CEO of the National Center for Housing and Urban Renewal (NCHUR), the co-organizer of the forum, said that NCHUR has made efforts to do two things well since its establishment: public urban renewal and new social housing.

Through the management of the project management information system, storage system and operation platform system, the quality of the building is required to have green building, earthquake-proof building and other standard equipment, and according to the current degree of popularity of social housing, social housing is beginning to become an important indicator of regional development. 

In the end,  Lily Chang concluded that the Kok Chok Forum is a prelude to the National Award for Construction Excellence, so that “Better Cities, Better Lives” is more than just a slogan, but also the beginning of a ‘Better Taiwan’.