How citizens reshaped a plan for an aerotropolis and preserved thewater heritage system of the Taoyuan Tableland

Abstract

Heritage preservation in Taiwan was for many years limited to a small group of art experts, who focused on masterpieces in museums or on magnificent architecture, disconnected from people’s daily lives and current society. Othersmade efforts to enhance local cultures and encourage grassroot participation in heritage preservation, but, as heritage sites continued to be treated as single, unrelated objects, these efforts remained only loosely tied to local communities. A recent campaign for the preservation of the pond-canal system heritage in the Taoyuan tableland suggests a change of direction and indicates new opportunities for increased attention to and participation in heritage. In 2008, a plan for developing an airport-based metropolitan region, a so-called Aerotropolis, threatened the local water heritage infrastructure, including its distribution network and the local sustaining eco- and social systems. Opposition arose among a wide range of environmental and social groups, which weighed in on the importance of the water system. Together their stories wove a fine and unbreakable “web of narratives,” which became a shield that successfully protected the water heritage. Water heritage, as a system of multiple sites that is by nature more relevant to people’s daily lives, can benefit from such participatory preservation. Moreover, it is possible, too, that the conservation of heritage of all categories could find inspiration in this strategy.