Hippocampus as a city: opening up the memory of "home" and writing about the regional culture of Jiaxing Street

Maintaining a good physical condition relies on stable exercise. Similarly, when the years change, if a city's functions want to maintain vitality, it needs to undergo urban renewal. This is an indispensable process for a city that is constantly improving. The application and development of overall urban design are the best choices. In the past, most of the handling of "urban renewal" focused on legal conditions. For many people, urban renewal cases only focused on the exchange of conditions. In fact, the conditions were necessary, but they lacked warmth. This time in the "Jiaxing Street Public Urban Renewal Case", the National Center for Housing and Urban Renewal challenged an unprecedented new attempt. Through field surveys and on-site visits, the design was integrated and transformed into video, illustration, and work creation. , exhibitions, and even the birth of this book, named "Memory Continuation of Jiaxing Neighborhoods-Hippocampus Experimental Project."

What we are discussing is people's "borrowing" on this land. What we have are all the memories produced on the land, including the house where they lived, the neighbor next door, and the beef noodles at the alley. From one person's memory The memories of a family are then aggregated into the entire street and become shared memories, forming a local and regional culture. When the Jiaxing Street Public Urban Renewal Project demolishes and rebuilds this place, some people will return here, while others will move away, and each will start a new life and create a new local culture. As time goes by and age increases, some memories will gradually disappear. Therefore, the Hippocampal Gyrus Experimental Project hopes to capture, sort and re-export them one by one before demolition. This will be useful for new residents who will move in in the future or who have lived here before. People everywhere have new opportunities to imagine. It is no longer just about demolition and reconstruction, and it is not just about the completion of legal conditions. Let the warmth of the neighborhood and local culture continue in the new imagination.

The process of the "Jiaxing Street Public Urban Renewal Project" remains open and transparent, focuses on public welfare and does not treat anyone badly, achieving a trusting relationship of mutual trust. In addition, future operation and management are equally important, focusing on the convenience of each unit. and safety, while reserving public space for social welfare groups such as infant care and elderly care to expand the public living circle. We believe that the next generation’s homes should maintain a high degree of connection and interaction with neighbors, social surroundings, and the natural environment, and find a learning process through communication, so that our next generation can realize what kind of adults they will become when they grow up. What kind of environment we create is our expectation for urban renewal, and it is also the driving force for self-motivation. We hope that after the completion of the Jiaxing Street Public Urban Renewal Project, it can become a model for urban renewal in Taipei City.

The past, present, and future are not just unidirectional timelines. What we hope to do in the Hippocampus Experimental Project is to "preserve memories and look forward to the future" and move forward step by step so that the city can be in the new era. In the old iteration, create a better urban future.