Stepping into the 21st century, Taiwan's "Big Construction Era" has come to an end. The Era witnessed a time when architecture thrived but at the same time disturbed the city. The new mission for the new century will be the repairing and remaking of city.

The city is a giant artifact of special kind with its life circle of rise and fall. Its developments are constrained by certain degree of inevitability and serendipity, which constitute the being of the city. The way of making city, then, is to insist upon the inevitability, and to act on the serendipity, but not force it. As if knowing by heart, but letting go of what has been known or preconceived. Liu Hsieh, an eminent literature critic of the 5th century, has the principles of "variation", "propensity" for writing, and Tsai Yeh, a scholar of late Han Dynasty, has the principle of "releasing preconceived notion" for calligraphy. The principles of urbanism in certain sense are much the same.

Even though there lacks no good city in term of its spatial formation, most are trite. New thoughts for spatial writing are anticipated. Tainan city is the first text of Taiwan's urban writing. In the last 400 years, it has been written over many times like a palimpsest with layers of text on it. It is quite often to find failures here and there, but also at times one may find nuance from insouciance. New mode of writing requires new thinking, which begins with critical re-reading of the urban texts that contemplating on the constant and the flux of inevitability and serendipity.

Tainan's natural landscape already is a grand literary masterpiece. The mountains curving like the crescent at the east. The plain immerses into the sea, on which the rivers traverse. Seven small hills scattered on the plain, which are still recognizable by scrutiny. In the bird's eye, the landscape is like a crescent moon in company with several stars. The city history began by the Dutch occupation and building of fortress in the 17th century. Today's Ming-Chuan Road and Chung-Yi Road are both the earliest major intersections. During Ming Zheng Era this 'cross' divided the city into 4 zones. The city has expanded and has been walled during Ching Dynasty, The city walls are torn down when Japanese took over the island, and roads are built to connect several rotaries according to Baroque design principles. It also introduces Frederick Law Olmsted's (1822-1903) idea of emerald necklace, which strings together several urban parks by the green artery. This green belt and the new canal create the Twin Ring structure of modern Tainan. At the intersection of the two rings is the old canal's end, now filled by the structure called "China Town'. The spatial characteristics as strong and rich as such are seen only in Taiwan, but are unrecognized, and therefore jeopardized by inadvertent plans later on. The ignorance by recent planning not only derogates the spatial uniqueness of the city, and drifts the opportunities for making good city further away.

From the 400 years of establishment to today, Tainan led 300 years of prosperity. In the recent 100 years, the center of Taiwan has moved northward, and Tainan becomes relatively quiet down, but not declined. However, serenity after ostensible prosperity is a true blessing to a once flourishing city. Serenity provides settings for reflection, and reflection is necessary for the avoidance of irrevocable mistakes. The city should restore its natural order, and should integrate layers of disparate spatial structures to enlighten new visions. Observing the right opportunity for action, and at the same time preserving possibilities for future developments.

Tainan, and any other city in Taiwan, needs no imitation from elsewhere that is not congenial to its own characters. As long as having read and reread from within, there are always new opportunities to be found. These are the views this special issue on Tainan wishes to express. A few new themes and topics are opened for further exploration, and are touched on in some articles. To discuss a city is to discuss some important issues and ideas in behind. Tainan is a case among Taiwan cities that is most worthy of the discussions.     [Translated by: Debbie Yang]

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