APSAA 亞太永續行動獎(Asia-Pacific Sustainability Action Awards )-Livable and Sustainable City Award:Outstanding
Taichung City Government
Sustainable Happiness, Prosperous Taichung
Taichung has a pleasant climate and the average temperature is about 24°C. It is a pivotal city in central Taiwan with convenient transportation. According to the rank from “CommonWealth Magazine”, Taichung has been awarded “The most livable city in Taiwan” for 5 years in a row. As the second-largest city in Taiwan, Taichung City has a strong commitment to sustainable development. With the vision of " Sustainable Happiness, Prosperous Taichung", promoting various key policies to become a livable and sustainable city: (1) As for “Involvement in urban planning and management”, improving the water quality of the Dongda River through public-private partnerships and citizen participation, which awarded 2022 National Sustainable Development Award. Besides, promoting gender equality, improving various environmental measures to become friendly, which won the first prize in the 2022 gender equality assessment. To protect public health, using the " AI recognition system to detect highly polluting scooters " and the "Air Quality Sensor IoT" to reduce air pollution, which awarded the 2022 Smart 50 Award, and Taichung City is the only winning city in Taiwan. Taichung City also actively protects community safety. In 2022, Taichung City ranked No. 1 in the six special municipalities regarding fighting against guns, drugs, fraud, and crime, and the incidence of criminal cases, theft, and fraud-related crimes was the lowest in the six special municipalities. Furthermore, Taichung City actively participates in international organizations such as UCLG, CDP, ICLEI, etc., and will serve as the world director and executive committee of UCLG from 2022-2026, actively participating in international exchanges and establishing international partnerships. (2) As for “Minimize damages caused by natural disasters”, promoting “Ventilation Strategy, Greening Strategy, Blue Strategy” to mitigate the Urban Heat Island Effect, and setting up detention basins to mitigate the impact of flooding and activate Q-Water to mitigate water shortage crisis. (3) As for “Affordable and sustainable transportation systems”, promoting Taichung's MRT network, cost-saving buses, electric scooters, electric buses, i-Bikes, etc. The number of charging stations is No.1 in Taiwan. (4) As for “Minimize the impact of urban development and the economy”, incorporating the ecological community assessment system and low-carbon methods into the Autonomous Regulations of Low-carbon City Development in Taichung City, promoting the green building label, environmental impact assessment, and announcing the high energy-consumption industries with 800KW set up 10% of renewable energy and promote a four-fold increase in solar energy, etc. to mitigate the environmental impact caused by urban development. (5) As for “Safe and affordable housing”, through well-designed council houses, rent discounts, and subsidies to reduce the housing burden of child-raising families, offering subsidies for condemned buildings and adaptive reuse of old urban areas. (6) About “Protection of cultural and natural heritages”, preserving the culture of " Dajia Matsu "- one of the three major religious celebrations in the world. Taichung City is Committed to revitalizing, restoring, and reusing 281 tangible cultural assets, protecting the Gaomei Wetland Protection Area and cherry salmon., and Taichung City is the first city in the six special municipalities to pass the " Autonomous Regulations of Taichung City Leopard Cat Protection " to protect biodiversity. (7) As for “Safe, inclusive, and green public spaces”, with the concept of People-Oriented, the green space and park system has been developed, and the green space per capita has reached the second highest in six special municipalities, and the public toilets have been actively improved, and the ratio of well-design public toilets is the second highest in the six special municipalities. (8) About “Publish & Promote Voluntary Local Review (VLR)”, Taichung City published VLR in 2021 and will be published regularly every two years on IGES and Taichung City Sustainable & Low Carbon Living website for public review. (9) As for “Climate Action Performance”, participating in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and awarded A-Leading City in climate governance in 2022. In response to the 2050 net-zero emissions trend, Taichung City released the "Sustainable Net-Zero Trilogy" with the concept of “public interest first, setting priority plans” from all levels of the city's authorities, schools, and enterprises to implement the full range of climate action, setting up the first sustainable, smart, low-carbon demonstration zone -“Shuinan Trade and Economic Park” and the first biomass energy plant in Taiwan to promote resource recycling and sustainable development to reach the vision of " Sustainable Happiness, Prosperous Taichung".