Urban flood resilience: A chronology of policies to prevent flooding in Taipei

Floods caused extensive damage during the 1960s while Taipei was experiencing fast urbanization. In the early 1970s, Taiwan’s central government planned a new town, the Linkou New Town, to move people from Taipei’s area of high risk for flooding. Numerous levees and dikes, flood pumping stations, and gates have been built in Taipei since the 1970s. However, high density development occurred along the flood-prone areas of Taipei’s major rivers after the completion of major flood control facilities in the 1990s. Flash floods, along with the failure of pumping stations along the Keelung River, caused by Typhoon Nari in 2001 flooded downtown Taipei. This research finds that coordination problems between different governmental agencies have resulted in inefficiency and ineffectiveness of flood prevention policies. Additionally, a new method combining non-structural measures, land-use and environmental planning, along with retreat planning in order to reduce risk should be gradually adopted in Taipei. Land-use and environmental planning should play a proactive role in reducing Taipei’s flood risk and damage.