| Summary: | 碩士 === 中原大學 === 室內設計學系 === 87 === The study of the Living Environment of the People Residence Community Re-established from Military Dependents’ Community
─Based on the Example of Choun-Yi Community in Shih-Lin, Taipei─
Abstract
The term “military dependents’ community” (MDC) is a product of old times. It is different from ordinary residence community. Its occupants are also different from the residents in other communities. Other than being shabby and crowded, old MDCs are characterized by their separation from the world outside. Therefore, they leave the impression of “a life within the fences” on the general public. As a dominant plan, residents in MDC form a relationship among themselves beyond their own will. However, most residents in MDC share the same background as well as the same experiences. Forced into a separate space and time together, they naturally form a unique culture, spatial experience and community relationship that are found only in MDCs. Nevertheless, as time passes, MDCs have faded as things gone by. From the perspectives of either the physical structure or the quality of living, MDC no longer meets the practical needs today. Besides, after several decades now, many of these old MDCs have been included in the region for today’s city zoning. Some are even located at the heart of urban areas now. As far as the country’s public policies are concerned, the re-establishment of old MDCs plays a very important role. From the perspective of city zoning, the re-establishment projects not only improve the standards of living and environment for residents in MDC, but also provides comprehensive district administration and community services and public facilities. These projects also dismantled the fences separating the old MDCs and the world outside. As a result, dramatic changes have taken place in the forms and images of spaces of MDCs in earlier times. The residential style of horizontal, connected houses of a high surface coverage and low density in urban areas were redesigned and reconstructed in a very short period of time. They are now replaced by vertical high-rise buildings of apartment complex designated as People Residence Community. For the residents who had lived in the old horizontal houses in MDC for a long period of time, the replacement not only signifies a change in the form of residence, but also changes in the frequent and interacting relationship common among the neighbors in the old MDCs. After the modern apartments replaced the conventional “one-lane style” connected houses, layers of separation have come between the floors and residences. A visit to any neighbor now requires a trip upstairs or downstairs or ringing the doorbell, which were non-existent in the old days when relationships were more direct and natural. For those one-time residents of old MDCs now living in apartment buildings, they have not only experienced a sense of distance regarding their environment, but also been restricted in maintaining the enthusiastic community relationships so unique in the MDCs. This study is an investigation and in-depth discussion of the changes before and after the re-establishment of MDC by looking at one example of the re-establishment of MDC into a people residence community. We explored the environmental changes involved and the significance of these changes, and hope to provide some perspectives and helpful information for the planning and design of re-establishment projects of MDCs in the future.
Chapter 2 of the paper reviews a more comprehensive collection of literatures available (e.g. Models and origins, political situation and economic status of MDCs) to understand the term “military dependents’ community” and its background and models. Chapter 3 is an attempt to construct the faces and lifestyles of the research subjects before and after the re-establishment of MDCs through discussions of some literary works depicting life in MDCs and field interviews. We hope to understand the lifestyles and living environment of residents in old MDCs in the old days through this investigation. Chapter 4 looks at changes in the living environment before and after the re-establishment of MDC. Chapter 5 introduces the concept presented by Hall (1966) and propagated by Rapport (1982) to divide the environment into the three elements of fixed feature, semi-fixed feature and non-fixed feature. We used this concept to analyze and explore the significance and changes of the environment before and after the re-establishment. Some conclusions are drawn and suggestions for future studies are given in Chapter 6.
Keywords: military dependents’ community, people residence community, original residents of MDC, community relationships
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