Citizens have the right to high quality parks and diverse playgrounds. Zhubei City in Hsinchu County has a large number of emigrants and a high birth rate. Given the consideration that some of the playgrounds planned in the past are no longer consistent with the needs of modern children, the Hsinchu County Government team is taking inventory of relevant resources. Taking into account factors such as the overall urban development plan, population structure, transportation and traffic flow, and existing physical fitness facilities and their utilization rate, the government has planned and designed feature parks in 22 existing parks in Zhubei City and Qionglin Township.
County Magistrate Yang Wen-Ke said that since he has taken office, many legislators, representatives, village chiefs and parents have responded a lack of play space in the parks for children. In January of this year, the TCC (Taiwan Cement Corporation) Feature Park in Zhudong was opened, and is very popular with both adults and children. "Building inclusive feature parks" is one of the major administrative projects of the county government. The county has invested NT$200 million to build 22 feature parks within 3 years and renovate about 20,000 square meters of parks. Among these parks, seven will be completed before the end of next year (including 4 parks in Zhubei City and 3 parks in Qionglin Township). One of these parks is the Xinglong Park, the venue of today's concert. Since the end of August, the county government team has successively conducted three sessions of Village and Community Briefing. It will follow-up with 4 sessions of workshops involving the participation of children and 2 seminars with experts and scholars. Experts and scholars such as landscape planners and child psychotherapists will be invited to provide suggestions. Through the participation of the public, dream parks will be achieved.
According to its Economic Development Department, NT$200 million will be invested into the renovation plan for Hsinchu County's feature parks in 3 years, and about 20,000 square meters of parks will be renovated. In the first wave of transformation to construct the 7 feature parks, four will be located in Zhubei City. The Xinglong Park (Park 24) is located on Xinglong Road Section 1, which is adjacent to the west side of National Highway No. 1. In this first wave of park renovation, the Hsinchu County Government is hosting the Autumn Breeze: Xinglong Park Picnic and Music Fair today. In addition to 15 feature stalls, the Cloud Gate Studio has been invited to lead a parent-child workshop on stretching exercises on the grass and dancing along with music.
Last year, a group of parents brought their children along to the county government to petition for feature playgrounds. After listening to their opinions, the county magistrate is convinced that all major public projects should include a mechanism for public participation. The mechanism would allow the government to better understand public opinions on related issues in the project development. These opinions and daily observations are the best user experience. The Hsinchu County Government team will renovate 22 feature parks within three years. The designing, contracting and opening of the parks will be completed by next year. County Magistrate Yang encourages the public to come and begin experiencing existing parks and try out the existing play equipment. He invites everyone to complete an online questionnaire and provide the design team with valuable suggestions. The future construction of the 22 parks will incorporate a mechanism for public participation to allow the public to participate in the planning. In addition, successful examples in Japan, Singapore or Taiwan will be studied to design feature parks that meet the needs of the public.