USE AND CONTROL OF ROOFED WALKWAY IN TAIWAN DURING JAPANESE COLONIAL PERIOD

Abstract

This study clarifies how a Din-a-ka (a roofed walkway), a remarkable characteristic of historical city landscaping in Taiwan, led to problems of control and correspondence in their administration. A Din-a-ka was formed in 1900 by the “Taiwan Building Regulation”. It was put in place in the scope of the City improvement project that was carried out throughout Taiwan, starting in 1905. A Din-a-ka had two aspects: while being private property, it was also public space. This is because a Din-a-ka was the walk way connecting the private properties along commercial streets. A Din-a-ka would often lose its function as a walkway, due to the fact that the owners of the occupied the space with goods and empty boxes and their children rode their bicycles along it. In 1918, the Street control regulation was promulgated. By giving the police a legal basis for managing a Din-a-ka, the consolidation of a Din-a-ka gradually continued. In the street control regulation, a Din-a-ka was recognized as private property but was officially given the status of a public walk way.On the other hand, the aligned perspective of a Din-a-ka itself was considered to be a form of beauty. According to this view, the urban beauty of Taiwan was an extension of the Japanese urban beauty campaign.