Situated at the mouth of Tamsui River of Taiwan, Shezidao is an area subjected to periodic flooding. Due to this, Shezidao has been prevented from land development. Today, it appears much more rural than urban and is home to 10,000 socio-economically disadvantaged residents.

A new “Ecological Shezidao” plan by the government promising to improve the situation has been met with criticisms from residents as well as professionals. With that, our project aims to present an alternative future for Shezidao.

The constant tug of war with water is not sustainable and dangerous. Instead of proposing increasingly high dikes as in the current “Ecological Shezidao” plan where a 9.65m new levee is proposed, a truly ecological and sustainable way to develop will be to live with water. Our site Fuzhou, part of Shezidao, presents a way to deal with flooding as a pilot project. Phased adaptations presents an alternative plan that involves strengthening the resilience of the settlement to flooding physically and socially while gradually removing the levee. Through incremental steps over a span of 40 years, Fuzhou can gradually transition from resisting flood, to tolerating flood t finally serve as a model for flood resilience.