Click thumbnail to visit website

Taipei City, Taiwan

Taipei City, Taiwan

The official language in Taipei City is Mandarin. Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, is a basin region located in northern Taiwan in Asia. In 2020, the population of Taipei City is 2,642,877 and senior people aged above 65 years old account for 18.07% of the population. The population density is 9,724 people /km².

Though the Taipei population ranks the 4th in Taiwan, the population density of Taipei is in first place. Downtown Taipei settles in the flat region of Taipei Basin, bounded by Datun volcanic mountains and the Tamsui River running through the whole city. These special geographic features make Taipei a biodiversity city with a convenient rapid public transportation system, a wealth of cultural assets, a great diversity of things to enjoy and active commercial activities. These make Taipei a city of much human diversity.

In order to cope with changes in the international trade and investment environment, Taipei City Government has taken multiple measures to facilitate the economic development of the city and increase its competitiveness, from creating entrepreneurship opportunities through to resource integration and helping new enterprises develop their businesses, as well as encouraging cooperation among entrepreneurs, developing business incubation space, facilitating investment, expanding the export market, and guiding industrial transformation and upgrading. These multipronged measures are part of a vision to turn Taipei into an international commercial city with stable industrial development and innovation energy.

In short, Taipei is a city with a vibrant present and a diverse appearance. Led by the sustainable development vision, Taipei City Government (TCG) continued to promote various highlight projects such as the Promotion and Marketing Plan for the Taipei Entrepreneurs Incubation Program, residential justice, and diverse public housing policies and government-led urban renewal.

Furthermore, it extended its vision to citywide overall mechanisms which drew up government-delineated urban renewal areas, with the aim of supplementing local public functionality, improving the overall environment, meeting the future needs of the city and achieving Taipei's vision of “towards a more livable city” as well as the future developmental axis of Taipei Learning City will move toward having smart cloud at the core, and six goals, including culture and taste, garden and ecology, waterfront and leisure, health and well-being, safety and inclusion, welfare and friendliness.

Formal and Non-formal Learning Infra-structure

The learning city project adopted by the Taipei City Government was studied and deliberated multiple times from bottom to top by members in the city’s administration. In the city’s learning city promotional system, the highest directing unit is the cross-departmental Lifelong Education Promotion Commission, and the main organizer (and coordinating agency) is the Taipei City Government Department of Education, which integrates city libraries at all levels to elevate the reading habits of city residents. The shaping of learning families is advanced through the family education center. The 12 community colleges and the community learning centers at each administrative district are the main platform to promote Taipei Learning City Projects and lifelong learning for all the citizens, and also to establish community learning networks, integrate lifelong learning resources of the entire city via the learning city network.

After surveying and editing the lifelong learning resources manual for all 660 learning organizations (http://www.lct.tp.edu.tw/files/15-1001-350,c39-1.php) and museums, galleries, NGOs, private sectors in the city, the Taipei City Government Department of Education has designated the 12 community colleges and 73 city libraries as the main organizational forces for promoting learning city.

One by one the family education center and 152 public elementary schools will gradually be incorporated to advance the concept of learning families. The city’s community empowerment centers are integrated with the 12 community learning centers in each administrative district which are operated by 12 community colleges to serve as the main units responsible for promoting learning communities.

Additionally, the 11 senior citizens learning centers (Department of Education), 23 senior classrooms (Department of Education), 14 elderly service centers (Department of Social Welfare), and 12 health centers (Department of Health) are integrated to promote an elderly-friendly community. The Department of Civil Servant Development, which administers the Taipei E-campus project (https://elearning.taipei), is the main organization that promotes citizens’ digital-learning. Finally, the Parks and Street Lights Office (under the Department of Public Works) and the Department of Economic Development are the agencies in charge of promoting ecological communities and urban gardens in the city.

Learning City Developments

The Department of Education, Taipei City Government has always listed the promotion of lifelong learning policy as a top governing priority. In 2010, the Taipei City Government coordinated with the Ministry of Education’s “Learning Community Pilot Program” to plan the “Learning City Promotion Project for Taipei City”. Taking a step further, in 2011 the City listed the goals of “establishing a community learning network and building a learning city” among the most important educational policies in the City government’s white paper, fully marching toward a learning city.     

In 2011, The Department of Education, Taipei City Government (hereafter referred to as the Department) endorsed the Central government’s centennial education vision, which had called for “new century, new education, and new commitments”.

The Department made plans to use the Smart City as foundation, and create a sustainable learning city based on six dimensions: culture, ecology, waterfront, safety, welfare, and health. To the end, the Department worked together with the 12 community colleges of Taipei City, established Community Learning Centers in each administrative district of the City, and promoted community lifelong learning systems around the city.

The Department also worked in tandem with other lifelong learning organizations in the city, set up the Taipei City Lifelong Learning Network, which served as a resource integration platform for lifelong learning issues. The Lifelong Learning Network (and platform) aimed to increase citizen participation rate in lifelong learning, so that lifelong learning became a major force driving urban development forward, and thereby enhanced the citizens’ learning ability, knowledge, and urban competitiveness, creating the first learning city in Taiwan.

Some of the Key Activities in the LC field

Since 2010 the Taipei City Government Department of Education has established community learning centers at each of the 12 administrative districts operated by community colleges, creating a learning resource integration platform and learning system collaboration circles. On the one hand, this allows community colleges to deepen their ties with their respective communities; on the other hand, this also permits any individuals and organizations in the community interested in lifelong learning to receive services nearby, and allow community learning centers to play a bridging role in community education, cultivating educational and learning networks in the community , to enhance community lifelong learning, integrate learning resources, make effective use of e-platforms, develop knowledge systems, and construct a learning database to achieve the objectives of assisting the public to solve their everyday problems, enhancing the citizen’s quality of life, and accomplishing a balance and sustainable development in all 6 dimensions of a lifelong learning city, the vision of the Taipei Learning City project can be summarized four-fold as “smart cloud”, “lifelong learning”, “6D City”, and “sustainable development”. Accordingly, the 6-dimensional objectives of lifelong learning cities are: construct a cultural and artistic city, develop a garden and ecological city, shape a waterfront and leisure city, create a healthy and lohas city, develop a safe and inclusive city, and build a welfare and friendly city in order to achieve our work on promoting Taipei Learning City.

Key Priority Areas for Future Development

In the future, we will continue to work on developing a theory of knowledge based on our practical experiences in implementing learning city programs in Taiwan. We will participate in international learning cities alliances, publicizing our work on promoting Taipei Learning City. Its specific objectives are as follows:

1. Establish community learning centers which are operated by community colleges in each administrative district and develop community learning networks.
2. Establish a “Taipei Learning City Network” and integrate lifelong learning resources in the entire city to provide city residents with resources and information regarding lifelong learning.
3. Use modern technologies, promote “Taipei E-campus” to facilitate city resident’s e-learning, and bridge the digital gap.
4. Promote all types of learning organizations and create a learning environment where “anyone can learn, at any time, at any place, and about any topic” so as to shape the public’s lifestyle and culture.
5. Work toward achieving the sustainable development goal of learning cities, and widely offer coursework and organize activities related to Smart Cloud and 6D City.

Sub-networks of LCN of most interest

Taipei City has decided to launch the "Taipei Learning City Network" (http://www.lct.tp.edu.tw) in 2010, at the very early stages of the learning city project. The website publishes an e-newsletter, which appears twice a month. A total of 189 issues have been published thus far, each issue documenting the work process, achievements, and experiences of various administrative districts in promoting learning programs.

The Taipei City Government Department of Education has also set up the Taipei City Learning Community Network (http://www.com-lct.tp.edu.tw) to chronicle program outcomes of community learning centers at each district, the Taipei City Learning Family Network (http://www.family-lct.tp.edu.tw) to record the effectiveness of learning families, and the Taipei Learning City Multimedia Learning Platform (http://www.media-lct.tp.edu.tw) to provide image and video files of Taipei Learning City workshops, expos, international conferences, exemplary award ceremonies, and other activities.