An Operation of Tamsui Historic Sites as the Catalyst for Community Development

• Main Authors: PAO-CHUAN CHANG, 張寶釧
• Other Authors: none
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/11636959302049770055

碩士 === 中原大學 === 文化資產研究所 === 96 === In recent years, with the opening of the Taipei Metro and the releasing of the tourism space along the riverside, Tamsui has rapidly become the city with most tourists in Taiwan. As a small town with only 130,000 inhabitants, is Tamsui ready for accommodating millions of tourists each year? Thanks to tourism, the economy and the related figures have never looked so good. However, the environment, the leisure space, and the quality of life here are affected by it as well. Here in Tamsui, the government is busy with exploiting tourism resources; the store owners are busy with making money; the cultural workers are busy with opposing the damages brought by tourism; the residents are busy with maintaining the tranquility of the neighborhood. Conflicts and issues therefore arise under this prosper image of Tamsui. Applying the viewpoint of Tamsui Historic Sites, together with its site-based management strategy and actions, this paper mainly discusses the relationship between museum and the development of the city, as well as the issues they face for achieving sustainable management. In the context of preserving cultural assets in Taiwan, its conflicts with economic development are also covered. Beginning with the introduction of various ideas about “ECO-Museum” in the world, followed by observations, interviews, and examinations, the paper compiled many local experiences as responses to the issues and conflicts. Ever since from its birth and operation, Tamsui Historic Site has been playing the role of the catalyst for local development through its transformation of the administrative system, its strategy of space integration, its idea of environmental protection, and its integration mechanism with local industry. Although in terms of the management of the museum and the development of the city, the future is still hard to predict, this paper concludes and suggests the following: 1. By applying the concept of “living” inspired by local culture in order to break the limitations of institutionalized museum today, the values of the museum thus no longer lie in its professional function of research and display the collections, but in its ability to approach the core values of our daily life. 2. By applying the administrative mechanism of site-based management instead of the bureaucratic management of the government in the past, the museum is able to act itself as an “office of cultural affairs.” The local cultural planning is more realistic and effective in this way. 3. By integrating local resources to initiate the concept of “creative city,” also by switching different ways of thinking and applying the model of community empowerment to resolve the problems, the competitiveness of the city and the chances of managing the museum sustain ably should rise through the integration and realization of the reforming plan – “Flagship Project: Creative Tamsui.” 4. As a catalyst for local development, the museum should actively deal with the impacts brought by tourism and balance different aspects of developments. By representing the uniqueness of the city and the real life in it, “Historic Tamsui” shall be alive again.