Su Chiao-hui pledges to relocate Tucheng detention center for sports hub

New Taipei City's urban development and spatial planning have consistently been core issues in local elections. With the transformation of the city's demographic structure and rising public demands for a better quality of life, how to revitalize large-scale public land and satisfy grassroots citizens' desires for public facilities has become a major battleground for political figures competing over policy visions. Su Chiao-hui, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate for New Taipei City Mayor, put forward a concrete blueprint today regarding landmark land planning in New Taipei City's Tucheng District. She explicitly stated that if successfully elected Mayor of New Taipei City, she will actively promote and strive for the relocation of the Taipei Detention Center, and carry out large-scale urban renewal and spatial reshaping at the existing site, transforming it into a multifunctional international sports, arts, and cultural center combining sports, leisure, entertainment, and cultural performances, with the aim of injecting brand-new urban development momentum into New Taipei City.

The Taipei Detention Center has long been located in the core area of Tucheng District. Although it plays a crucial role in public security and the correctional system, with the urban expansion of the surrounding area and the rapid concentration of population, this large enclosed correctional institution has gradually become a spatial barrier to local development. Its massive footprint is sandwiched between dense residential areas and commercial activity zones, not only visually fragmenting the urban space, but also substantially restricting the connection of surrounding traffic arteries and the overall commercial potential of the region. For a long time, grassroots citizens and local public representatives in Tucheng and neighboring administrative districts have continuously called for the relocation of the detention center. Everyone expects this prime land to be released in the future and transformed into a public asset that can benefit all citizens, thereby thoroughly improving local living functions and environmental quality.

Regarding this future land of high strategic value, the proposal put forward by Su this time is not merely commercial development, but focuses on the multiple aspirations of citizens for public spaces. She pointed out that residents in modern metropolitan areas have increasingly high demands for quality of life, requiring not only adequate sports and athletic facilities to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but also high-quality arts and cultural exhibition spaces to enrich their spiritual lives. Therefore, if the relocation of the Taipei Detention Center can be successfully secured, the ideal planning direction for the current site is to build a multifunctional international sports, arts, and cultural center. This concept integrates the two core demands of sports and culture. In the future, it can not only plan sports venues, fitness centers, and leisure green spaces that meet international standards, but also incorporate facilities such as multifunctional performance halls and art exhibition spaces, allowing citizens to fulfill diverse aspects of their lives within a single domain.

From a macro perspective of regional development, if this political platform can be realized, it will have a profound impact on New Taipei City's overall urban structure. In recent years, benefiting from the development of technology parks, the improvement of the mass rapid transit system, and the rise of rezoned areas, Tucheng District has become a major hotspot for population influx in New Taipei City, with an explosive growth in the demand for public facilities. However, compared to core metropolitan areas such as Banqiao or Taipei City, Tucheng still relatively lacks the allocation of large-scale international-grade sports and cultural venues. Transforming the existing site of the Taipei Detention Center into a multifunctional center will not only directly fill the gap in local hardware facilities, but will also exert a magnetic effect, attracting crowds from the surrounding areas and even other counties and cities, driving the prosperity of surrounding commercial districts, and further enhancing New Taipei City's urban competitiveness within the capital living circle.

Of course, relocating a large correctional institution and transforming it into a multifunctional public space involves extremely complex cross-ministerial coordination and long-term engineering planning. This requires not only intensive communication and cooperation between the New Taipei City Government and central competent authorities such as the Ministry of Justice—finding suitable alternative land, allocating massive relocation funds, and properly handling statutory procedures such as land zoning changes, urban planning reviews, and environmental impact assessments. The realization of this vision is undoubtedly a long and challenging road, testing the political determination and coordination ability of the leadership. However, as the election progresses, various sectors' imagination of New Taipei City's spatial development over the next decade or two has gradually become clearer, and this discussion on land revitalization has added concrete and profound policy debate depth to the New Taipei City mayoral election.

(Source of Facts: Central News Agency)