Between the tallest mountains of East Asia and the West side of the Pacific Ocean exists the vast agricultural plain of Taiwan. On an archeological level, researchers claimed this area as the origin of the Austronesian people, which the population extended all the way to Southeast Asia and New Zealand over centuries. Historically, the East Coast was also where the Japanese Empire encouraged the earliest Japanese immigration in the late 1800s, to come and plant tobacco, sugarcane, and Yoshino rice – an exquisite type of rice used to serve the Japanese Emperor.

On a geopolitical level, the region seats the largest air force base in the Far East and several naval aviation bases for the U.S. Army since the Cold War era. The island of Taiwan was called the ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’. On a geoeconomics level, the East Coast is the landing point of submarine cables owned by Data Oligarchs such as Facebook and Google. The high-tech industry became the core economy of Taiwan and reshaped its urbanity.

In this year's AAVS Taiwan, we will explore these complicated conditions that enriched the economy and shaped the contemporary cities of Taiwan. Joining the large global research project Urbanity from the Ocean, this workshop will investigate the conflicts and contradictions hidden beneath the scenic landscapes of East Coast Taiwan and find out how these hidden complications shaped urban conditions in the Far East.