New Taipei City Development Fully Embraces Greening — Scholar Highlights Two Major Innovations: “The Larger the Site, the Greater the Responsibility”

This year, Taipei City revised the Regulations for the Implementation of Greening in New Buildings, requiring new developments to incorporate three-dimensional greening features—such as balcony and rooftop greenery—making such measures universal.

Aiming to cool the city and lower the perceived temperature by 2°C, the Taipei City Government has revised the Regulations for the Implementation of Greening in New Buildings this year, introducing two pioneering measures. For the first time, the city has incorporated the Green Volume Ratio (GVR) into law, requiring new developments to include three-dimensional greening features—such as balcony and rooftop greenery—making them a standard practice. Scholars note two groundbreaking aspects of the revision and stress that “the larger the site, the greater the responsibility,” meaning larger developments must provide proportionally more greening.

Professor Lin Tzu-Ping, Distinguished Professor at the Department of Architecture, National Cheng Kung University, explained that the first innovation is that this is the first regulation in Taiwan to legally define the shading quality of plants. Unlike the past, where greening requirements were based solely on surface area, the new rules assign different weighting scores to trees, shrubs, and grass according to their shading effectiveness—highlighting that high-quality planting can create better shaded and more comfortable spaces.

The second innovation is the formal inclusion of the Green Volume Ratio into law. Previously, greening requirements were tied to statutory open space: in commercial zones with large plots but high building coverage, the small amount of open space meant limited planting requirements. Under the revised rules, “with greater rights come greater responsibilities”—regardless of building coverage or floor area ratios, the greening level must be proportional to the site size. Developments are categorized into five control levels, aiming to achieve a GVR between 1.6 and 2.0.

Lin noted that green coverage refers to the extent of ground-level greenery, while green volume combines three-dimensional greening with shading comfort. The central government’s green building index focuses on carbon sequestration, whereas Taipei’s revision complements this by not only fixing carbon but also addressing urban heat adaptation under climate change, raising expectations for greenery’s contribution to human well-being.

He suggested that the new regulations should be supplemented with a planting classification table or aligned with the existing Green Building Manual to help designers select tree species with effective shading according to site conditions. The public should also positively recognize the role of trees in urban environments and value the comfort they bring.

Lin added that most public green spaces in Taipei have already been developed and planted. Moving forward, public–private collaboration can strengthen greening on private sites, with each private property becoming a “mini park.” This could significantly increase the city’s total greenery, and gradual progress in this direction would be a welcome and beneficial development.

Source：聯合新聞網