The Application of Yantian Cultural Resources in Design Education─Taking the Yantian Community in Tainan as an Example

“Salt” is an indispensable necessity in people’s livelihood. In Taiwan’s islands surrounded by the sea and the western coastal areas, salt was boil the sea for a long time in the early stages, and seawater was introduced into the depression in the later stages and evaporated in the sun. With the development of the times, different characteristics of the construction and building materials in the field of the salt industry have entered the era of the industrial revolution. With the development of technology, salt processing technology and the use of imported salt in foreign trade have forced salt fields to be abandoned along with historical development. The Yantian cultural relics still preserved today are actively preserved by government departments to continue to apply the Yantian culture. This study selected the Yantian community in Annan District of Tainan City as the focus of planning. It is hoped that through the development of design education, it will emphasize practical ability and practice-oriented research. The study combines design practice and practical theory, based on the original ecological culture of Yantian, through the reconstruction plan of Yantian’s cultural resources, the mobilization of residents in the Yantian community and the tourism planning of the Yantian Cultural Village, to find a transition direction suitable for the Yantian Cultural Village. Market needs with combining core values of the community with a patchwork of practical experience and action research to build participatory research theories will result in effective internal practice and learning. This research adopts the method of service research through service design, including: 1. diagnosing problems; 2. choosing solutions; 3. seeking cooperation; 4. implementation; and 5. assessing the response from a practical perspective, with the importance of action research, where “Yantian” combines with the local “salt-making” characteristic culture, develops cultural innovation experience, and guides students to truly enter the community to learn. The plan explores the possibility of long-term introduction of design education in the local community, discusses how to communicate and collaborate with community residents, and uses design tools to help solve the problem of community image promotion and application. The research results finally put forward the preliminary construction of the role of the Tainan Yantian community volunteers as a design education platform based on practical experience. It is hoped that it can be used as a local practice of design education and as an accumulation of reference experience.