每天與我們共同生活的街道、捷運站、公園、路標、櫥窗、海報廣告…等各項都市公共設施，不論大小相互組合成為都市風貌。近來由於台灣都市美學受到重視，本研究特別將台灣人普遍忽視的人孔蓋，從外觀、形式、色彩…等視覺要素的構成，重新探索人孔蓋於都市設計中所扮演的角色。本研究以質性研究方法從文獻探討與現場採樣，就歐、美、日與台灣的人孔蓋形式演變與現況進行資料收集與視覺要素分析。比較結果顯示歐、美、日的人孔蓋呈現出共用或統一的系統化，甚至與地方文化、藝術相結合，展現出專屬於各地區、都市的文化意象。反觀台灣的人孔蓋除少數案例外，大部份分屬各事業部門，如中華電信、台電、水工處或養工處等。表面依功能性有凸起的防滑幾何圖形和隸屬單位名稱，樣式簡單、普通，無特殊性，甚至在各種養護修繕工程中被粗暴地破壞。他山之石可以攻錯，期待本研究結果能引起相關研究或設計者之關注，藉以提昇台灣都市文化的內涵。

The urban communal facilities are living with us every day, such as streets, metro stations, parks, road signs, shop windows, advertising posters…etc. No matter the size of facility, they all can combine to each other. And then, the urban style is formed.Based on literature and field sampling, this study uses qualitative research methods to collect data concerning the evolution of manhole covers' shape and their status in Europe, US, Japan and Taiwan, and analyze their visual elements. After comparison, the result shows that manhole covers in Europe, US and Japan show a shared or unified system. They might even be integrated with local culture and art, displaying the cultural images which belong to a specific region or city.In contrast, manhole covers in Taiwan, except for a few cases, belong mostly to different business divisions such as Chunghwa telecom, Taiwan Power Company, sewer department, or public works bureau. Depending on functions, the surface of manhole covers is convex with geometric patterns and names of business divisions. Their style is simple, plain and without any particularity. Additionally, these manhole covers might even be destroyed in maintenance or repairing constructions. An advice from others may help one's defects. This study wishes to attract attention to researchers or designers, by which the culture of cities in Taiwan can thus be enhanced.