Cities 55 (2016) 1–8

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Cities

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cities

City profile

City profile: Taipei

Jie Li, Xingjian Liu, Jianzheng Liu ⁎, Weifeng Li
Department of Urban Planning and Design, Faculty of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong, Room 836, Knowles Building, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Taipei experienced rapid development and came to play an important role on the world stage as the capital of
Received 28 August 2015 Taiwan, one of the Asian Tigers. It has undergone a major political, economic, and urban restructuring over the
Received in revised form 18 November 2015 past two decades, under contexts of globalization, neoliberalization, and democratization. The past mode of
Accepted 13 March 2016
governance led by the developmental state has been replaced with public–private partnerships propelled by
Available online xxxx
the rising power of business and social groups, leading to the rise of entrepreneurial governance. In recent
Keywords:
years, Taipei has had to deal with a number of challenges associated with the slowing down of economic growth,
Taipei declining urban areas, and escalating housing prices. This paper aims to unveil how the city government deals
Urban governance with recent challenges given its development history and the changing governance regime.
Industrial upgrading © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Urban renewal
Affordable housing

1. Introduction and urban spatial changes have taken place in Taipei, which are situated
within the broader global and local contexts associated with the global-
Taipei, literally meaning the North of Taiwan, is the capital city of ization, neoliberalization, and democratization process. These changes
Taiwan (Fig. 1). Situated in the middle of Taipei Basin, the city is include urban governance restructuring from centrally controlled to en-
surrounded by mountains and has a total area of 271.8 km2. Geograph- trepreneurial governance that actively seek partnership with private
ically, the jurisdiction of Taipei City is surrounded by New Taipei City sectors, economic restructuring towards a knowledge and creative
(renamed from Taipei County). Taipei City and New Taipei City are economy, and a significant urban spatial restructuring through the ex-
two different cities with separate administration systems, but are un- tensive urban renewal and gentrification process. This paper aims to un-
dergoing a regional integration process and have formed a twin-city veil the urban governance, economic, and spatial restructuring process
living environment connected by transportation networks. Taipei is in Taipei to deal with various challenges over the past two decades,
one of the world's most densely populated cities, with an average pop- with special attentions to the most recent urban strategies and policies
ulation density of 9942 people per square kilometer. of the newly elected mayor, who appears to have very distinct styles
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island of approx- from former mayors in addressing urban problems.
imately 36,000 km2, situating about 180 km off the southeastern coast
of mainland China. Following the Chinese civil war, the Communist 2. Historical development of Taipei
Party of China took control of mainland China and founded People's
Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, while the Chinese Nationalist Party There are three phases in the urban development of Taiwan in gen-
(Kuomintang) relocated the ROC government to Taiwan. Taiwan is eral and Taipei in particular, leading to a unique culture that reflects the
known as one of the Asian Tigers that have undergone a dramatic eco- legacies of the traditional Han Chinese migrants, the Japanese colonial
nomic boom in the 1970s, led by the developmental state. As the eco- era, and the Kuomintang governance. Before the eighteenth century,
nomic, political, and cultural center of Taiwan, Taipei has experienced Taipei remained an uncultivated plain as the residence of an indigenous
rapid development. Nonetheless, compared with other Asian Tiger ethnic of Taiwan: the Ketagalan. The Han Chinese began to migrate to
capital cities of Hong Kong, Seoul, and Singapore, Taipei seems to be Taipei in the early eighteenth century. The majority of migrants are
increasingly marginalized in the East Asian Region. In the past two de- Minnan people from Fujian Province while a minority are Hakka people
cades, Taipei has faced a number of challenges, including the slowing from Guangdong Province. They were the first developers of Taipei in
down of economic growth, declining urban areas, and escalating hous- terms of city building. The immigrants brought their own culture into
ing prices. To deal with the challenges, substantial political, economic, Taipei, including language and architecture styles. The economic, politi-
cal, and culture functions of the city had close ties to and were influenced
⁎ Corresponding author.
by the mainland. Economic transactions of tea, rice and camphor were ac-
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (J. Li), [email protected] (X. Liu), tively conducted between Taipei and mainland China, shipped through
[email protected] (J. Liu), wfl[email protected] (W. Li). the Tamsui River. The river port area of Dadaocheng and Mengjia in the

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2016.03.007
0264-2751/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 J. Li et al. / Cities 55 (2016) 1–8

Fig. 1. Location of Taipei City within Taiwan.

Western part of Taipei became the commercial center (Chou, 2005). The around one million Chinese mainlanders fled to Taiwan with the KMT
history of the formal development of Taipei City dates back to 1875, when government, including the soldiers of the Nationalist Chinese Army,
the Taipei Prefecture established by the Qing Dynasty, and Taipei became government employees, and their dependents. In 1967, Taipei was
a provincial capital at the periphery of the Qing Dynasty. It was also dur- elevated to the status of special municipality, directly controlled by
ing this period that the first ‘walled’ city of Taipei was built near Mengjia the Executive Yuan, and became the de facto capital city. The KMT
and designated as the administrative center. The Western area later be- Government soon imprinted the urban landscape of the capital city
came the heart of the city. with their own Chinese nationalist ideology, as the government
The second phase of urban development began when Taiwan be- intended to use the urban form to legitimize its governance (Liu,
came a colony of Japan in 1895. The Japanese chose Taipei as the capital 2013). In cultural terms, the new administration tried to eliminate the
and set the Governor-General's Office there, which made Taipei Japanese colonial culture and redirect the national identity towards
the political, economic, and cultural center of Taiwan. During the the KMT's version of Chinese tradition, that is, the Chinese nationalism
Japanese-occupied era from 1895 to 1945, the economy was a typical culture established by Sun Yat-Sen (Leitner & Kang, 1999). Such ideolo-
colonial economy. Natural resources were exported to support the gy was manifested in urban landscapes: new public buildings were con-
development of Japan. Because Taiwan was Japan's first colony, the structed in traditional Chinese architectural style, while existing streets,
Japanese were determined to build it as a showcase to demonstrate public squares and buildings were renamed after nationalist terms, KMT
their governing capacity to the world. A modern planning framework figures, or places of the Chinese mainland (Leitner & Kang, 1999; Liu,
was introduced into Taiwan by the Japanese colonial government and 2013). Many symbolic buildings and landmarks, such as the National
laid the groundwork for city planning in Taipei (Huang, 2005). The city Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, in memory of the national founding
of Taipei was expanded to the east, south, and north, with improved father Sun Yat-Sen, were planned and constructed during the 1960s
urban infrastructure. The Japanese demolished the Taipei city wall, built and 1970s (Fig. 2). In this period, Taipei experienced rapid economic
roads, expanded streets, and improved drainage in Taipei City. The com- development and urbanization. It was engaged in global economic
mercial functions were still concentrated in the western areas and a new restructuring and experienced the impact of western culture, particular-
CBD was built in 1914 in the West Gate area (Ximending) (Chou, 2005). ly the U.S. culture. By this time Taipei had become a diversified interna-
Many office buildings, public spaces, and transport systems in present tional city with unique urban qualities. Its history has left a lasting
Taipei are Japanese colonial legacies, including the current Presidential imprint on its urban landscapes and cultural life.
Office Building that was built as the Governor-General's Office in 1919.
After Taiwan's retrocession to China in 1945, Taiwan was designated 3. Restructuring of urban governance: democratization,
as a province, and Taipei a provincial municipality. Following the defeat neoliberalization, and public participation
by the Communist Party, the Kuomintang (KMT) government relocated
to Taiwan in 1949 and designated Taipei as the “provisional capital Urban governance in Taipei has restructured from a centrally con-
at wartime”. Taipei experienced a dramatic population explosion, as trolled to an autonomous local state through a democratization process
 J. Li et al. / Cities 55 (2016) 1–8 3

Fig. 2. The National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.

that fought its way during the 1980s and 1990s. Until the mid-1980s, election, it remains to see the future development of Taipei under a new
Taiwan was under an authoritarian one-party rule that the central political sphere.
state played a dominant role over the local state in the planning and de- Globalization and democratization on both the global and the local
velopment of Taipei. The mayor was appointed and supervised directly scale led to the transformation of public private relations, characterized
by the central state and the local state has very limited autonomy. Dur- by the roll back of the state in welfare provision and the roll out of neo-
ing the authoritative years, the party-state government officials devel- liberal urban policies to seek partnerships with private sectors, which is
oped close ties with private sector business leaders through numerous similar to the transformation from managerial urban government to en-
state-sponsored industrial associations, presenting a complex web of trepreneurial urban governance in the West (Hall & Hubbard, 1998;
clientelistic relationships (Ng, 1999). However, since the mid-1980s, Harvey, 1989). Before the 1990s, urban policies under the developmen-
the authoritarian central state has confronted many crises from both tal state mainly aimed at serving the needs of a low-cost route to eco-
the global and the local level. Globally, as Taiwan increasingly partici- nomic development, catering to its export-oriented economy (Wang,
pated in the global economy, intense global economic competition 2004). Influenced by the neoliberal ideology in the West, the desire to
called for liberalization and internationalization. Domestically, with foster local growth on one hand, and election politics that need to
thirty years of rapid development, a new rising middle class demands seek support from business groups on the other, has propelled the gov-
political participation and institutional reforms. The formation of the ernment to relax formerly restricted measures to create a business
opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 1986 marked the be- friendly environment and encourage investment. These include a
ginning of a democratic transition. Against such background, the city of major expansion and improvement of urban infrastructure, releasing
Taipei became a legal person under the “Self-Governance Act for Execu- state-owned land for massive construction projects, financial reforms
tive Yuan-governed Municipalities” in 1994, and the mayoral election to liberalize interest rates, exchange rates, and deregulation of the fi-
was restored after nearly 30 years of suspension. Chen Shui-bian, a nancial system (Wang, 2004). Increasingly, votes and financial support
member of DPP, won the first 1994 mayor election and took office as of key local politicians and businesspeople became crucial to local policy
mayor of Taipei. making and implementation, as the state's control over policy outcomes
Since democratization, Taipei's urban governance has been reshaped was diminished (Hsu, 2011; Ng, 1999). This realignment of public pri-
by intergovernmental relations, public private relations, and citizen par- vate relations has significant implications on the large-scale private-
ticipation. The city's development is strongly influenced by vertical in- led urban renewal projects, to be discussed later.
tergovernmental relations between the central state and local state, as The democratization process also led to the rise of the civil society as
the central government can exert direct influence on Taipei through voters started to exert their influence on public affairs with their rising
budget allocation as well as other resources it controls. In the 1990s, political power. During the authoritarian era, people's participation
the central government played an enabling role to support the city's in public affairs such as city planning was impossible because the
strategic planning and development, but the situation changed after decision-making process was highly centralized and excluded the
2000 because of party politics (Wang, 2006). From 2000 to 2008, the general public. With democratization, citizens began to take collec-
central government was ruled by President Chen Shui-bian from DPP tive actions to demand institutional access to decision-making pro-
while the Mayor of Taipei, Ma Ying-Jeou, was from the opposition cess, which put tremendous pressure on governments at all levels
KMT party. Because of the political conflicts, the central government in- as they can no longer afford ignoring community demands in the
tentionally suppressed the development of Taipei by cutting its budgets era of electoral competition. In the realm of urban planning and de-
and devoting national resources to the South of Taiwan where DPP velopment, community residents are particularly keen to preserve
voters concentrated, resulting in the weakening of city competitiveness social bonds, place-specific identity, and environmental quality by
(Wang, 2004). This situation has been improved since 2008 when demanding a voice in community planning and fighting against un-
Ma Ying-Jeou took presidency and the former Mayor of Taipei, Hau wanted development projects (Hsiao & Liu, 2004). Social movements
Lung-bin, who took office in 2006 was also from the KMT. However, and protests propelled government to provide resources and oppor-
the incumbent Mayor Koh Wun-che was elected in 2014 as an indepen- tunities for citizen participation. Gradually, participatory planning
dent candidate. With Tsai Ing-wen from DPP won the 2016 presidential was institutionalized into the urban planning framework, which
4 J. Li et al. / Cities 55 (2016) 1–8

significantly changed local planning culture (Huang, 2005). New output value. However, compared with other regional global cities
mechanism of a “community planner system” was introduced to as- such as Hong Kong or Singapore, the producer service sector has not
sist local residents in participatory planning by the government, been developing fast or become predominant in the economy. Producer
through which community planners work for the local communities services in Taipei are more oriented to the local market rather than to
and bridge the gap between the government and city residents in serve the Asian-Pacific regional or global market (Wang, 2004).
improving public space. NGOs were formed to help urban residents The successful industrial upgrading was attributed partly to the es-
fight for their rights to the city and solve community problems, the tablishment of Hsinchu Science Park (HSP) in 1980. Straddling the city
most famous being the Organization of Urban Re-s (OURs), formed and county of Hsinchu, it was located 70 km from Taipei and occupied
by socially oriented professionals from architecture, urban planning an area of 6.5 km2 (see Fig. 1 for the location of HSP) (Hsinchu Science
and other fields. Professionals working in NGOs have played key Park, 2015). As the first science park in Taiwan, it aimed to build a
roles in community planning in Taipei, especially in saving commu- high-tech industrial base that would attract high-tech professionals
nities, the environment and heritage (Ng, 2014). However, participa- with a quality environment for working, living, and R&D activities. The
tory planning is unequal to different social groups as the middle- park played a significant role in cultivating a high-technology city
class communities are in a better position with more bargaining region in the global market and promoting the high-tech industry ex-
power and better knowledge compared with the poor communities plosion in Taiwan. Currently, it mainly houses semiconductor and opto-
(Hsiao & Liu, 2004; Huang, 2005). Furthermore, it mainly focuses electronics ventures, accommodating more than 520 tenant companies
on neighborhood-level planning, while has minor significance in is- with over 150,000 employees (Hsinchu Science Park, 2015). Since the
sues at the city planning and strategic planning level (Huang, 2005; 2000s, the HSP has led the Hsinchu-Taipei region to become an interface
Wang, 2006). region that connects the technology hub in Silicon Valley to China's
market, linking global flows of technology and capital (Hsu, 2005).
4. Restructuring of economy: from manufacturing to high-tech to Top-down state intervention in strategic promotion, such as granting
creative industries preferential policies and establishing the Electronic Research Service
Organization (ERSO) for technology transfer, was critical to the devel-
The biggest event of economic development in Taiwan was industri- opment of HSP and the high-technology industries it hosted (Hsu,
alization in the 1960s, when the Island joined the global economy by 2011).
embarking on low-tech and labor intensive manufacturing and assem- After the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the economic growth rate in
bly work with its cheap labor pool. Taipei served as the national node Taiwan slowed down and became negative in 2001, while the unem-
and the major economic center for the export-led economy, connecting ployment rate rose to a historical high point (unemployment rate in-
Taiwan to the world market through its dominant role in the service creased from 2.6% to 4.6% during 1998 to 2002). To upgrade Taipei's
sector (Wang, 2004). At the beginning of the 1980s, an acute shortage status within the global high-tech commodity chain and boost the city's
of cheap labor and land, together with the competition from rising economy, since the 2000s, the central government and the city govern-
Southeast Asian industrializing countries and mainland China, pro- ment have been promoting the development of high-tech industries by
pelled an industrial upgrading process in Taiwan. The information tech- establishing high-tech parks within Taipei. The creation of the “Taipei
nology industries grew rapidly, and in particular, semiconductor Technology Corridor” is thus at the core of local government agenda.
manufacturing has occupied a pivotal position in the global market. The government planned the 20-kilometer high-tech industry belt, ex-
For Taipei, the economy evolved in two ways: one was upgrading tending from Nangang Software Park (NGSP) in the east, through the
from labor-intensive manufacturing to technology-intensive industries industrial districts along the Keelung River, to Neihu Technology
such as personal computer and integrated circuit industries; the other Park (NHTP), and the Beitou Shilin Technology Park (BSTP) (see
was a rapid growth of producer services (Ching, 2005; Hsu, 2005). Cur- Fig. 3 for their locations). This technology corridor is expected to cre-
rently the city's industrial structure, as shown in Table 1, consists largely ate efficient industrial clusters and strongly enhance the high-tech
of tertiary industries as more than eighty percent of the workforce is industrial development of Taipei City, in order to reposition Taipei
employed in this sector, showing that it is undoubtedly service oriented. in the international division of labor and the world–city system
Manufacturing industries have been steadily declining in the city as its (Wang, 2006).
share of annual gross output value has decreased from 62% in 1971 to The industrial data of NHTP and NGSP is shown in Table 2 and
36% in 2011, and the share of employment decreased from 42% to Table 3. In NHTP, the tertiary sector was in the dominant position
15%. The finance, insurance, real estate and business service sectors in 2014 as it contributed to 66% jobs and 58% annual revenues. Retail
gained substantial growth in the 1980s, making Taipei the core of the and wholesale, finance and insurance, information and communication,
producer service in Taiwan (Ching, 2005). Finance and insurance has were the major subsectors of the tertiary sector that contributed most
become the second largest sector in providing jobs and contributing to to employments and annual revenues. However, the importance of

Table 1
Taipei's industrial structure (2011).
Source: Industrial and Commercial Census Data (2011), Executive Yuan (in Chinese).

Registered firms Employees Annual output value

Number Percentage Number Percentage NT million Percentage

Total 186,447 100 2,223,006 100 10,636,634 100

Manufacturing 7704 4 335,744 15 3,819,716 36
Construction 7898 4 89,182 4 402,969 4
Retail and wholesale 83,955 45 598,987 27 1,387,401 13
Transport and storage 15,436 8 142,468 6 661,261 6
Hotel and catering 14,794 8 132,230 6 199,382 2
Information and communication 6170 3 134,539 6 695,073 6
Finance and insurance 6367 3 332,571 15 2,100,677 20
Real estate 5472 3 44,033 2 234,006 2
Professional, scientific, and technical service 14,761 8 100,019 4 287,396 3
Art and recreational service 2559 1 20,114 1 31,754 0.3
Other 21,331 12 293,119 14 816,999 7.7
 J. Li et al. / Cities 55 (2016) 1–8 5

Fig. 3. Locations of technology parks, creative parks, and CBDs in Taipei City.

the manufacturing sector cannot be neglected as it contributed to 32% West as a new driving force of economic growth, by which post-
jobs and 41% annual revenues, ranking first among all subsectors. The industrial entrepreneurial cities seek to enhance their competitive posi-
scale of the NGSP is much smaller compared with NHTP in terms of tion (Miles & Paddison, 2005). As Taipei aspires to build a creative city
number of firms, employees, and annual revenues. It shows a similar with a “creative atmosphere”, the city government has made an effort
pattern in the dominance of the tertiary sector. Nonetheless, the in- to learn from Western developed countries. In particular, they even
formation and communication sector and the professional, scientific invited Charles Landry, author of The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban
and technical sector are more significant in NGSP, showing that it is Innovators, to visit Taipei and make recommendations on setting up cre-
more specifically oriented to the high-tech industries. The Neihu ative platforms in order to keep creative talents (Taipei City Yearbook,
and Nangang parks have made a significant contribution to Taipei's 2013, 2014). Holding world-renowned cultural and creative related
economy. They have successfully attracted over 4000 enterprises events is another effort to put the city on the global creative map. The
and provided more than 160,000 jobs, with revenues exceeding International Flora Expo held in 2010 and the Taipei World Design
NT$4 trillion (US$122.7 billion) by 2013, accounting for 20% of total Expo held in 2011 have successfully attracted large amount of interna-
industrial revenue in Taiwan (Taipei City Yearbook, 2014). tional visitors and increased the city's global visibility. Creative spaces,
Taipei was hit again by the financial crisis in 2008 and unemploy- such as “cultural and creative neighborhoods” and “creative industrial
ment rate rose to 5.8% in 2009. To cultivate new economic strengths clusters”, have been materialized through urban renewal projects. Cul-
for the city, the most recent economic development strategy is to tural and creative industrial zones are developed in obsolete industrial
promote a knowledge-based economy by developing a creative city. lands as the key arena to cultivate and inspire creativity. Examples in-
Cultural strategies and creativity have been widely employed in the clude the development of Huashan 1914 and Songshan Cultural and

Table 2
Industrial data of Neihu Technology Park (2014).
Source: Survey of Taipei Technology Parks (2014), Department of Economic Development, Taipei Municipal Government (in Chinese).

No. of firms Employees Annual revenues

Number Percent Persons Percent NT Percent

(%) (%) million (%)

Total 4420 100 136,269 100 3,954,412 100

Secondary sector 765 17 46,122 34 1,671,441 42
Manufacturing 624 14 43,305 32 1,605,626 41
Other 141 3 2817 2 65,815 1
Tertiary sector 3655 83 90,147 66 2,282,971 58
Retail and wholesale 1743 39 40,654 30 1,180,377 30
Transport and storage 154 3 5164 4 30,216 0.8
Hotel and catering 90 2 2043 1.5 50,514 1.2
Information and communication 434 10 19,230 14 124,624 3
Finance and insurance 477 11 6336 5 786,421 20
Real estate 213 5 1551 1 20,495 0.5
Professional, scientific, and technical service 332 7 10,178 7.5 48,562 1
Other 212 6 4991 3 41,762 1.5
6 J. Li et al. / Cities 55 (2016) 1–8

Table 3
Industrial data of Nangang Software Park (2014).
Source: Survey of Taipei Technology Parks (2014), Department of Economic Development, Taipei Municipal Government (in Chinese).

No. of firms Employees Annual revenues

Number Percent Persons Percent NT million Percent

(%) (%) (%)

Total 419 100 23,930 100 395,556 100

Secondary sector 91 22 9571 40 103,390 26
Manufacturing 80 19 8137 34 83,893 21
Other 11 3 1434 6 19,497 5
Tertiary sector 328 78 14,359 60 292,165 74
Retail and whole sale 108 26 5642 24 125,938 32
Transport and storage 7 2 436 2 38,112 10
Hotel and catering 15 4 359 1.5 4307 1
Information and communication 92 22 4279 18 44,289 11
Finance and insurance 47 11 1123 4.5 70,880 18
Real estate 8 2 178 0.5 174 0
Professional, scientific, and technical service 37 9 1218 5 5448 1
Other 14 2 1114 4.5 3017 1

Creative Park, which were originally an old Taipei brewery and a tobac- 5. Restructuring of urban space: urban renewal, gentrification, and
co factory constructed under the Japanese Government (see Fig. 3 for challenges to affordable housing
their locations). The incumbent Mayor Koh Wun-che put cultural and
creative industry development as one of his key policy agendas. Rather The economic restructuring to knowledge-based economy with con-
than focusing directly on the growth of the cultural economy sectors, struction of new technology parks and business districts led to urban
Mayor Koh adopted a people-oriented approach that aims at offering a spatial restructuring with the rise of the eastern part of the city where
friendly and equitable creative environment, especially to the young Neihu and Nankang Park and Xinyi business district locate, while the
artists. Recognizing that young artists in Taipei are under tremendous traditional urban center in the western part declined (Fig. 3). With
pressure as they are excluded from the social welfare system and have fifty years of rapid development, many old buildings were inadequate
to fight with unaffordable rent for a space of living and working, for living and public functions, becoming a potential threat to public
Mayor Koh's new policy proposed three approaches to create “Taipei safety, while old factories became obsolete, posing challenges to urban
Cultural DreamWorks”, including to secure the medical and retirement environment and functions. The city of Taipei was in real need of
welfare to cultural workers and artists, to provide more affordable space urban renewal to improve quality of life and enhance city competitive-
for living, working, and performance, and to give more opportunities to ness. Hsu and Hsu (2013) identified three stages of urban renewal in
young artists in cultural procurement. Taipei: from the 1950s to mid-1980s, urban renewal in Taipei adopted
The economy of Taiwan in general and of Taipei in particular, can a state-led mode because the developmental state saw it as their re-
no longer be examined separately from the Greater China region. sponsibility to initiate and finance urban renewal projects to improve
Taiwanese firms began to relocate their operations to the emerging the quality of urban space and living standards of citizens; from mid-
new industrializing countries in the 1980s, in search for cheaper labor 1980s to mid-1990s, under the contexts of neoliberalization, Taipei
and land. Mainland China became the main destination for Taiwan's city government started to encourage private participation in urban
capital investment after 1993, because of the great potential opportuni- renewal projects in order to alleviate public financial burdens and win
ties in China's emerging market as well as affinity in culture, kindred political support from private developers. Significant gentrification
and language (Chou & Lin, 2007; Wang, 2004). As Taiwan became in- took place during this period as the inner city neighborhoods were
creasingly connected with the Greater China region through outward turned into high-end gated communities while the original lower
investment, Taipei's position as a regional hub was enhanced (Wang, class residents were displaced from the city core; since the late 1990s,
2004). However, the economic development of Taipei is heavily influ- the state has been more aggressively pushing urban redevelopment
enced by the cross-strait relations. In the mid-1990s, when the cross- projects to build international competitiveness, which has led to a
strait relations were intense, Taiwan's investments in China were strict- significant urban spatial restructuring through a series of government
ly controlled and Chinese investments in Taiwan were prohibited by the policies and programs, such as the earlier i-Taiwan 12 project and the
state. Cross-border links of communication, trade, and transport were more recent Taipei Beautiful project.
not permitted. Even strait flights between Taiwan and mainland China Rather than viewing urban renewal as a public responsibility, since
were not allowed. These policies negatively affected Taipei's ability to the 2000s, the government continued and expanded their effort in
develop the global connections needed for it to serve as a regional cen- attracting private capital into the program. With business people be-
ter coordinating the Greater China economic arena (Ching, 2005). The coming more influential in urban policy-making and development,
cross-strait relations improved when President Ma Ying-Jeou from urban renewal had shifted to property-led urban regeneration, as a
KMT took office in 2008, who has been actively promoting cross-strait tool for economic development. In addition to providing fiscal incen-
economic cooperation. Direct flights between Taipei Songshan Airport tives, the government also actively facilitated urban redevelopment
and mainland Chinese cities were established at that time. In the new projects by simplifying procedures, assisting land appropriation, and
political sphere, in order to boost the economy, Taipei has actively providing incentives through Floor Area Ratio Bonus and Floor Area
engaged in communicating and attracting capital inflows from the Ratio Transfer. In essence, the urban space was commercialized and
mainland with its matured business environment. Mainland China has financialized for profit seeking and capital accumulation in this process
become not only the destination for Taiwanese investment, but also (Yang, 2013). A pro-growth coalition between the public and private
the source of capital investment in Taiwan, particularly in Taipei. For ex- sectors is formed around urban renewal projects, as the government
ample, the Taipei City Government organized an Economic and Trade seeking financial and political support from the private developers,
Delegation in 2010 to Shanghai economic exchanges, in order to “attract and the developers seeking landed interests and opportunities to ex-
Mainland China's enterprises to pour money into Taipei City” (Taipei pand their businesses. It resembles a growth machine that emphasizes
City Yearbook, 2011). the exchange value of land rather than use value (Logan & Molotch,
 J. Li et al. / Cities 55 (2016) 1–8 7

1987), and thus has propelled intensified gentrification process in were triggered by the political competition in the city election and
Taipei. Under such circumstance, urban renewal led by private sectors the neoliberalization trend. Under such contexts, the outcome of
only focuses on those areas that can extricate most value from urban the new mayor's recent attempt in public-led urban renewal and
space to facilitate speculation in the city center while the majority of large-scale public housing projects has yet to be seen.
dilapidated neighborhoods and buildings left out (Hsu & Hsu,
2013). Examining the gentrification process of Yong Kang, Qingtian 6. Concluding summaries
and Wenzhou neighborhoods, Jou, Clark, and Chen (2014) argued
that it is an example of revanchist urbanism in Taipei, characterized Taipei has undergone a dramatic economic, political and urban spatial
by speculative rent-seeking, entrepreneurial form of governance, transformation over the past two decades. Under global and local forces
and dystopian/utopian imagery building. Gentrification, while led of globalization, neoliberalization and democratization, the authoritarian
by developers and facilitated by the government, also propelled by developmental government gradually transformed to entrepreneurial
the rising middle class who has a bigger voice in community plan- governance, characterized by prioritizing economic growth, seeking pub-
ning. Yong Kang neighborhood renewal project was one of the earli- lic–private partnerships, and intensified commodification of urban space.
est and most well known success of participatory planning mobilized The city government played an important part in promoting industrial
by local residents to preserve local trees, park, and street (Huang, upgrading to the high-tech and creative economy, through strategy for-
2005). However, demand's for social and environmental ‘order’ and mulation, policy learning, spatial reinvention, as well as expanding
‘cleanliness’ among local residents led to the expelling of street ven- cross-strait collaborations with mainland China. In the urban planning
dors and promoted commercial gentrification, turning the neighbor- and development sphere, the dominant role of the authoritarian one-
hood into high-end consuming space (Jou et al., 2014). party state has given way to the market and society due to increasing de-
With the large-scale urban renewal and gentrification, affordable mocracy, as business and social groups play an expanding role in partic-
housing has been steadily replaced by luxury housing for the rich, and ipating and shaping urban development. However, the entrepreneurial
housing prices in Taipei have been escalating due to speculation. By discourse in seeking capital accumulation and competitive edge in the
2014, Taipei had an average home price of TWD 686,000 per ping neoliberal milieu led to ‘revanchist urbanism’ with intensified gentrifica-
(US$6400/m2), with a home price to income ratio (PIR) of 15.01, rank- tion and acute problem of housing affordability. Developers are eager to
ing first in the world (Global Property Guide, 2015). The housing afford- extricate exchange value from urban land development, while the role of
ability problem is particularly keen for disadvantaged groups, including local community participation is only limited in battling this trend be-
low-income and young people. High housing prices have roused public cause it's more difficult for the voice of the most disadvantaged social
protest against the government. In particular, the recent wave of hous- groups to be heard. However, the most recent urban policy in Taipei
ing movement called for changing the speculative housing system and under Mayor Koh seems to present a shift from his predecessor as he ad-
advocated for social housing (Chen, 2011). vocates a more people oriented approach in urban development rather
Unlike the other Asian tigers such as Singapore and Hong Kong that than spatial or economic oriented, and tries to re-engage the government
have an extensive public housing program, state interventions in hous- in shouldering major responsibilities rather than relying on private sec-
ing have been very limited in Taiwan (Chen, 2011; Chen & Li, 2011). tors. Nonetheless, under the complex inter-governmental relations and
Since the late 1980s, the government has gradually changed their hous- state-market relations that shape the urban politics, the outcome of the
ing intervention from the supply to the demand side, using mortgage new urban policies and strategies remains to be seen.
subsidies to promote housing consumption rather than directly pro-
viding housing construction. Assisting the housing market and pro- Acknowledgment
moting homeownership have been the dominant goal of housing
policies since the end of 1990s, while little attention was paid to The work described in this paper was partially supported by a grant
housing for low-income people. By 2010, there were only 3833 pub- from the Hui Oi-Chow Trust Fund.
lic rental housing units in Taipei, accounting for 0.64% of the housing
stock for the entire city (Taipei City Yearbook, 2012). The lack of pub-
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