Contesting Urban and Rural Space in Desakota Regions of Taiwan

Abstract

The article focuses on the analysis of the desakotasi (village-city process) in Taiwan’s local context of I-Lan County. Particular attention is paid to the manner in which political conflicts have shaped the urbanization process in I-Lan County over the last 20 years. Those conflict points include primarily the construction of Industrial Zones (IZs) and Taipei-I-Lan super highway promoted by the ruling Kuomintang Party (KMT), which were designed to increase Taiwan’s international competitiveness. But such measures were opposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with an ideology of local first. Local magistrates issued a series of environmental protection policies against the developmental strategies of the central state, the ruling Kuomintang. In the following years, the continuing rotation of political parties created conflict that brought demonstration at the local level. These developments were affected by international and national developments that led to a restructuring of economic space in Taiwan particularly processes of urban expansion that led to a steady decline of agriculture.

The significant push-and-pull effect of contesting spaces in political conflicts between KMT- and DPP-controlled periods could be evidenced by: (1) the decline or prosperity of the Industrial Zones and Suao township; (2) the enlargement of urban cores like I-Lan City and Luodong Township; and (3) the formation of a mixed space of urban–rural corridor. I-Lan County, which so long remained in the shadow of the Taipei metropolis, is now increasingly integrated into the Taipei metropolitan region. And its future relies upon the resolution of the political conflicts surrounding environmental protection and the spatial reconstruction of the region so that its desakota heritage may be preserved.

Keywords

desakotasi Taiwan urban and rural space Geographic Information Systems (GISs)I-Lan County contesting spaces dog cage farmhouses

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Contesting Urban and Rural Space in Desakota Regions of Taiwan—A Case Study of I-Lan County

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