Special Issue on “Urban and Regional Sustainability in China”

Since 2000, China has entered into a new phase, which takes economic transformation and sustainable development as an important strategy for national, regional and urban development. Many scholars have discussed the pathways of globalization, innovation and development in China (Dicken, 1998; Wei, Y. H. D., 2007). Recently, with the rapid development and application of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies), internet dependent cities, resident mobility and social sustainability are also become hot topics in China (Zhen, Wang, & Wei, 2015). Therefore, this special issue addresses these four key issues: innovation, greening, mobility and sustainability

Planning Strategy for Green Transit Oriented Development Using A Multi-objecitve Planning Model

This study develops a multi-objective planning model for Green transit oriented development (Green TOD) from the aspect of overall review of urban planning, which aims to generate planning alternatives for land use allocation, bikeway design and water resource allocation. The objectives of the model are maximizing the development density, maximizing the mixed land use, maximizing the biophilic open space, maximizing the bikeway accessibility, minimizing the parking demand, maximizing the benefit of resource allocating and minimizing the rezoning scale of available land. The following constrains are considered in the model including rezoning feasibility of overall review, compatible land use allocation, minimum allocated scale and maximum allocated capacity, budget limit, identification of transit station area and bikeway continuities. The revised minimum deviation method with different weight settings were used to search the non-inferior solutions for a numerical case built by this study to verify the applicability of the proposed model. Finally, scenario analysis was conducted to explore the characteristics of the model. The result found that some of the objectives, which cannot be integrated due to the difference of planning concept and decision making problem, feature of non-trade-off relationship. Approaches of high density development and environmentally friendly development can be applied to pursue the integrated benefit according to this characteristic. Furthermore, Scenario analysis showed that budget amount influences the planning flexibility and trade-off degree significantly. Budgeting should therefore be dealt appropriately base on the current zoning to ensure the achievement of planning preference

The Travel Behaviours Change of the Residents of Transit Jointed Development in Taipei Metropolitan Area

In recent years, there are plenty of researches advocating the concept of Transit Oriented Development. Among the mass transit infrastructure projects driven vigorously by the government, the most important one is the construction of MRT. In Taipei Metropolitan Area, the Transit Jointed Development (TJD) is flourishing while the construction of the MRT system is gradually completed. Up to now, there are 82 sites in Taipei MRT system, among which 35 sites have been completed and opened for lease with totally 75,577,369 square meters floor area for 6,317 households. Thus, can TJD improve the Transit Oriented Development become a very important issue. Therefore, this research selected 9 TJD sites for discovering the travel behaviours of the residents before and after they moved in the TJD housing. The research findings show that compared with the data before the residents moved in the residences of TJD, their MRT share for commuting increased from 25.92% to 57.11%, and the car share declined from 28.44% to 15.60%. The total distance reduced was 42.68km, averagely 0.1km reduction per household everyday. In terms of the commute days, the total driving days reduced 373 days, averagely 0.86 day reduction per household; and the total MRT commuting days increased 619 days, averagely 1.42 days increase per household. The totally travel time reduction is 1,133 min, averagely 2.6 min reduction per household; and the cost totally reduced NT$1349, averagely NT$3 reduction per household;. According to the results, TJD has significant positive effect on improving MRT share and reducing car usage. Besides, the results also show that TJD reduce the work commuting distance, commuting time and cost, and helps the government undertaking the Transit Oriented Development

A Study on Promotion Mechanisms and the Future of Government-led Urban Renewal Projects from the Perspective of Land Ethics

Urban renewal is one of the important government policies to improve the urban environment and economic growth. To further utilize public land, the Construction and Planning Agency, Ministry of Interior (CPAMI) coordinated with the related public offices to release government-owned land that contains large under-developed areas with the most business incentives for urban renewal. The policy still follows an "urban redevelopment" approach, in this case emphasizing environment improvement and construction, such as building reconstruction. The participation of communities and the ecological integrity of the natural systems in the process of urban renewal is still insufficient. The purpose of this study was to explore Taiwan\u27s urban renewal policy development process and mechanisms of the CPAMI-led urban renewal projects. In addition, this study references Aldo Leopold\u27s land ethic theory, using this theory to explore the power dynamics and land health problems. Understanding the government-led urban renewal policies is needed to improve the social, economic and ecological issues. By "regenerating" the dilapidated region, the urban area is expected to regain its energy and sustainability

A Study of Disaster Risk Communication and Adaptive Behaviour based on Rail Station Protection

Critical infrastructure is an essential element of the operation of the city, such as for rapid transit, high-speed railway, local railways and other mass transit systems that must not only provide adequate service, but focus also on service quality improvement. These transportation station nodes have a single function or multi-target use, offering facilities for accessing transport, waiting, consumption, disaster prevention and other functions. When the city is an important node in disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, fire disasters, terrorist attacks and other disasters, it could seriously affect the city\u27s security, especially through economic losses. In particular, emergency response and disaster recovery require the need to invest a lot in resources and adaptation. Therefore, urban facilities as nodes, space security, risk assessment and adaptation strategies are becoming important issues. This research regards the rail station as critical infrastructure and chooses stations, including railroads, high-speed railroads, and MRT, as nodes and explores the protective measures of stations facing natural disasters or manmade disasters. By collecting domestic and foreign hazard protection literature, this study has established public transport nodes’ risk communication and an adaptive behaviour framework. Based on empirical results, the study finds that the station management department in Taipei uses a systematic approach to prevent and respond to disasters, and may not provide information effectively to help passengers to take appropriate autonomous response measures. The study recommends different contingency measures at stations and public-private adaptation strategies. Commercial enterprises do not have business continuity planning for disasters, they still rely on the government and transport management department for information and emergency guidance. Through this research, some principles and strategies for future disaster planning and urban node management policies are provided

(Section A: Planning Strategies and Design Concepts)

Due to global climate change, rainfall patterns have become more centralized and are causing serious damage more frequently and heavily. After the experiences of typhoons in Taiwan, the importance of risk communication with residents, especially in the vulnerable river watershed area, has become the main issue of disaster prevention policy; however, this effort is frustrated by the lack of related academic research. This study aims to analyse key factors in risk communication mechanisms and how they influence the decision-making of adaptive behaviours. Firstly, this study builds a conceptual framework of the risk communication process to determine how adaptive behaviours are triggered and guided by risk communication. Questionnaires based on this framework were sent to households in the Kaoping River watershed area to verify its utility using a structural equation model (SEM). Based on the framework, an empirical analysis was performed to analyse the key factors influencing decision-making of adaptive behaviours using multinomial logistic regression. The results show that adaptive behaviours are affected by internal awareness of disaster and by risk communication mechanisms and the external environment. The crucial communication channels through family, friends, neighbours and local governments are highly effective. The key factors influencing decision-making of adaptive behaviours are awareness of disaster and adaptive behaviours. People with higher awareness of disaster and adaptive behaviours are more likely to have positive adaptive behaviours. Furthermore, due to the interaction of environments, risk communication patterns and socioeconomic attributes, people from different communities have different adaptive behaviours. Based on the empirical results, some risk communication measures are proposed to improve disaster-prevention strategies

Prospects for Sub-Regional Cooperation in Fujian and Taiwan from Perspective of Urban Planning System：A Case Study of Pingtan Experimental Area

The pace of cross-border sub-regional cooperation is accelerating in the worldwide; ways of institutional cooperation guided by policy has become the trend of regional development gradually. The collaborative development of urban planning system is one of deciding factors in sub-regional cooperation. Fujian and Taiwan have deep connections and the strategic visions of cross-strait cooperation was formed. The approval of Pingtan Experimental Area provided conditions and spaces for the realization of cooperation and it proposed a new pattern of joint planning, development and management in the same year. Based on that, this study attempts to find and analyze the collaboration points which are significant to promote joint management by making a comparison of system of laws and regulations, system of operation and system of administration in urban planning system between the mainland China and Taiwan. Then we will build an operational framework of sub-regional cooperation based on the method of shift-of-context analysis. Related references are including: (1) Add necessary control requirements of building and land use into legal aspects; (2) Strengthen the connections between master plan and detailed planning; (3) Set up special departments for planning review under legal management in administrative cooperation; (4) Implement management for various lands in the same way to promote overall effective development of Pingtan

User Behaviour Analysis of the Public Bike System in Taipei

Public Bike System, PBS, usually named Bike-sharing System in the west, is a category of green transport to provide a low-carbon solution of the “first/last mile” problem in a city. Indeed, there were only five bike-sharing programs in 2000. Now over 400 cities in 30 different countries have PBS programs, with more than 350,000 bikes worldwide. However, the studies for bike-sharing are still limited, and it is hard to find some related research of bike-sharing programs in the East-Asia region. The factors of a successful bike-sharing system vary between different cultures, geographic limits, and models of provision. The experience in the west is not adaptable in east. Therefore, more research is necessary for a better understanding of bike-sharing systems especially in the East-Asia region. To comprehend the elements of a successful bike-sharing system, this study examined the factors that influence the bike use intentions of bike-sharing programs, and analysed the user behaviour based on a survey of 557 respondents in Taipei, Taiwan. Results show the system cognition, environment cognition, personal perception and personal preference are four vital aspects influencing the user behaviour, and the extent is varied by different travel purposes. The location of docking stations is the most critical factor influencing user behaviour with regard to each aspect