The Myth of Participatory Planning for Vulnerable Community in Urban Redevelopment: The Case Study of Lin-Kou Community

Top-down (government-led) planning is a typical method widely used in solving urban renewal/redevelopment problems in Taiwan. It has long been criticized for paying little attention to the well-being of residents in vulnerable communities. The urban redevelopment policies, though has already been evolved with the confluence of globalization and local democratization process to include the participatory planning”, has still been strictly affected by the market value of land commodification. This research provides an alternative standpoint to examine the residents’ participation of community renewal for Lin-Kou resettlement community in Taipei. This case has been claimed by Taipei Municipal Government as a very successful showcase to help the renewal of resettlement communities, one type of the most difficult and challenging renewal projects to city government. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate how the urban redevelopment policy, quite contrarily, restrict the civil participation rather than encourage it. Participatory planning is, in fact, not a democratized game for vulnerable citizens in resettlement community as the community obtains an opportunity for renewal.