Partnership on urban regeneration - case study in Taipei, Taiwan.

Partnership has become an important policy for the Taipei City Government (TCG) especially since the Urban Renewal Act was published in 1998. The initial aims were to attract private investment and practise public participation as the partnership approach has benefited other countries. Almost 10 years have passed, however the aims have not been achieved well and it is difficult to identify the partnership as literature suggests in Taipei's urban regeneration projects. Possibly, the policy may have drifted from its original idea or the fundamental principles of partnership during the urban regeneration policies transferred, and it may be the reason for the difficulties in identifying partnerships in the projects. Thus, this research set out to review policies without neglecting the fundamental principles of the partnership. This study reviewed the partnership in Taipei's urban regeneration projects by an appraisal framework which was established in this research by unpacking the fundamental principles from the definitions of partnership. These were based on the. two premises that, firstly, the TCG has adopted a partnership approach into urban regeneration agendas since 1998 at least and, secondly, there are several fundamental principles which need to be achieved in a partnership. Four urban regeneration projects were studied in detail, each of them representing a type of urban regeneration project in Taipei. The study consisted primarily of interviews with key plays, supplemented by documentary evidence and observation. There are three main results in this research. First, an appraisal framework, which is based on the partnership principles, was established to assist with policy making or revising. This framework can review the effect of partnership without neglecting the nature of partnership as it was based on the fundamental principle of it. Second, the Policy evolution, the types of partnership, the government's attitude and the regeneration process of case studies are analyzed. Compared with other research in Taiwan which normally only considered the projects under the Urban Renewal Act, this research provides a wider view of urban regeneration. In addition, the rebuilt regeneration process and the analysis of the case studies can help readers to understand the partnership in each project. Finally, the results of the appraisal show that the partnership is still at a basic level and is not eV.ident in most of the urban projects are pointed out and can help the policy makers and researchers improve policies on an informed understanding of partnership.