Abstract
Amid rapid urban growth, the inhabitants of Taiwan’s ‘concrete jungles’ have tended to neglect the protection of natural resources, and to engage in activities that emit large amounts of carbon dioxide. The urban heat island effect also remains a serious problem, only partially addressed by urban green spaces created or protected via intergovernmental urban planning. Nevertheless, Taiwan’s cities still contain many small areas of wasteland – both the sites of demolished buildings, and former green spaces that have been allowed to die off. If transformed into urban gardens and/or farms, this waste ground could meet the public’s need for additional green spaces and experiences, and help to gradually improve their quality of life. Plans and mechanisms to that effect have existed since 1990, and Taipei City was the first place in Taiwan where farmers provided land for urban dwellers to cultivate. However, due to insufficient governmental support, the operation and management of such initiatives has been largely ineffectual, and thus their development has not been sustainable. Therefore, this paper uses Dongguang Green Garden Road in Taichung as a case study of this sustainable-development bottleneck, with the wider aim of increasing the quantity and quality of urban agricultural gardens in Taiwan and beyond.
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