Abstract
The Taiwanese central government views city-county consolidations as an effective method to strengthen national competitiveness and to balance regional development. But for local governments, consolidation presents a series of planning challenges, especially in relation to the reconstruction of planning concepts and discourses in their new territories. Aiming to understand the process, this study first proposes a typology of regional planning concepts as a conceptual tool to explore whether and how the consolidated governments (re)construct their urban-rural planning concepts, and then it examines the factors that may influence (re)conceptualisation through a comparative study of Taichung City and Tainan City. The research results show that overemphasis on using the concept of competitive city regionalism to balance regional development at the national level may lead to a widening of rural-urban disparities at regional and local levels.
Highlights
Different forms of state rescaling and local government reorganisation – including city-county consolidation, annexation, mergers, interlocal agreements, and special districts – have been considered plausible strategies to deal with cross-boundary environmental and economic issues, such as urban-rural disparities, global competitiveness, smart governance, climate change, and watershed governance
The approach of the national government is underpinned by the concept of competitive city regionalism
This study explores the possible influences on local urban-rural development resulting from city-county consolidations
Summary
Different forms of state rescaling and local government reorganisation – including city-county consolidation, annexation, mergers, interlocal agreements, and special districts – have been considered plausible strategies to deal with cross-boundary environmental and economic issues, such as urban-rural disparities, global competitiveness, smart governance, climate change, and watershed governance. On the other, it implies a city-first perspective in which cities and their regions are considered the keys to competitiveness. The consolidations have brought a series of spatial planning challenges to the consolidated city governments in relation to institutional arrangements and a shift in organisational culture and through the need to reconstruct planning concepts and discourses in response to the newly consolidated territories This process has variously involved a reconceptualisation of urban-rural relationships, and the manner in which this has been achieved influenced local urban-rural development and residents’ lives. The last section includes conclusions and suggestions for future research
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
