Land teleconnections of urban tourism: A case study of Taipei’s agricultural souvenir products

Abstract

The impacts of cities on remote areas have seldom been considered in urban sustainability assessments, because geographical areas are bounded and predefined for the purpose of spatial planning. A process-based concept of urban land teleconnections (ULTs) is incorporated within this study to demonstrate the influences of urban activities on distant areas through the physical movement of raw materials, goods and services. Urban tourism not only has spillover effects on adjacent tourist spots but also affects distant places that are sources of tourism-related goods and services. This paper presents a case study of Taiwan’s signature specialty agricultural souvenir products, pineapple cakes, to demonstrate the ULTs of Taipei’s tourism and to examine the ecological exchange relations between Taipei and remote areas that provide tourism-related resources. The land cover inventory resulting from the imposition of digital orthophoto maps on land cover maps revealed that pineapple cakes drove the increase in indigenous pineapple fields in the teleconnected area. Emergy evaluations of pineapple, pineapple cakes, and the study areas indicated that pineapple crops are playing an increasingly significant role in these area’s agricultural sectors. Moreover, the added value from processing pineapples into pineapple cakes benefits local pineapple-based industries in terms of ecological energetic flows. This case study of pineapple cake souvenirs demonstrates how rural planning in Taiwan neglected the effects of ULTs. Our findings contribute to raising awareness, highlighting the need to broaden the scope and vision of urban sustainability assessments relating to the impacts of ULTs on distant areas.