HOUSING LOW-INCOME PEOPLE IN GLOBALIZING TAIPEI

Abstract

The idea of “becoming a global city” has strongly influenced the urban policies in Taipei, since the 1990s. The Taipei City Government has implemented several mega projects in the city; claiming to improve Taipei’s global status, such as building the highest building in the world and creating a new financial district. Meanwhile, the squatter settlements, which used to be a part of Taipei’s landscape after 1949, have rapidly disappeared and are displaced by luxury buildings and parks. Globalizing Taipei has become the fertile ground of housing speculation and has led to serious problems with housing affordability. Recently, the post-2005 housing boom has triggered a strong social rental housing movement. This article will first examine how “global city discourse” has influenced the urban projects in Taipei, since the 1990s. Then, it will explore the status of low-income housing in Taipei’s urban policies. This paper will draw on several theoretical concepts, including policy mobility, global cities, the right to the city, neoliberalization in East Asian cities, and worlding cities, to discuss the problem of low-income housing in globalizing Taipei.