Understanding the long-term evolution of metro impacts on urban development for sustainability, vibrancy, and inclusiveness

This collaborative research project will be implemented by Dr. Jen-Jia Lin on the Taiwan side and Dr. Chia-Lin Chen and Dr. Taku Fujiyama on the UK side. The purpose of the project is to develop a partnership between the Taiwan and the UK teams through implementation of collaborative research on the following three topics: i) the evolution of transit-induced gentrification in London, ii) the long-term impact of metro systems on urban development (in size and structure) in Taipei, and iii) recommendations on urban development policies. Each research team will study the city of the counterpart with assistance of the other team in field visits and data collection. Two workshops will be held in Taiwan and the UK respectively to implement interactions of academics and practitioners between the two countries. The expected achievements of the project are as follows: (1) The project will examine the applicability of the Inverted U-curve Theory to the evolution of transit-induced gentrification in London and the impacts of metro systems on the spatial structure and evolution of urban development in the Taipei metropolitan region. This would not only lead to comprehensive and localized academic theories on the impact of metro systems, but also help practitioners improve their understandings of spatiotemporal relationships between metro network expansion and metropolitan development and devise policies accordingly. (2) The project will suggest criteria for evaluation of the long-term metro impact and provide policy principles for urban development. These would allow new emerging cities to have long-term and comprehensive development plans, and allow existing historical cities to create innovative angles in their redevelopment plans. (3) We will establish collaborative relationships between the Taiwan and the UK team members and agree on the topics and contents of future collaboration research.