Lecture on Taiwan Development

“Taipei Metropolitan Development: Dynamics of Cross-Strait Political Economy, Globalization, & National Identity”

Reginald Yin-Wang Kwok, Asian Studies Program & Department of Urban & Regional Planning, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Cross-strait political economy, globalization and national identity are the recognized factors that shape Taipei metropolitan development. Kwok will trace the city’s development through the four distinct historical periods: dynastic incorporation (1683–1894), Japanese colonization (1895–1945), Kuomingtang rule (1945–1988), and global competition (1988–2008), the cumulative effects of which have led to the current policy of cross-strait re-opening (2008–present). Kwok’s presentation will conclude by projecting the city’s probable future prospects from the past and present urban changes.

Reginald Yin-Wang Kwok is a professor of Asian Studies, and professor of Urban and Regional Planning at UHM. The areas of his teaching and research specialization are the political economy of Chinese development and urbanization, globalization in East Asia, urban economic and spatial development, and the cultural impact on urban form in Asia. He studied and practiced architecture in London and Hong Kong, studied urban planning at Columbia University in New York, and taught at the Architectural Association in London and the University of Hong Kong, where he was the founding director of the Centre of Urban Planning and Urban Studies before joining UH.

His publications include: Globalizing Taipei: The Political Economy of Spatial Development, Hong Kong–Guangdong Link: Partnership in Flux, General Theories of Urban Planning (in Chinese), The Shek Kip Mei Syndrome: Economic Development and Public Housing in Hong Kong and Singapore, and Chinese Urban Reform: What Model Now?

Event Sponsor
Center for Chinese Studies, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Daniel Tschudi, 956-8891, china@hawaii.edu

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