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Workshop
on Sustainable Development Indicators
Chung-Li,
Taiwan, 17-19 November 2001
Sustainable
Development Indicators for Taiwan
Jiunn-Rong
Yeh1, Shang-Lien Lo2, Ling-Ling Lee3, Jin-Tan Liu4,
Juju Chin-Shou Wang5, and Shu-Li Huang6
7.
Urban Taiwan
Cities
act as centers of population, economic production and
consumption, and play a driving role in the development
of regional, national, and even international economies.
It is expected that 60% of the world's population will
live in cities by 2020. Whether we achieve a greater degree
of sustainability over that time will therefore be determined
largely by our cities. Despite the development of urban
sustainability indicator systems for cities, such as Seattle
and the Urban Indicator Program by UNCHS, etc., urban
indicators have not been incorporated into a sustainable
indicator system at National Level.
In
our study urban indicators are meant to assist the assessment
of Taiwan's sustainability due to urban development. The
purpose of developing urban indicators in this study is
not to assess the urban sustainability of each city, rather,
it is to assess the contribution of urban development
to the Island of Taiwan as a whole.
The
indicators for "Urban-Taiwan" are defined as
those which can provide information concerning the sustainability
of the specified level of social objectives such as urban
productivity, urban environmental quality, the provision
of public facilities, etc. "Production", "living",
and "environment" are the three intertwining
components of Taiwan's proposed national land planning
process (Figure 7.1). Due to Taiwan's high susceptibility
to natural hazards, the component of "life"
has been further included into this system for identifying
indicators for "Urban-Taiwan". In this study,
measurable attributes of each of the four categories (production,
living, environment, and life) were identified. In all
there are 29 indicators proposed. Instead of P-S-R, these
indicators correspond to the of driving force, state,
and response framework (see Table 7.1).
Table
7.1 Category of Urban Indicators for Taiwan's Sustainability
| |
Driving
|
Force
State |
Response
|
Production
|
*Per
Capita urban productivity
*Ratio
of service industry to urban productivity
*Urban
productivity growth
|
|
*Self-reliance
on local expenditure |
| Living |
*Ratio
of urban area-Increase rate of urban area
*Car
ownership
*Motor
bicycle ownership
*Efficiency
of public transit
|
*Metropolitan
population density
*Ratio
of urban population
*Per
capita residential floor area
*Metropolitan
air pollution
*Metropolitan
noise pollution
*Urban
Slum
|
*Ratio
of public facility area
*Park
area per person
|
| Environment |
|
*Green
coverage ratio
*Metropolitan
agricultural area
*-atio
of polluted stream length
*%
of
CO2 emission
*Construction
waste
|
*Ratio
of accessible water front
*%
of
waste water treated
*%
of
public expenditure on environment protection
*Frequency
of environ- mental education activity
*No.
of environmental NGO
|
| Life |
|
*%
Mof
natural hazard area occupied by urban use
*No.
of death due to urban hazard
|
|
Table
7.2 summarizes each indicator's trend of sustainability.
In all, urban production is moving toward sustainable development
and has functioned as the driving force in urban areas.
However, urbanization in Taiwan has increased population
density in metropolitan regions and resulted in a traffic
burden due to the increase in car ownership. Although air
and noise pollution within urban areas have improved during
the past decade, the problem of stream quality remains due
to the low percentage of waste water treatment. The government
and general public have raised awareness of the importance
of urban environmental quality for the sustainable development
of cities. This has led to increased expenditure on environmental
protection and the development of public facilities. As
a result, living standards in urban areas have improved,
although the conservation of the natural environment still
requires further improvement.
Table 7.2 Summary of Trend of Taiwan's Urban Sustainability
| Category
|
Indicator
|
Sustainability
|
| Production
|
UA1
Per Capita urban productivity
|
↑
|
| UA2
Ratio of service industry to urban productivity |
↑
|
| UA3
Urban productivity growth |
↑
|
| UA4
Self-reliance on local expenditure |
|
| Living
|
UB1
Metropolitan population density |
↓
|
| UB2
Ratio of urban population |
↓
|
| UB3
Ratio of urban area |
↓
|
| UB4
Per capita residential floor area |
=
|
| UB5
Car ownership |
↓
|
| UB6
Motor bicycle ownership |
↓
|
| UB7
Efficiency of public transit |
=
|
| UB8
Ratio of public facility area |
=
|
| UB9
Park area per person |
=
|
| UB10
Increase rate of urban area |
↓
|
| UB11
Metropolitan air pollution |
↑
|
| UB12
Metropolitan noise pollution |
↑
|
| UB13
Urban Slum |
*
|
| Environment
|
UC1
Green coverage ratio |
*
|
| UC2
Metropolitan agricultural area |
↓
|
| UC3
Ratio of polluted stream length |
=
|
| UC4
Ratio of accessible water front |
↑
|
| UC5
%
of waste water treated |
↑
|
| UC6
%
of public expenditure on environment protection |
=
|
| UC7
Frequency of environmental education activity |
↓
|
| UC8
No. of environmental NGO |
↑
|
| UC9
%
of CO2 emission |
NA
|
| UC10
Construction waste |
=
|
| Life
|
UD1
%
of natural hazard area occupied by urban use |
*
|
| UD2
No. of death due to urban hazard |
↑
|
Note:
*: incomplete data and can not interpret its
trend
NA: Data not available |
Characterizing
sustainability by time trends is appealing because of its
simplicity. Sustainability assessments are made in terms
of the direction and degree of measurable changes in system
properties. Sustainable urban management and development
is a prerequisite to Taiwan's sustainable development. The
purpose of developing urban indicators in this study is
not to assess the urban sustainability of each city, rather,
it is to assess the contribution of urban development to
the Island of Taiwan as a whole.
Due
to the characteristics of data, some of the indicators such
as "green coverage ratio" and "percentage
of natural hazard area occupied by urban use" do not
provide sufficient information for trend analysis. Many
of the larger cities in East Asia are located in the "catastrophe-prone"
Pacific Rim countries. This trend is expected to continue
into the 21st century. Typhoon and earthquakes are two major
natural hazards, threatening both the life and property
of human beings in Taiwan. Development on land prone to
environmental hazards, such as land slides, not only endangers
the security of urban residents but leads to further environmental
degradation. Continual monitoring of changes in land use
through aerial photos or satellite images is important for
assessing urban sustainability from a spatial context. The
preliminary assessment of the trend of sustainable development
for Island Taiwan and Urban Taiwan shows that the overall
sustainability of Taiwan is not improving (Figure 2). However,
due to the large proportion of public expenditure devoted
to the development of infrastructure on urban area during
the past decades, the sustainability of urban area in Taiwan
has improved.
Figure
7.2 Assessment and Trend of Sustainability of Island Taiwan
and Urban Taiwan
For better or worse, the sustainability of Taiwan will depend
largely on understanding and managing the growth in cities.
The urban areas will and should become the test bed for
the performance of government agencies and for the effectiveness
of programs to manage the environment and promote economic
development. The process of urbanization is likely to continue,
but how can its profound destructiveness of the ecosystem
be reversed? Urban areas can never be regarded as self-contained
entities. Neither should they be portrayed merely as a parasites
on national development. Their need to interact economically
and environmentally with their surrounding landscapes is
an integral dimension of their vitality and growth. Energy
supplies have always been a problem, and Taiwan is heavily
dependent on imported petroleum. For reasons of energy consumption,
air pollution, and congestion, it hardly seems plausible
that the number of cars should continue to increase. Alternative
means of green transportation are important for the resolution
of traffic problems due to urbanization. Most importantly,
for the sake of preserving prime agricultural land and environmentally
sensitive slope areas, urban renewal should be encouraged
and urban sprawl discouraged. In this way, urban slums can
be revitalized and the energy consumption of transportation
can be reduced.
While
it is important to describe urban conditions and trends
with official quantitative information, it is useful to
know how these trends and changes are correlated to Taiwan's
sustainability. The assessment of the sustainability of
"Urban-Taiwan" is a tool which not only provides
a new insights into urban problems in Taiwan, but also promotes
dialogue between governments in the urban arena. If the
trend of urban sustainability represented by the indicators
of "Urban-Taiwan" is significantly different from
that of "Island Taiwan", it means that urban policy
and management are not making sufficient efforts toward
sustainable development from the long term perspective and
in the national context. With the concept of sustainable
development placed so high on the global policy agenda,
it is timely to initiate policies from which cities can
frame programs and design specific projects. Policies for
urban development in Taiwan need to be reframed in order
to recognize the importance and necessity of encouraging
the sustainable development of cities. Regular assessment
of urban sustainability can also help shape urban policies,
action plans, and management strategies.
It
is concluded that the proposed urban indicator system can
provide evidence of the effect of urban development on national
sustainability. Through these indicators, it has become
possible to measure various facets of urban development.
Then we can start to compare the development of urban areas
within the national context - a major undertaking which
would greatly improve our knowledge of cities and their
contribution to national sustainability. To achieve long-term
benefits, the urban indicator system developed for measuring
Taiwan's sustainability will need to be institutionalized
as part of an ongoing process. They will also need to be
policy reviews at both city and national levels. Despite
all the work that has been done, there are still some matters
pending; to continue to adjust the indicators, to improve
the collection and processing of data, to improve product
presentation, and to make further progress in relating the
trends of urban conditions to Taiwan's sustainability.
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