The extreme weather conditions that are increasingly affecting Taiwan require urgent solutions, especially as land-use pressures and intensive urban development are triggering new types of vulnerability to natural disasters. Green infrastructure is an especially promising means of enhancing the resilience of urban environments, as well as their residents’ quality of life. However, due to the indirect nature of green investment, the economic value of green infrastructure is not adequately reflected in market prices, and novel methods of economic valuation are needed to ascertain their value. To fulfill that need, this study conducts a cost–benefit analysis of investment in green infrastructure related to urban renewal and identifies economic factors that could directly and indirectly increase environmental quality and promote sustainable development. The main finding of this work is that the increased cost of a green approach for a particular urban-renewal infrastructure project in Taiwan could be recouped in approximately eight years. Specifically, version of the plan based on green infrastructure would cost an additional US $9.2 million up front, but its positive impact would be greater than the non-green version by US $1.2 million per year.

Abstract:The bamboo-art industry in Taiwan's Jhushan Township is inseparable from local life. In the face of local industrial-development difficulties in smaller towns, the Taiwan government aimed to achieve a range of (re)development goals using eco-museums as collaboration platforms and required such museums to combine their operations management with cultural preservation, local industrial development, and local residents' goals. As such, the likely future performance of such operations management has emerged as a crucially important factor in decision-making about whether such museums should be constructed. This study, therefore, reviews the relevant literature on the operations-management performance of museums, with special attention to eco-museums, and proposes an operations-management performance measurement framework for eco-museums based on that review and a two-stage questionnaire administered to experts. The first stage utilized the Fuzzy Delphi Method, which focuses on impact factors, and the second, the Analytica Network Process Method, deals with performance factors. The results indicate that the key impacts on the performance of eco-museums and their operations management were, in order of importance, (1) community symbiosis, (2) cultural inheritance, and (3) regional revitalization. The preservation of cultural heritage, local identity, and community participation are the most important criteria in the operations management of eco-museums, and Jhushan Town can promote such museums through these guidelines.

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Abstract:Affected by economic recession, reductions in government subsidies, and changes in visitors' needs and contributions, museums in Taiwan have begun to strengthen their recreational and economic functions. Nantou, which has 13 museums that showcase local cultural industries, is the county most obviously affected by declining tourist numbers and reduced cultural consumption and cultural tourism. Through surveys and interviews, this study examines the current conditions of operational management of these venues and proposes feasible strategies for their future development. Specifically, it reveals that the operation and management of Nantou's local cultural museums are negatively impacted by the lack of (1) relevant management experience, (2) inter-museum coordination and integration, and (3) financing mechanisms. The recommended development strategies include the establishment of cross-disciplinary value-added platforms.

Urban green infrastructure has become an important concept for sustainable urban development. Regarding the joining up of green spaces into green networks, it can have major positive impacts on the environment, societies and economies, and ecology. This study proposes a value model for investing in urban green infrastructure, with impact factors including land use value, energy conservation value, carbon reduction, and disaster prevention value. It establishes that through the interaction between all four of these factors, urban green infrastructure investment increases net operating income. Additionally, as disaster prevention value increases, urban disaster risk declines, and this has an important positive effect on overall value. Our modeling also indicates that in the face of climatic extremes, the construction of urban green infrastructure is increasingly important, particularly in terms of energy value and disaster prevention value. Specific incentives and catalysts for promoting investment in urban green infrastructure are proposed.