Taipei as a Global City: A Theoretical and Empirical Examination

Abstract

The paper discusses Taipei's status as a regional global city within the context of the theoretical framework of Hill and Kim. The discussion is based on both theoretical and empirical considerations. On the one hand, theoretical discourses revolving around global cities tend to ignore the possible variations between global cities, so much so that the type based on New York has been regarded as a standard global city and the politico-economic peculiarities of Tokyo and Seoul have tended to be downplayed. On the other hand, Taipei, a Third World city that might gain the status of a regional global city, has not hitherto received extensive examination and observation. Resorting to the binary framework formulated by Hill and Kim to emphasise the salient features of Tokyo and Seoul, the author describes and underscores Taipei's development experiences.

The Non-linear Ripple Effect of Housing Prices in Taiwan: A Smooth Transition Regressive Model

“…Hence, this section estimates the time lag models that use one lag regional house prices, DTC Kaohsiung. On the contrary, Taipei has gained the status of a regional global city (Wang, 2003). Hence, Taipei's economic strength results in a much higher influence on Taiwan's overall house price changes.…”

Structural Breaks and the Convergence of Regional House Prices

“…This led Taipei City to develop itself as a nodal city in cross-border connections (Hsu 2005). Taipei City may have gained the status of a regional global city (Wang 2003), which has caused housing prices to be much higher in Taipei City. Table 1 presents the average house price and the ratio of house price to income in these three cities.…”

“…Conversely, the core competitive advantage of Taipei City is not from traditional industries, but from its strategic nodal position in transnational flows and for its headquartering role in the extension of production chains across the Taiwan Strait. Taipei City may have also gained the status of a regional global city (Wang 2003). Clapp et al (1995) indicate three sets of factors influencing housing prices: (1) purely local determinants; (2) causes that affect neighboring towns, but not the entire area; (3) factors that exert their influence on the entire area.…”

Is Taipei an Innovative City? An Institutionalist Analysis

“…First, a number of studies of and debates revolving around world cities/global cities have demonstrated that an institutionalist analysis is indispensable in relevant case studies and comparative analyses. The paradigm of world cities/global cities has revealed the macro structure of the world city system embedded in and intertwined with the globalizing and incessantly evolutionary capitalist system [42], but it has been indicated that the contexts and embeddedness of the cities being studied are important, too [14,45,46]. This suggests that an institutionalist analysis is necessary to better understand the institutional dynamics of and structuring effects on various world cities because an institutionalist analysis is…”

“…However, Taipei has rarely been studied in the aforementioned theoretical perspectives. Taipei has been examined by many scholars who resort to the world city paradigm [45,46], global cities(regions) [18,22], globalization [23], and network metaphor [16], but few studies have been conducted to investigate whether Taipei (or other Asian cities) is an innovative city capable of developing competitive advantages, generating creativity and knowledge-based economy, as well as gaining a significant nodal position within the world city system.…”