National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) serves as the primary regional think tank for spatial planning and municipal governance, collaborating closely with local authorities—including the Tainan City Government (Land Administration, Transportation, and Environmental Protection Bureaus) and Pingtung County Government—to address urban development challenges and safeguard housing justice. NCKU hosted the "South Taiwan Spatial Planning, Governance, and Legal Framework Forum" to tackle regional housing pressures, where local price-to-income ratios reached 9.71. NCKU scholars and city officials jointly advocated for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) mechanisms around planned transit stations, using density bonuses to secure municipal quotas for building affordable social housing to guarantee housing security for local residents and young professionals. Furthermore, NCKU actively guides urban spatial regeneration along the Tainan Railway Undergrounding corridor, collaborates on regional zoning under the Spatial Planning Act, and partnered with the city to establish its Third Air Quality Maintenance Zone. Through these institutional municipal partnerships, NCKU systematically advances inclusive, livable, and sustainable urban development.
- NCKU 2025 Spatial Planning Forum: Partnering with Local Authorities to Advance Housing Justice and Affordable Social Housing
NCKU's College of Social Sciences, College of Planning and Design, and Department of Urban Planning co-hosted the "2025 South Taiwan Spatial Planning, Governance, and Legal Framework Forum," collaborating directly with Tainan City Government leadership to address regional housing justice. Confronting a local price-to-income ratio of 9.71, NCKU researchers applied AI NLP models to evaluate youth rent subsidies and public housing challenges. Crucially, the forum advanced policy recommendations to adopt Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) mechanisms, converting transit density bonuses directly into municipal affordable social housing to guarantee affordable housing access for local residents and young professionals.https://news-secr.ncku.edu.tw/p/406-1037-288781,r81.php
- NCKU Collaboration with Regional Authorities: Spatial Planning Act Transitions, Railway Urban Stitching, and Greenway Planning
At the spatial governance forum, NCKU's Department of Urban Planning and College of Planning and Design collaborated with the Tainan City Transportation Bureau and Pingtung County Urban and Rural Development Department to guide regional spatial planning. Scholars proposed regional planning frameworks to support transitions under the Spatial Planning Act. Furthermore, NCKU experts advised on the spatial regeneration of corridors from the Tainan Railway Undergrounding Project, evaluating the 1.5 km "South Railway Elevated Greenway" designed to stitch divided urban districts and reduce ambient temperatures by up to 11.4°C. The forum also aligned transit planning for the Tainan Monorail Blue and Deep Green lines, cementing NCKU's role as the premier municipal think tank for sustainable urban development.https://www.up.ncku.edu.tw/114-09-08-01/
- The City Government and NCKU Join Hands! Establishing Tainan City's Third Air Quality Maintenance Zone
The Tainan City Government and NCKU jointly established and operationalized the city's "Third Air Quality Maintenance Zone," in effect since 2023. Centered around NCKU campuses and its affiliated hospital, the zone mitigates air pollution by restricting the entry of high-emission vehicles, promoting low-carbon transit, and enforcing emission-reduction protocols to cultivate a clean living environment. This initiative demonstrates institutional collaboration between municipal leadership and academia in safeguarding regional air quality, symbolizing a joint commitment toward sustainable, healthy metropolitan planning.https://news-secr.ncku.edu.tw/p/406-1037-262329,r81.php