IN-PERSON Manchester Livable Cities

Abstract

This study examines how Taiwan’s distinctive sociocultural context shapes the potential for developing livable cities through everyday spatial practices. It analyzes two interrelated forms of non-typical urban spatial production: the privatization of public space and the publicization of private space. In Taiwan’s streetscapes, parks, and arcade systems, public environments are frequently used in flexible and human-centered ways, such as street vending tolerated through discretionary policing, the informal extension commercial seating into pedestrian areas, and the time-shared use of unprogrammed public facilities. These practices constitute everyday modes of public-space privatization. Conversely, residents often voluntarily open portions of their private domains for collective benefit, including allowing pedestrian shortcuts through private land, providing improvised steps or ramps for public use, cultivating greenery on balconies that contributes to the urban landscape, and offering tea and seating in front of their homes. These actions exemplify the publicization of private space grounded in mutual aid and shared well-being. Through field observations and contextual analysis, this research demonstrates that Taiwan’s culture of shared spatiality arises not from formalized governance structures but from everyday mutual assistance, flexible regulatory enforcement, interpersonal trust, and local ethical norms. Such blurred public–private boundaries enhance convenience, micro-scale urban vitality, and neighborhood cohesion while revealing critical considerations for future urban planning, such as multifunctional public facilities, time-shared strategies for park management, and more inclusive pedestrian systems. The study argues that Taiwan’s bottom-up, life-based spatial practices possess significant theoretical value and offer a foundation for reimagining livable urbanism and democratized spatial governance.