Summary

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Chapter 7 Conclusions and Suggestions

Recalling the purposes and research questions of this study, the aim of the author is to understand the citizen participation and interaction between the residents and the local government in the Qingquan Scenic Area during the Second Overall Review of the Qingquan Scenic Area Project. In addition, the author also wants to determine the opinions and evaluations of the local residents and government departments of the outcome of the Second Overall Review of the Qingquan Scenic Area Project.

Therefore, this chapter organizes the findings and categorizes the study as follows.

7.1 Summary

Citizen participation is an integral part of democratic politics, but the implementation of citizen participation procedures does not necessarily meet the public’s requirements.

This paper examines the current system of citizen participation in urban planning and examines the implementation of that system in an indigenous area. Through interviews with local residents and the public sector, we discover the plight of the people participating in urban planning. The research findings are concluded as follows.

1. Limitations and difficulties of citizen participation during the Second Overall Review of the Qingquan Scenic Area Project

The mode of announcement in current urban planning regulations did not achieve the goal of announcement in the indigenous region.

Few residents participated in the public meeting of the Second Overall Review of the Qingquan Scenic Area Project, mainly due to a lack of information delivery channels.

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According to Act article 18 of the Urban Planning Act, administrative organizations must publish information on the exhibition of urban planning in the newspaper after the urban planning has been drafted. It can be seen that the main mode of the current announcement is via newspaper. The research revealed that few villagers subscribed to the newspaper because of environmental limitations and the impact of local culture. Therefore, the newspaper did not achieve the effect of notification in the indigenous region.

The negative attitude of the executive officers impeded citizen participation.

The public sector culture hindered citizen participation. The formality of the public meeting allowed only a small number of residents to participate in the discussion and was unable to produce much intersection of ideas. Because the administrative personnel held negative attitudes, they did not want too many people involved and did not provide much information about the project. Therefore, the public meeting degenerated into formalism. Without discussion and consensus on solving the problems, the public meeting did not provide real communication opportunities.

The citizen participation system in urban planning had a limited impact on decision-making.

According to the present Urban Planning Act, the administrative procedure of urban planning has three stages: planning, deliberating, and implementing. Residents can participate in the project only after the draft plan has been drawn up. During the process of drafting the project, the Hsinchu County Government delegated an engineering consulting company to investigate residents’ ideas. This kind of investigatiion did not equal essential citizen participation. It is evident from the design of the administrative procedures of urban planning that people cannot participate in

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early stages of the project, and the citizen participation in later stages of the project has a very limited impact on decision making.

Public participation techniques are formalities for aborigines.

Aboriginal culture, history, and environment should be considered in the implementation of public participation techniques in order to enhance public participation. The mode of meeting dictated by current urban planning regulations is not adaptable to local conditions and lacks flexibility. The public meetings are led by government officials, and the meeting form is very strict. It is difficult for the general public to understand the official language and terminology used in such public meetings. The local residents, who do not understand the project well and are not familiar with public participation techniques, cannot communicate and discuss their ideas effectively during the meetings.

2. The plight of street vendors and the impact on the citizen participation of Qingquan in the vendors’ protest.

It is difficult for residents to express personal interests under current urban planning regulations.

The Qingquan Vendors’ Autonomous Management Committee claimed that the Qingquan Scenic Area Project was illegal. In consideration of that claim, we review the literature and relevant regulations. According to Interpretation No. 148 from the Constitutional Court of the Republic of China, the implementation of urban planning is a government policy, so public authorities in the region do not have the right of consent and consideration. This is not an administrative sanction, so people cannot

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use it as the subject of administrative proceedings. Thus, we can see that if the residents express personal interests, in the absence of the Administrative Court, their opinions will play a very minor role.

Aboriginal rights of participation and consent are not maintained in the existing regulations.

The Qingquan Vendors’ Autonomous Management Committee noted that the Qingquan Scenic Area Project had not been established with the consent of the local aborigines during the planning process. As a result, the residents identified the urban planning project as illegal. Considering this appeal, we examine aboriginal participation and consent rights in existing laws and regulations. According to the Aboriginal Basic Law, Article 21, the engagement of government or private land in aboriginal communities in land development, resource utilization, environmental protection and academic research requires the consent of the indigenous peoples, and indigenous peoples must be able to share in the profits. The Aboriginal Basic Law, Article 22, also requires that the government establish national parks, national scenic areas, forestry areas, conservation areas, recreational areas and other resources management authorities in indigenous land only with the consent of local indigenous peoples, and that a common management mechanism be established with the indigenous peoples.

From the above, we can see that under the current regulations, the government planners of the Qingquan Scenic Area Project should first have obtained the consent of the indigenous peoples. However, the relevant sub-laws of the Aboriginal Basic Law have not been completed, so true maintenance of the rights of aboriginal participation and consent has not actually been implemented.

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The removal of street vendors inspired the public to participate in public affairs.

Wiledon once used that "crisis theory" to explain citizen participation. When an individual or group faced a major crisis, he will facilitate the production of certain actions to resolve the crisis (Wu, 1999). For citizen participation, the theory points out;

that when the community faces a number of crises, community members will be encouraged to actively participate in community activities to relieve the crisis. The residents of Qingquan were less active participants in community public affairs until the removal of street vendors infringed upon the rights of some of the residents. Then they began to actively participate in community public affairs to obtain benefits.

Government administrators do not trust the people, thereby affecting the citizen participation rights of the people.

In the case of the removal of street vendors, government administrators and the public leveled accusations and were suspicious of each other because of their different positions. Lack of communication and understanding between the two sides deepened the misunderstanding. As a result, government departments are unwilling to open channels for citizen participation, which will affect the people’s participation rights.

Government administrators have a major effect on the implementation of citizen participation. In today’s policy-making, the government no longer plays the only role.

Especially in the face of very complex scientific policy or community planning that is associated with the vital interests of the people, gaining the support and cooperation of the people is often the key to successful implementation of the policy.

3. The lack of citizen participation in urban planning led to problems.

Although the tourists returned and contributed to the economic development of

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Qingquan after the rebuilding of the Qingquan Scenic Area, in fact, the formalistic citizen participation did not promote thorough examination of the policy, leading to many problems. For example, the Qingquan Scenic Area Project did not include regional characteristics and indigenous culture; the project could not effectively increase and create local employment opportunities; and the project failed to improve the quality of tourism in Qingquan and thereby retain visitors.