The Evolution of Floor Area Control Policies from the Perspective of Path Dependence in Taiwan- a Case Study in Comprehensive Design Regulation

The development of density control in Taiwan in the early stages proceeded from the concept of urban pathology that the building volume was regulated through a road-based rule to ensure the protection of light and air for public health purpose, to a plan-based system that used floor area as a mechanism for land use control and growth management in cities. The concept of development rights evolved as the institutional arrangements interacted with the transferred planning ideology and its urban actors. This research approaches the essential planning tool, floor area control, as a public policy and adopts path dependence as the theoretical framework to understand the critical junctures of density control in Taiwan and the factors behind the institutionalization of floor area control. In addition, what factors made the relaxation of floor area control through "Comprehensive Design Regulation" and which ones were the most critical and relevant? The research use a mixed-method approach that combine qualitative and qualitative methods to define the political, economic, social and environmental factors and their associations with the evolution of floor-area based density control.