Soft infrastructure as a new potential for urban development in Taipei City: Fashion professionals and cultural policy

The fashion industry has created employment opportunities in the service class worldwide since last quarter of 20th Century. The fashion industry has created local and global networks among fashion clusters in different cities; moreover, cities can exchange information and knowledge of fashion to each other through dialogue of dynamic fashion clusters and networks. Over the last decade, Taiwan's central government has promoted the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) as a national development policy. However, Taiwan still struggles with issues related to cultural policy and urban development. This study examines strategic planning and cultural policies as soft infrastructure that can promote urban economies. As a cultural industry, service sector is an important part of the fashion industry that is included in cultural policy. This study is focused on aspect of fashion professionals. Fashion professionals determine the distribution of fashion networks and clusters in Taipei City, Taiwan. A geographic information system is used to obtain data for the fashion industry in Taiwan. This study offers suggestions for how soft infrastructure can be utilized to create Taipei as a fashion capital.