To meet the challenges of a declining population, over-urbanization and development imbalances between rural and urban areas, in January 2019 the Executive Yuan approved the National Strategic Plan for Regional Revitalization. To give the policy added impetus, in 2020 the Executive Yuan approved a plan to accelerate the promotion of regional revitalization for the period 2021-2025 with the goal of improving overall resource use efficiency through integrating inter-departmental resources. The government has now introduced a further update to its regional revitalization plan, covering the period 2025-2028. This third phase incorporates the guiding principles of sustainability, public welfare and common good, focusing on five key tasks to ensure continued strong support for regional revitalization. By encouraging more young Taiwanese to return and stay in their hometowns and villages to pursue their goals, significant progress will be made toward achieving balanced regional development.
Five key tasks
■ Empower youth talent: Unlock the potential of young Taiwanese to participate in regional revitalization in three stages: (1) build knowledge of regional revitalization; (2) cultivate young talent within local communities; and (3) form regional youth partnerships.
■ Support diverse proposals: Integrate inter-departmental resources to support revitalization project proposals from a diverse range of fields, for example, creating thematic tourism experiences by linking together the landscape and cultural characteristics of towns and villages, and promoting agri-food education to highlight the relationship between everyday food and beverage consumption and the agricultural industry.
■ Improve local infrastructure: Continue enhancing local environments (such as abandoned old buildings and spaces), and optimizing the amenities of regional cities and towns (such as public transport connections to rural areas).
■ Promote cross-domain cooperation: Encourage collaboration on regional revitalization projects to bolster development capacity and strengthen team business models, as well as guide companies toward procurement and supply chain resource collaboration through the adoption of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) methodology, thereby expanding the reach of regional revitalization.
■ Deepen international ties: Promote global contact including organizing international forums, exchanges and cooperation, and use these experiences and events to generate initiatives that turn Taiwan's cities, towns and villages into models of diverse development.