Necessity for diversity of commercial facilities for daily shopping in residential planninga

Abstract

Abstract. Since the 1990s, the government administrations have thought that supermarkets could replace traditional retail markets as the commercial facilities for daily shopping in Taiwan. However, traditional retail markets remained prosperous. This paper aims to investigate the followings: 1) whether traditional retail markets still play an important role in residents' daily shopping and 2) whether supermarkets and traditional retail markets are actually complementary rather than competitive as commercial facilities for daily shopping. The examination is based on the data regarding married women's daily shopping behaviours in a planned residential area in Taipei from a questionnaire carried out in 2007. Several things are concluded below. First, consumers do not definitely choose the new types of facilities for daily shopping. Second, supermarkets in residential areas may be complementary to traditional retail markets in residents' daily shopping. Third, traditional retail market plays a role beyond acting as the exchange space for goods. Fourth, even though cars are popular in Taiwan, married women still prefer to conduct their daily shopping inside or nearby their neighbourhood unit by walking. This paper suggests it is necessary to maintain diversity rather than to anticipate or limit the type of commercial facilities available for daily shopping in residential planning.

Do Energy Conservation Strategies Limit the Freedom of Architecture Design? A Case Study of Minsheng Community, Taipei, Taiwan

“…Minsheng community (1967) is one of the first residential districts in Taipei that was designed based on an American model community. The community was well-planned with the help of foreign planners in the 1960s and offered new ideas about how a good residential area should be designed during that period [35]. Because it was close to downtown Taipei City, housing mainly comes in the form of medium-rise apartments (Figure 8).…”