Shifts in activity centers along the corridor of the blue subway line in Taipei

Abstract

Activity centers are areas of strong development of a particular activity, such as residence, employment, or recreation. Understanding shifts in activity centers can help in creating development strategies for subway corridors. This study applied the fuzzy inference system to analyze shifts in activity centers along the blue line of the Taipei subway system (hereafter called the Blue Corridor). Empirical findings indicate that the subway line might weaken residential activities while attracting employment and recreation activities to the newly developed city center. Specifically, residential activities moved away from the city center whereas employment and recreation activities expanded from the existed central business district (CBD) to the eastern suburbs of Taipei. Strategic analysis of the Panchiao station area found that if the commercial and industrial floor space increase by over 350 or 500%, Panchiao station area will be identified as "possibly is an employment center," or "definitely is an employment center," respectively.