Sprouting in the Badlands—University Social Responsibility in the Hill Area
There are 368 townships in Taiwan. If each one of them has its own university expert collaborators, then new possibilities will emerge for the revitalization of marginal settlements. A sense of identity and belonging will be created; the rural-urban relationship will be changed, and people will develop new connections to these lands as their original/adopted hometowns.
The mudstone badlands in southwestern Taiwan, commonly known as the Moon World, are located in the hill area between Tainan and Kaohsiung. These badlands cover the districts of Zuojhen, Longci, Tianliao, and Neimen. Because this area is close to the cities and is situated in a mountain pass, it has a long history of settlement. However, the area is faced with issues such as population outflow, population aging, and industry hollow-out more severely than other townships and has become the most marginal settlement in Taiwan. Although the soil is poor in these hills made of greenish-grey mudstones, the badland villages have historically developed a diversity of satoyama economies that take advantage of the unique geological features of the land, such as farming, ranching, bamboo production, etc. The mudstones have also shaped the extraordinary landscape, ecology, history, and culture that are potential resources for tourism development.
Having reflected upon the university’s social responsibility, the National Cheng-Kung University (NCKU) USR Collaborative Badlands Team extends the many years of work that the university’s Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences has invested in Zuojhen. Prof. The team is led by Professors Hsiutzu Betty Chang, Sheng-Fen Chien, and Wei-Ju Huang and consists of 11 instructors across five colleges and nine departments. The team’s focal project, “Collaboration in the Badlands: Revitalization and Interdisciplinary Practice in the Hill Area,” expands the field of practice from Zuojhen, Tainan to the entire badland region.
The continuation and innovation of the satoyama way and the increase of the impact of tourism on local economic development are important for the hill area. They can help highlight the area’s uniqueness in terms of urban-rural balance, land conservation, and sustainable development. The badlands are an important field in southern Taiwan for the study and practice of these aspects. Therefore, the Collaborative Badlands Team has made community issues an integral part of research and curriculum to groom future professionals that would make cross-regional and interdisciplinary university social responsibility a reality.
“New Experiences, New Industries, New Information—Developing Professionals to Transform the Badlands”
The NCKU Collaborative Badlands Team is built around three core strategies for sustainable development: new experiences, new industries, and new information. The “new” does not overthrow the “old,” nor is it created out of thin air. Rather, by being innovative with the available resources in the badlands, new experiences can be offered by resurfacing local heritage. Features such as heritage trails, old houses, landscape, and culture can permeate the design of tourism activities and improve the current situation in which visitors tend to stay in the area for a very short amount of time. The “new industries” strategy focuses on the bamboo forests and agricultural resources that are already available to optimize the production chain and link together the badland bamboo industries for environment-friendly and circular economy-based production and marketing. New information comes from integrating and updating regional histories, narratives, and geographical and ecological data. A database for storing spatial data will serve as a basis for the development of new experiences and new industries. In the future, the database will also become a platform for sharing badland-related information that helps the university and local organizations increase the value and application of the data.
The primary work of the project is to develop professionals who will engage in community issues. To date, the team has offered 13 new courses and enrolled approximately 250 students. Students are required to apply what they learn in class to help the communities create innovative social, ecological, and production models that are suitable for the badlands. In the process, the university's social responsibility is fulfilled by applying their expertise.
So far, the students have produced rich results through course-field integration. The “new experiences” strategy has yielded a board game that incorporates the life stories of local elders, an innovative cross-regional tourism plan based on big data analysis, and an in-depth discovery tourism plan that ties in the concept of heritage tourism, using themes like fossils, Siraya culture, and Taiwan Sugar Railway. Under the “new industries” strategy, students have performed structural calculations and designs and used thorny bamboo (a unique local material) to build bamboo structures using innovative methods that are different from the traditional techniques. In terms of “new information,” in-depth field investigations and thorough historical text analyses have been conducted to discover local narrative data from a new perspective to enable the reconstruction of regional history. These course outcomes and feedback have been shared among the local organizations and the stakeholders during the project’s final exhibition as a co-learning opportunity and as a toolbox for local economic development that could maximize the impact of the project. Furthermore, presentations have been given both on- and off-campus to actively seek out connections to external resources and propose policy changes to help focus the public’s attention on the badlands and the hill area and to empower local communities to raise their self-confidence.
“Badlands as a New Hometown—Constructing a Sustainable Development Model for the Hill Area”
The development of the badland region is now at a critical stage. The return of the younger generation can energize their hometowns. Adding to that the establishment of the geological park and contribution of academic expertise, there is now an opportunity for sustainable development. But meticulous planning, connection to resources, and collaboration are needed. The NCKU Collaborative Badlands Team will continue the interdisciplinary collaboration and act as a liaison in the community, industry, and government dialogs, as well as a matchmaker between the field’s needs and the university’s resources. From a regional development perspective, it is hoped that a vision for the future that is rooted in the past will bring about a virtuous cycle consisting of satoyama systems based on socio-ecological production landscapes. Such outcomes would serve as an exemplary model for local revitalization efforts that involve collaborations between universities and communities in the hill areas for forest conservation, ecology, and balanced growth, turning the badlands into a new kind of hometown where the next generation can happily take root.
The mudstone badlands in southwestern Taiwan, commonly known as the Moon World, are located in the hill area between Tainan and Kaohsiung. These badlands cover the districts of Zuojhen, Longci, Tianliao, and Neimen. Because this area is close to the cities and is situated in a mountain pass, it has a long history of settlement. However, the area is faced with issues such as population outflow, population aging, and industry hollow-out more severely than other townships and has become the most marginal settlement in Taiwan. Although the soil is poor in these hills made of greenish-grey mudstones, the badland villages have historically developed a diversity of satoyama economies that take advantage of the unique geological features of the land, such as farming, ranching, bamboo production, etc. The mudstones have also shaped the extraordinary landscape, ecology, history, and culture that are potential resources for tourism development.
Having reflected upon the university’s social responsibility, the National Cheng-Kung University (NCKU) USR Collaborative Badlands Team extends the many years of work that the university’s Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences has invested in Zuojhen. Prof. The team is led by Professors Hsiutzu Betty Chang, Sheng-Fen Chien, and Wei-Ju Huang and consists of 11 instructors across five colleges and nine departments. The team’s focal project, “Collaboration in the Badlands: Revitalization and Interdisciplinary Practice in the Hill Area,” expands the field of practice from Zuojhen, Tainan to the entire badland region.
The continuation and innovation of the satoyama way and the increase of the impact of tourism on local economic development are important for the hill area. They can help highlight the area’s uniqueness in terms of urban-rural balance, land conservation, and sustainable development. The badlands are an important field in southern Taiwan for the study and practice of these aspects. Therefore, the Collaborative Badlands Team has made community issues an integral part of research and curriculum to groom future professionals that would make cross-regional and interdisciplinary university social responsibility a reality.
“New Experiences, New Industries, New Information—Developing Professionals to Transform the Badlands”
The NCKU Collaborative Badlands Team is built around three core strategies for sustainable development: new experiences, new industries, and new information. The “new” does not overthrow the “old,” nor is it created out of thin air. Rather, by being innovative with the available resources in the badlands, new experiences can be offered by resurfacing local heritage. Features such as heritage trails, old houses, landscape, and culture can permeate the design of tourism activities and improve the current situation in which visitors tend to stay in the area for a very short amount of time. The “new industries” strategy focuses on the bamboo forests and agricultural resources that are already available to optimize the production chain and link together the badland bamboo industries for environment-friendly and circular economy-based production and marketing. New information comes from integrating and updating regional histories, narratives, and geographical and ecological data. A database for storing spatial data will serve as a basis for the development of new experiences and new industries. In the future, the database will also become a platform for sharing badland-related information that helps the university and local organizations increase the value and application of the data.
The primary work of the project is to develop professionals who will engage in community issues. To date, the team has offered 13 new courses and enrolled approximately 250 students. Students are required to apply what they learn in class to help the communities create innovative social, ecological, and production models that are suitable for the badlands. In the process, the university's social responsibility is fulfilled by applying their expertise.
So far, the students have produced rich results through course-field integration. The “new experiences” strategy has yielded a board game that incorporates the life stories of local elders, an innovative cross-regional tourism plan based on big data analysis, and an in-depth discovery tourism plan that ties in the concept of heritage tourism, using themes like fossils, Siraya culture, and Taiwan Sugar Railway. Under the “new industries” strategy, students have performed structural calculations and designs and used thorny bamboo (a unique local material) to build bamboo structures using innovative methods that are different from the traditional techniques. In terms of “new information,” in-depth field investigations and thorough historical text analyses have been conducted to discover local narrative data from a new perspective to enable the reconstruction of regional history. These course outcomes and feedback have been shared among the local organizations and the stakeholders during the project’s final exhibition as a co-learning opportunity and as a toolbox for local economic development that could maximize the impact of the project. Furthermore, presentations have been given both on- and off-campus to actively seek out connections to external resources and propose policy changes to help focus the public’s attention on the badlands and the hill area and to empower local communities to raise their self-confidence.
“Badlands as a New Hometown—Constructing a Sustainable Development Model for the Hill Area”
The development of the badland region is now at a critical stage. The return of the younger generation can energize their hometowns. Adding to that the establishment of the geological park and contribution of academic expertise, there is now an opportunity for sustainable development. But meticulous planning, connection to resources, and collaboration are needed. The NCKU Collaborative Badlands Team will continue the interdisciplinary collaboration and act as a liaison in the community, industry, and government dialogs, as well as a matchmaker between the field’s needs and the university’s resources. From a regional development perspective, it is hoped that a vision for the future that is rooted in the past will bring about a virtuous cycle consisting of satoyama systems based on socio-ecological production landscapes. Such outcomes would serve as an exemplary model for local revitalization efforts that involve collaborations between universities and communities in the hill areas for forest conservation, ecology, and balanced growth, turning the badlands into a new kind of hometown where the next generation can happily take root.
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University characteristic Startup Stage Project
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Tainan City
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National Cheng Kung University
448votes
Further reading
Measures for Leaving a Message to Enter the Draw for the Live Streaming of the Opening Ceremony
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Event Period
From 13:00 to 14:00 on December 12 (Saturday), 2020
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Event Measures
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List of Winners
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7-11 Gift Voucher valued at NT$200 27 winner
Announcement of the list of winners
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