Taipei’s districts added in 1968 experienced much higher growth in the postwar period that the older districts of Taipei. Peitou and Shilin in the northern part of the city expanded particularly rapidly during the 1960s, in part, as we have seen, because of the US presence. On the other hand, in the Original City Area, Chengshung, Chienching, Lungshan, and Yenping experienced losses beginning in the late 1950s and continuing until the early 1970s. At this time, Kuting, Shuangyuan, and Tatong also began to experience decline.
From the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s, Sungshan in the center of the city was the only one of the “old” districts to exhibit rapid increase. Most of Taipei’s energy during this period was tied to an expansion of the service sector linked to the surge of manufacturing firms. While much manufacturing came to be located outside of the capital, the city’s tertiary sector expanded markedly in response to industry’s need for support services.
Still, while service sector expansion and industrialization were accompanied by rapid urbanization, Taipei was able to avoid the uncontrolled population increase that resulted in widespread unemployment and more extensive squatter settlements in other less developed countries. This was due to 3 factors:
- constraints imposed by geography
- the relocation of the airport to an area 30 kilometers southwest of the city
- the establishment of export processing zones beginning in the mid 1960s.
