From Project Outputs to Governance Capacity: A Multi-Scale Reflective Case Study of SDG-Oriented Peri-Urban Rural Regeneration in Hsinchu City, Taiwan

Abstract

Peri-urban rural regeneration is often assessed through completed projects or administrative indicators, while the governance mechanisms that sustain rural sustainability receive less attention. This article examines how project-based participation can be translated into governance capacity in Hsinchu City, northwestern Taiwan. Adopting an evidence-bound reflective documentary case-study design, it analyzes policy, spatial planning, training, community project, and rural regeneration records from the 2025 Hsinchu City Community Rural Regeneration Guidance Program. The findings show that regeneration operates through municipal coordination, functional clusters, community participation, and site-based interventions. Six intermediate capacities are identified: proposal-making, coordination, maintenance, interpretive, sustainability-translation, and resilience capacities. The study contributes a transferable framework linking rural sustainability, SDG localization, ESG-oriented governance, and peri-urban regeneration through explicit evidence-use boundaries. It does not claim verified long-term impacts on income, carbon reduction, biodiversity, demographic change, or resident satisfaction; rather, it clarifies how governance capacity may be generated and where future independent verification is required.