Newsletter
Seminar Regarding the Amendment to the Urban Renewal Act
Lee and Li and the Graduate Institute of Public Affairs, NTU jointly held a Lee and Li public law and public affairs seminar called "Urban Renewal and Its Prospect—Starting from the Amendment to the Urban Renewal Act" at the College of Social Science, NTU. Scholars, experts and industry participants were invited to discuss the Amendment and the long-term urban renewal challenges. A partner of Lee and Li, Kevin Liu, analyzed the major issues of the Amendment, including enhancing procedural protections for the people with the "3 + 1" dispute resolution mechanism, linking urban renewal with urban planning, government-led urban renewal regime, how to reconcile urban renewal with preservation of cultural assets, and establishing a real estate court, to help the participants better understand urban renewal under the Amendment.
The industry participants discussed the challenges of urban renewal, including the land owners' unawareness of the costs and the risks, and illegal construction. Many suggestions to increase the incentive for the implementers were also brought up, for example, allowing the implementers to list additional construction costs as one of the "shared burdens" in urban renewal, and allowing the implementers to cut their taxes at a certain ratio of their urban renewal expenses without approval. The participants all found the event to be highly instructive. Lee and Li will continue the dialogue with the officials, scholars and industry participants in the hope of reaching a consensus for the next stage of urban development.
