This paper engages with mainstream debates on the politics of urban financialisation and financialised governance, expanding these discussions through the lens of East Asian developmental-state contexts. Unlike Western post-industrial cities where financialisation is commonly linked to neoliberal restructuring, developmental-state settings are characterised by strong state intervention and the imperative to remain competitive amid shifting political and market environments. Drawing on the case of the Taipei Housing and Urban Regeneration Centre (THURC), the study examines how financially driven urban aspirations are articulated, speculative planning models deployed, and governance challenges negotiated within Taiwan’s ongoing urban transformation. The analysis demonstrates that the financial turn in urban governance is neither uniform nor purely market-driven; instead, it is interwoven with multiple governing aspirations aimed at sustaining both political and economic legitimacy within democratic electoral systems. By situating financialisation within this hybrid and contested terrain, the paper reveals its variegated and dynamic nature in developmental-state cities. These findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of financialised governance, underscoring the need to move beyond universalising frameworks and to interrogate how financial logics intersect with developmentalist traditions, democratic politics, and planning practices.
Ying-Chun Hou (Wed,) studied this question.
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