The emergence of ‘performative planning’: a case study of waterfront regeneration in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

This paper examines the shifting planning logics and design principles presented in the emergence of ‘performative planning’ that frames the motivations and visions of recent megaprojects. I consider the emblematic landscape, persuasive imaginary and affective presence through which a regeneration megaproject manipulates public emotions as a tactic of performative planning. I suggest that performative planning is a constructed governing process through which prevalent affects are structured to justify subsequent policy decisions and actions. Based on a case study of ‘Asia New Bay Area’ project in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, this paper demonstrates that performative planning has increasingly underlined the shifting nature of spatial planning from rationality-based to emotion-orientated approaches. It also unfolds a major shift from crisis management to crisis adaptation, wherein public desires and emotions are now given significant consideration in both the policy agenda and the actual design of a regeneration megaproject.