Kaohsiung is an industrial city. There are petrochemical pipelines all over the ground, and industrial areas at all levels are installed around residential areas, which is the daily situation of Kaohsiung. Since the 1970s, the petrochemical industry has become a key development industry of Taiwan. In 2018, the total output value of Taiwan's petrochemical industry was about 7 billion US dollars, of which Kaohsiung's petrochemical industry contributed 2.9 billion US dollars, accounting for 40% of Taiwan's total output value. However, after nearly half of a century, the aging of equipment in the petrochemical industry and the rising awareness of environmental protection, the problem of air pollution can no longer be ignored.
There are six major industrial parks in Kaohsiung, and the residential area is close to the highly polluted industrial park. The Kaohsiung Dashe is the most representative one. In Dashe, the erection of explosion-proof walls separates the residential area from the industrial park. On the one hand, it highlights the existence of the risk of explosion. On the other hand, it ironically presents its physical existence, which cannot block the exhaust gas emitted by the chimneys in the industrial park. Occasionally, the smog blankets the city, the sky in Dashe turns pale, and local residents seem helpless. However, residents in Dashe intend to retake their blue sky.
Anonymous, "Setting: Kaohsiung, Taiwan", contributed by Wen-Ling Tu, Chia-Liang Shih and Hsuyuhsin, Project: Environmental Injustice in Kaohsiung, Disaster STS Network, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 30 November 2022, accessed 1 December 2024. http://465538.bc062.asia/content/setting-kaohsiung-taiwan
Critical Commentary
Setting description.