Kuomintang New Taipei mayoral candidate Lee Szu-chuan has put forward an urban renewal platform, centred on the mayor personally taking charge to speed up the reconstruction of ageing buildings — positive news for residents of older homes who have long waited for redevelopment.

• If elected, he will establish a city-government-level "Urban Renewal Promotion Committee", with the mayor serving as convener and regular reviews of regulations and procedures that have become bottlenecks.
• He will carry out a comprehensive review of baseline floor area ratios in each district, using higher floor area incentives to encourage residents to agree to take part in reconstruction.
• He rejected rival Su Chiao-hui's proposal to set up an "Urban Renewal Bureau", arguing that keeping the Urban Renewal Office under the Urban and Rural Development Department is better for coordination.
• He also plans a single service window for dangerous buildings, demonstration disaster-prevention urban renewal projects on publicly owned land, and a "floor area transfer platform" to give small sites a chance at reconstruction as well.
• The additional development gains generated by floor area adjustments will be channelled back into public infrastructure.

Outlook: Urban renewal has become the main point of contention in the New Taipei mayoral race, and both sides are expected to keep sparring over administrative structure and floor area incentives.