The Choice of Hui-Lan in Taiwan: Building an Expressway to Return Home or Preserving the Ecology for Generations to Come?

This paper explores the dynamic relationships between landscape identities and economic developments. Hui-Lan is a remote county in Taiwan. Since 1990, locals and environmental groups have been battling over the proposed Su-Hua Expressway connecting Hui-Lan and other cities. Through qualitative methods, we examine how locals perceive the potential ecological and cultural impacts of the expressway's construction and we analyze Bali's community-based ecotourism as an example for Hui-Lan's own economic development. In order to reduce traffic congestion and avoid construction of the Expressway, we conclude that the people of Hui-Lan should consider the small-scale eco-tourism model as an option in future economic development.