Ecosystem, environmental quality and ecotechnology in the Taipei metropolitan region

The “self-design” capability of a natural environment is ignored in currently practiced environmental technology and urban planning professionals. Therefore, we propose an ecological engineering approach to conduct scenarios for environmental management in the metropolitan region of Taipei. Ecological energetic analysis is applied to assess the ecological economic status and the role and contribution of solid waste and water resources in the Taipei metropolitan region. The benefit of an ecological engineering approach to the environmental quality and sustainable development of the metropolitan region is evaluated using emergy synthesis. The results indicate that Taipei metropolitan region operates its activity mainly on the imported fuels and goods and services, which account for 90% of total emergy used. The treatment of waste as resources and the use of the self-design capability of the natural environment according to the ecological engineering approach can generate positive contribution and aid the environmental quality and productive potential of the ecological economic system. It is concluded that ecological sustainability should be used as a reference of environmental quality for urban development policy.