ABSTRACT

The Pacific Rim is a rich and fertile area for studying the socialisation virtues of water, in that many of its cultural groups integrate aquatic public spaces into their daily lives. This has inspired many researchers from the Asia-Pacific area (e.g. Lahiri-Dutt 2006; Leybourne and Gaynor 2006; Strang 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010; Toussaint 2008; Wagner 2013) to work on the social dimensions of water, with a focus on topics such as power, management, supply, history, religion, gender and global discourse. And yet, despite the fact that in some regions, aquatic public pools are some of the most commonly frequented ­public spaces (Mitchell and Haddrill 2004), and despite an emergent interest 158in Asia for urban green spaces (Shan 2014; Tan et al. 2013; Zhang et al. 2013), we do not know much about the specific contribution of water in public space when it comes to the social fabric of the contemporary city. In Taiwan only, studies focus on tourism management and environmental issues (Chang and Holt 1991; Deng 2007; Erfurt-Cooper and Cooper 2009; Lai and Nepal 2006; Lee et al. 2009). We know that ever since the thermal baths of antiquity, Western aquatic public spaces have been sites where social values are expressed, where social roles are negotiated (Eliav 2000, 2010; Lehmann et al. 2003; Scott 2009; Watson 2006), and where ideologies and doctrines are displayed, particularly through their built form (Mumford 1964; Zitzmann 2007). However, the pertinence of using this natural resource for leisure activities in a context of exhaustion of fresh water supplies and/or privatisation (Norcliffe et al. 1996) (as it is the case in Taiwan) is rarely discussed, and even less studied, perhaps because many aquatic leisure activities (such as hot springs resorts and spas) have been a practice of privileged classes and countries in the Western world (Tabb and Anderson 2002).