A Study on the Protection of Urban Fringe Habitat Units from the Perspective of the Actor-Network Theory

Being an important part of a region’s ecological space, the habitat units on the urban fringe continuously provide multiple services for the city and its residents and guarantee the ecological security of the local territory. Mainly composed of farmlands, secondary woodlands, ditches and ponds, etc., they are typical semi-natural habitat which is subject to the influences of both the human society and the natural environment. As they involve multiple stakeholders and concern complex ownerships, top-down measures are difficult to be implemented, as presented by the Not-In-MyBackyard(NIMBY) phenomenon against protected areas. Based on the Actor-Network Theory, this paper clarifies the intrinsic relationship between the maintenance of urban fringe habitat units and the relevant social elements. Through the case study on Yilan’s practice of protecting and utilizing agricultural and forestry resources in Taiwan, China, the paper explores the community supported management and control strategies for the purposes of enhancing the protection of habitat units and promoting the effectiveness of regional services, which are implemented through the steps of implementing such translation methods as Obligatory Passage Point setting and benefit granting, recruiting and mobilizing relevant actors to form a network, and realizing the substantial protection of habitat units.