“Food cherishing” has become an issue of global attention. New Taipei City deputy mayor Hsieh Cheng-ta attended the Asia Pacific Cities Summit and Mayors’ Forum in Brisbane on July 10, 2019 and was invited to lecture on “circular economics and city sustainability” along with the circular economic renovation company Coreo’s CEO Ashleigh Morris, Arup vice president Kaitlin Shilling, and the CEO and cofounder of World’s Biggest Garage Sale Yasmin Grigaliunas. 
 

Hsieh introduced New Taipei City’s two innovative policies, the Surplus Food Network and rooftop farming, to nearly 100 city representatives, scholars, and business personnel in attendance who care about sustainability issues. Through food, a daily necessity, the government has encouraged citizens to participate in the programs’ execution and has raised people’s awareness of food and energy issues. The New Taipei City Government’s role is to promote policies and design implementation mechanisms, such as modeling rooftop farm components, to encourage people to participate and create changes through their actions.
 

After the speech, host Chris McCluskey asked, “As the biggest city in Taiwan, how does New Taipei City’s big population help push the policies?” Hsieh explained that the population of 4 million is a huge market power and emphasized during the speech that making citizens’ aware of their consumption is the most important thing because changes in consumption habits can push development in relevant industry chains. Take organic farming as an example: New Taipei City promoted the adoption of organic vegetables in school lunches in the 653 schools, kindergartens, and public care centers in the city, which increased demand tenfold in the industry chain of Taiwan, greatly stimulating the organic vegetable industry.
 

The Asia Pacific Cities Summit had 85 mayors and deputy mayors in attendance from global cities such as New York, London, Tokyo, Singapore, and Bangkok along with over 300 representatives from each city. Attending cities from Taiwan, in addition to New Taipei City, were Taipei City, Taoyuan City, Taichung City, Kaohsiung City, and Pingtung County.

Competent Authority：Department of Secretariat, New Taipei City Government