Governing NIMBY conflicts in urban and rural Taiwan: A spatial typology of public facility resistance and acceptance

This study presents a spatially disaggregated analysis of NIMBY (not in my backyard) attitudes in Taiwan, examining how public acceptance varies across 24 types of public facilities. Drawing on face-to-face survey data from 788 residents and employing a NIMBY Effect Index (NEI) combined with Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA), the study constructs a typology of siting attitudes under proximal and distal conditions. The findings reveal that public resistance is not uniform but shaped by perceived risk, symbolic meaning, and spatial proximity. High-risk facilities such as incinerators and nuclear power plants are broadly rejected, while welfare-oriented services tend to elicit comparatively higher acceptance. Community-building experience shows limited and inconsistent effects on facility acceptance, complicating common assumptions about the mobilizing role of civic engagement. By integrating spatial, political, and symbolic dimensions of infrastructure governance, the study contributes a diagnostic typology for facility siting in urbanizing East Asian democracies.