From Project Delivery to Conditional Landscape Stewardship: A Longitudinal Documentary Case Study of Peri-Urban Rural Regeneration in Hsinchu, Taiwan

Publicly funded rural-regeneration programs often deliver facilities, yet post-completion continuity depends on whether the outputs remain usable, active, and maintainable. This study examines Hsinchu City, Taiwan, through a five-year documentary trajectory (2020–2024) comprising five annual reports, one citywide achievement booklet, and four case evidence bundles. It asks how project delivery may support—or fail to support—everyday landscape stewardship. Using an abductive documentary case-study design and maximum-variation comparison of Haishan, Gangbei, Qiedong, and Xiangcun, the analysis develops conditional landscape stewardship around three interdependent conditions: material–spatial usability, functional continuity, and social-organizational maintenance. It identifies four indicative interruption modes: completed but underused space, event-dependent activation, responsibility and resource gaps, and livelihood value disconnected from shared maintenance. The weakest-link heuristic treats a pronounced weakness as a review trigger rather than proof of project failure. The study contributes a document-supported diagnostic framework and a proposed ex ante/ex post governance checklist. It identifies governance conditions and vulnerabilities; it does not directly measure long-term use, environmental performance, or sustainability outcomes.