新作坊 Humanity Innovation and Social Practice

While community visioning is often co-opted by the state and capital as a slogan to promote economic growth, university social work departments rarely incorporate the concept as a way to empower grassroots residents to shape community development. This paper draws on the year-long “Xinzhuang Vision” action research project. Third-year social work students collaborated with marginalized groups in Xinzhuang, New Taipei City— including disadvantaged youth, elderly people living alone, the visually impaired, new immigrants, and street vendors and other stakeholders living near temples—to co-create a vision rooted in residents’ lived experiences. Key themes included aging in place, child-friendly spaces, accessibility, and cultural preservation. Activities such as vision forums, podcasting,
and vendor organizing aimed to expand participation across identities. By exposing structural exclusions, the project raises the question: Who gets to represent Xinzhuang? It critiques conventional community practice models and argues for a more inclusive, thematic pedagogy in social work education and research.