Puma Shen

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
Mayor of Taipei · Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwan · 2026
PurposePuma Shen is campaigning for Taipei mayor on a five-pillar 'HEART' platform aimed at making the city more livable, resilient, and opportunity-rich for young people and families.

Infrastructure
Under the Habitat pillar of his HEART platform, Shen has pledged to build affordable rental housing aimed at young people and newlyweds, expand riverside parks along the Tamsui and Keelung rivers, and connect a citywide network of mountain and cultural trails. Drawing on a U.S. study trip, he has proposed adopting a "3-30-300" urban forestry standard, reviewed by a panel including urban planners, arborists, residents and insurers. He has also criticized Taipei's practice of selling development density outright, proposing instead that added building density be granted only in exchange for including affordable units from a project's outset, citing similar programs in New York and Washington.

Infrastructure
On transportation, Shen has proposed folding shared electric scooters into the TPASS commuter pass and giving riders 30 minutes of free trips on YouBike 2.0E during peak commuting hours, alongside new bike infrastructure such as a Keelung River bridge linking Yingfeng Riverside Park to the Neihu Technology Park. He wants to expand dedicated school-commute safety zones from four to all of Taipei's more than 150 elementary schools within eight years, noting most pedestrian deaths occur while "students are traveling to school." He has also proposed bus-system reforms including driver salary subsidies, ergonomic seating and turnaround rest stations, plus lockers, changing rooms and showers at MRT stations for commuters who bike or run.

Economy
Under the "Empower" pillar, Shen has proposed a municipal fund letting young Taipei residents draw NT$500,000 at age 22 to help launch a business, pursue training, or support an international work-experience grant. He has also proposed subsidizing AI-related courses for youth, creating career-transition support for workers aged 45 and older, and establishing a municipal research institute in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park intended to draw researchers and startups to the city. He has tied these measures to reversing Taipei's population decline, citing a loss of roughly 270,000 residents over the past decade.

Health
Responding to Mayor Chiang Wan-an's postpartum subsidy package, Shen argued the incumbent's approach was "overly focused on births" and pledged instead to support families across the full lifecycle, from infancy to 45 years old, plus elder care. His platform includes subsidized childcare hours, temporary childcare service points at cultural venues, and Family One-Stop centers pairing households with family-education mentors. For seniors, he has proposed replacing what he calls inefficient elevator-installation subsidies with door-to-door assistance, fitness minibuses, upgraded Senior Citizen Cards, and expanded community care centers.

Security
Under the "Resilience" pillar, Shen has pledged to build Taipei into a branded disaster-resilience city, citing a New York Times assessment ranking Taipei tenth among cities most lacking in climate resilience. He has argued that infrastructure alone is not enough, saying that even strong flood-prevention hardware fails if drainage systems go unmaintained, and has proposed strengthening citizen emergency-notification systems alongside efforts to rebuild neighborhood-level community bonds, which he describes as a form of resilience in themselves.

Governance
Shen has proposed restructuring city hall by creating new cross-departmental positions, including a chief design officer to coordinate urban design decisions and a night mayor to oversee nightlife, commerce and safety coordination after dark. He has also proposed workplace policies for city employees, including more flexible scheduling and an employee assistance program, as part of an effort to make city government itself more responsive.

Education
On youth and schools, Shen has proposed a formal school bullying reporting mechanism and a secure digital portal giving young people vetted access to large language models. He has also called for improvements to school nutrition programs and bilingual education initiatives, framed alongside his talent and entrepreneurship measures as ways to keep young people and families in Taipei.

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