地方民俗文化除富含深厚的人文與哲學意涵之外，也是台灣不可磨滅的歷史記憶與地方發展的軌跡；過去人類學家對媽祖信仰相關研究多分為三個部份，一是媽祖傳說與經典、儀式研究，二是媽祖信仰與社會團體行為，最後是其他類，就地方發展而言，寺廟是重要的資源，但這方面研究並無太多深入探討；學者辛晚教先生近年來開始處理此類議題，但也僅從規劃面向去著手，並無探討寺廟、地方民俗與地方發展的社會互動過程；而本文是以地方民俗與文化市鎮治理的關係為主題，並以大甲鎮為例，藉由鎮瀾宮為研究主體，以探討媽祖信仰、大甲地方發展與鎮瀾宮的影響力，此三者之間的關係為何；本文界定若一市鎮與其特有地方民俗文化得以產生互動，並促使此市鎮能夠蓬勃發展，則此一市鎮即可稱之為文化市鎮；然而，探討文化市鎮最重要的還是建構的過程，其中包括制度與組織的整合程度，建構程度是為厚實或單薄的等等皆有探討的必要性。

Local folklore not only contains the meaning of deep humanity and philosophy but also shows the historical memory of Taiwan and the track
of local development. In the past, the researches of Matsu belief made by
anthropologists were divided into three parts; one was about Matsu
legend and the researches of scriptures and ceremonies. Another part was
Matsu belief and social group action, and the other part was the rest about Matsu. For local development, temples are important resources, but there are not enough researches about temple development. However, the scholar Hsing starts to handle these issues in the recent years, but his
researches are about how to plan instead of the process of the interaction between temples, local folklore and local development.
My topic is about the relationship between local folklore and the
governance of the cultural town, and I take Dajia for example here. I
discuss the relationship between Matsu belief, local development in Dajia, and the influence of Jenlan Gong by the research in Jenlan Gong. I define that the town which grows by following the local folklore and is
developed vitally is called cultural town and however, the developed process of the cultural town including the condition of the interaction
between institution and organization is the most important, and the
constructive level is necessary to be discussed.
The side of the research is focus on the relationship between space,
governance and social network of the developed process of Dajia, and I
discuss the local network through the governance theory and detect the
interaction between the inner mobilization, the institution, the governance and also inspect the influence for med because of the social capital of Dajia. At last, back to the most basic problem-the argue of the space of the square of the temple of Dajia Jenlan Gong, we can develop and improve it by following the advice coming form the urban planning and expect it truly can be called “central cultural town” and become the example of the development of the cultural town in Taiwan.