傳統區域史研究一般說來有兩個傾向：第一，將地域的形貌或特性僅視為地方社會與文化內在發展的產物，忽略了人群流動與貿易往來對於當地可能產生的影響；第二，將地理空間視為有待其他因素決定或影響的變項，低估了空間在歷史發展中可能扮演的建構性角色。在近年來地理學界對空間知識論重新思考的啟發下，本文試圖以較平衡與辯證的觀點來理解社會、空間、與時間的關係，並藉此重新解釋清代臺北區域的發展動態。本文認為清代臺北區域空間的發展，應該放在資本主義世界體系、清帝國、臺北盆地本身等三個不同地理尺度下來看待。從這種空間視角切入，本文指出，臺北盆地城鎮網絡的發展，乃是諸歷史行動者為了處理更大空間尺度上政治經濟系統的危機，所從事的一種社會性的空間佈局。當這種空間佈局無法回應新的社會危機時，就會被重新組織。有清一代，臺北盆地產生了「帝國邊防下的臺北」、「新莊城鎮群」、「艋舺城鎮群」、以及「大稻埕城鎮群」等四種城鎮網絡，其分別回應的是東南海防的危機、福建米穀不足的危機、臺灣社會內部階級衝突的危機、以及世界性資本主義生產過剩的危機。

There are generally two tendencies characterizing traditional studies of regional history: First, it usually regards the morphology and features of a locality as the products of endogenously social and cultural development, overlooking the possible effects of the flows of people and trade between various places. Second, it views geographical space as a dependent variable to be determined by other factors, underestimating the potentially constructive role of space itself in the development of history. Informed by a rethinking of the epistemology of space in the field of geography in recent years, this study intends to reinterpret Taipei’s regional development in the Qing Dynasty from a perspective that treats the relations between society, space, and time in a more balanced and dialectical fashion. This study holds that Taipei’s regional development in the Qing Dynasty should be looked at simultaneously in terms of three geographical scales, namely, the system of world capitalism, the Qing Empire, and the Taipei Basin itself. From this perspective, this study points out that the spatial structure of the Taipei region was not merely an outcome of local natural or cultural condition, but a social-spatial configuration set by those in power to deal with the political-economic crisis taking place on a greater geographical scale. When a particular social-spatial configuration was not adequate in dealing with a new crisis, it would be reorganized accordingly. Throughout Qing Dynasty, there were four distinct city-town networks that had emerged in the Taipei Basin, i.e. the Frontier of Qing Empire, the Xingzhunag Town-Cluster, the Mongjia Town-Cluster, and the Dadaocheng Town-Cluster, which corresponded respectively to the crisis of coast defense in Southeast China, the crisis of shortage of food provisions in Fujian, the crisis of Taiwan’s internal class conflicts, and the crisis of the overproduction of the world capitalism.