高雄是南臺灣最大都市及臺灣第一大港，在臺灣都市發展的歷史變遷及空間區位的影響上，有相當重要的地位及意義。作為臺灣的第一大港，高雄一直是重要且影響極大的一個港都，但是作為一個南北發展主軸上的第二大城及百萬人口之大都會，究竟其在臺灣城市發展上所扮演的角色及未來發展方向又是如何，則是一個值得探討的課題。 本文嘗試從都市發展的角度，分析高雄一個四萬人口的小漁村發展到今天成為全世界第四大貨櫃轉運中心的百萬人口大都會的過程中，對臺灣都市發展及都市計畫究竟有什麼樣的影響？這樣的發展過程又將對未來臺灣城市之發展帶來什麼樣的衝擊？展望跨世紀高雄未來的都市發展及建設，本文建議應從三個方向著手：建立「生態都市」、建立「環境權」意識的都市、建立「社區主義」的都市。 本文的分析重點將著重於日據時期迄今的百年來高雄都市之發展。本文第二部分簡單分析日據前的高雄發展；第三部分探討日據時期的高雄都市發展；第四部分為光復初期至改格為院轄市之間的高雄都市發展；第五部分則為高雄升格為院轄市迄今的都市發展；第六部份為跨世紀的高雄都市發展之展望；最後一部分則為本文的結論。

　　　　　The development of Kaohsiung, the largest city in southern Taiwan and the largest seaport in Taiwan, has been an important factor in Taiwan urban development history. Being the largest seaport in Taiwan, Kaohsiung has played an important role in transportation development. Being the second largest city in Taiwan, and a population of over one million, Kaohsiung is now in a cross-road towards its further prosperity. This is the main theme of this paper-what and how Kaohsiung should do towards a 21st-century global city? This paper tries to analyze the historical progress of Kaohsiung: How does Kaohsuiung develop from a small port of 40,000 to the world's fourth largest seaport of over one million residents? What impacts does this process have on urban development and planning in Taiwan? What does this impact on urban development in the 21st-centruy Taiwan? This paper focuses on the one-hundred-year period since Japanese ruling Taiwan. The second part of this paper briefly describes urban development prior to Japanese occupation. The third section focuses on the Japanese occupation period. The fourth section analyzes Kaohsiung urban development from Taiwan was retroceded until Kaohsiung became a municipality. The fifth section concentrates on the period after Kaohsiung became the second municipality in Taiwan. Section six describes the vision of cross-century Kaohsiung urban development. The final section is the conclusion.