Kaohsiung mayor Wu Tun-yi avers that through the process of the genesis of the WPPA one can see the maturing of citizen participation in politics. "It is something rare in the history of local self-government here, in the history of the local environmental movement. and even in the history of urban development." The WPPA worked to give Kaohsiung its "left lung."
高雄市長吳敦義就認為，在衛武營公園的催生過程中，看到了成熟的市民參與，這是「台灣地區地方自治史上、環境保護運動史上，甚至都市發展史上少見的事。」