In the past, urban housing regeneration focused on physical improvement projects had side effects such as reckless development and rising housing prices, and the concept of community restoration and resident participation began to emerge in 2002.Resid...
In the past, urban housing regeneration focused on physical improvement projects had side effects such as reckless development and rising housing prices, and the concept of community restoration and resident participation began to emerge in 2002.Resident-participatory urban regeneration Project begin only after the enactment of the Special Actson the Promotion and Support for Urban Regeneration in 2013, and establish the concept of planned and comprehensive urban regeneration. In addition, with the announcement of the urban regeneration new deal in 2017, the current urban renewal paradigm is gradually shifting to a policy to embrace alienated residents and space. Despite such gradual improvement in the system, however, the phenomenon of resident exclusion is still observed at many sites.
In this study, Suggest the possibilities and limit of the inclusive city by analyzing Urban Regeneration Priority Regions which could have been converted into a resident participation Urban Regeneration Project, as an example of the Old City Center in Kongju. In the past, the Old City Center which has flourished, continues to decline, and in 2012, it experienced a double urban decline with the growth of nearby Sejong City. Under these backgrounds, the Old City Center has gradually changed into a Citizen-Participatory Urban Regeneration with the promotion of urban regeneration-related projects since the 2000s. The urban regeneration priority regions and the new deal project was complement and reflect the disproportionate growth in the city and the urban problems of the modern city.
As an effect of urban regeneration projects, various cultural and art festivals and spaces that have not been seen in the Old City Center for the last five years are observed. However, this only occurs in very few sections and the residents of the rest naturally excluded. In this regard, what is the aspect of the inclusion and exclusion of residents in the Gongju Old City Center in the urban regeneration paradigm that emphasizes the role of the residents and pursues an inclusive city, and the direction of desirable urban policy to move toward inclusive city in the future. In order to specifically diagnose the relationship between urban regeneration projects and inclusive cities, this study examined social inclusion, spatial inclusion, and human inclusion.
First of all, in terms of social inclusion, the urban regeneration project did not solve the economic inequality of the residents in the city, which in turn resulted in the formation of the poor due to the residents excluded from economic performance. In addition, through the crime rate, it was found that the effect on physical city safety was insufficient and it could lead to problems such as network collapse and trust among residents in the long term. In spatial inclusion, housing prices rise due to anticipation for business, but gentrification, which is a common problem in urban regeneration has not been observed. This means simply that the effects of economic revitalization were insignificant, but in the case of Gongju Old City Center, the economic situation, which had not improved for a long time, resulted in voluntary migration of the residents. This combined with phenomena such as the influx of foreigners due to urban regeneration projects and economic revitalization of some sections, contributed to the accelerated outflow of residents excluded from economic effects. Although these phenomena were not clearly observed at this time, the Old City Center residents had already been divided with economic effects. In terms of living infrastructure, the lack and satisfaction of transportation and medical facilities were low, but the cultural spaces were exceptionally positive. However, this phenomenon has also been seen only in some areas where economic revitalization occurs. In terms of human inclusion, there was no net influx of young adults (ages 15 to 45) in the Gongju Old City Center for a period of about 10 years. This means that the residents are older, and they have long history of internal conflicts lack the ability to respond appropriately to project. In this regard, Gongju-si tried to reinforce it through appropriate education and programs, residents who do not participate are excluded, so it is important to find out in this process. Through in-depth interviews, the results of the urban regeneration project and the participation and capacity of residents are as follows. The first is the phenomenon of residents exclusion due to the formal system of governance. Residents could not participate in the business and capacity building process with distrust in administration. In the case of the administrative organization, it was recognized that Gongju-si was management who ran the project, and emphasized the persuasion, rationality and objectivity of the residents, rather than cooperating with the residents for reasons of reality and sustainability. This vicious cycle was causing the gap between residents and administrative organizations in carrying out the project together.
Second, there were residents who were excluded because of the different direction of urban regeneration projects. In particular, residents who insisted on cultural cities, as well as the administration, who did not want to take risks of urban regeneration projects for various reasons, experience double exclusion by the people who are mostly merchants. On the other hand, when the same organization participated in the project, proper management could not be confirmed, and the project was observed focuse some residents. These two groups did not trust each other, considering each other as a profit group, which was the most important reason cultural and artistic organizations are the main place where the effect of project such as the economic effect and the expansion of cultural infrastructure is present.
Third, the phenomenon that residents are excluded due to the distrust of the community organization is observed. Resident community organization covering various resident organizations were organized according to their function by sector and the operating regulations were autonomous, but they were specified to be decided through the consensus process among the residents. However, Gongju, a traditional city with a long history, existing residents influence is strong, and the representative of resident community organization consisted of a small number of residents, all in common: existing residents. In this study, by examining the relationship between the urban regeneration project focuse on Gongju Old City Center and the inclusive city, it was observed that the exclusion and inclusion of the residents appeared at the same time. The effect of urban regeneration projects, which tried to prevent urban decline in local cities such as Gongju, is so small that it is difficult to say it is an inclusive. However, some sections show small changes that were not seen just a few years ago and can be evaluated positively. As a result, this study found that the residents are clearly divided around the economy, and that the equal economic ripple effect is the top priority for the future population outflow and maintenance of the community.