Jeju rural villages are distinguishable from other rural villages in Korea because they have not only unique geographic environment, but also Jeju villagers’ language, religion, culture, and values. Such distinct environment and villagers’ life st...
Jeju rural villages are distinguishable from other rural villages in Korea because they have not only unique geographic environment, but also Jeju villagers’ language, religion, culture, and values. Such distinct environment and villagers’ life style have made their own special village landscapes. Although there have been constant changes in Jeju villages, the speed of the changes is much slower than that of cities or tourist attractions in Jeju island. The present landscapes are different from the vernacular landscapes of Jeju villages, but they are meaningful because they have been changed slowly by the villagers, and these changes have accumulated on the village landscapes for a long time. Therefore, research into the characteristics of the present streetscapes focused on how they have been changed from the vernacular streetscapes is important. The aim of this thesis is to explore the characteristics of streetscapes in a Jeju rural village focused on their changes from the vernacular.
Sinheung-dong village, the site of this thesis, is one of Jeju rural villages. There have been no large-scale development in this village since its formation, and it has been changed slowly by the villagers who have lived there for their lifetime. So, this village is suitable for the exploration of Jeju rural village’s streetscapes that have been changed and accumulated slowly.
There are three steps in this thesis. The first step is to study the characteristics of Jeju villages’ vernacular streetscapes researched in other studies and to re-categorize them into street, building site, farmland, and public space. The characteristics of the vernacular streetscapes are used as the criteria to measure how the present streetscapes have been changed from the vernacular. The second step is to make an on-site survey of Sinheung-dong village with the results of the first step and to understand the characteristics of the present streetscapes focused on the changes in the whole village. The results of the survey are used as the base data to make a toolkit that is a system to survey and measure the characteristics of the present streetscapes compared with the vernacular streetscapes on the micro scale. The last step is to apply the toolkit to a street and public spaces in Sinheung-dong village and to analyze the characteristics and the meanings of the present streetscapes focused on the changes.
The results of the second and third steps could be interpreted in two ways. First, the present streetscapes are meaningful in that the vernacular streetscapes still remain partially. The farmlands still look like the vernacular except for some new-built houses. Stone walls on the roadside and some buildings’ outer walls are made of basalt that is the vernacular material of Jeju. Especially, the scene of basalt stone walls lined up in a row along the street is very similar to the vernacular streetscapes. Although no streetscapes remain unchanged, the fact that the present streetscapes have some characteristics of the vernacular partially is meaningful because it means that villagers also have still kept their life style for a long time. So, the effort trying to find the reason why the vernacular streetscapes still remain partially is needed, not to force to keep the present form nor to restore the original form.
The second meaning is the present streetscapes as new landscape of Jeju. In the end, most of the present streetscapes have been changed at various levels. Even though their historical value like the vernacular streetscapes' has not been proved, it is true that slow changes have accumulated for a long time and created their own harmony. In addition, because all the changes are made on the micro scale for the villagers’ needs, it is possible to say that the changes of villagers' life style also have accumulated as much as the changes of the streetscapes have. The speed of the changes used to be slow, but recently it tends to be faster and faster. In terms of this issue, the criteria of the desirable change is very uncertain. However it is clear that the criteria is necessary for the better streetscapes.
In this thesis, Sinheung-dong village was the only site, but the results of this thesis could apply to other Jeju villages because Sinheung-dong village is one of Jeju rural villages. In order to have the present streetscape appreciated and changed for the better, much effort is needed. First of all, the present and vernacular streetscapes of many Jeju villages should be recorded in detail. Also, the criteria to judge what the desirable change is should be made on the base of the detailed records and analysis. The direction of the present streetscapes should be sought constantly, too. Hoping we have more records and analysis about the present streetscapes in Jeju rural villages, I expect that this thesis will help the present streetscapes change for the better.