Urbanism, by definition, is shaped by the interaction between the physical environment and the social, economic, and cultural features of our daily lives. Thus, the role of local communities, as the producers as well as... [ view full abstract ]
Urbanism, by definition, is shaped by the interaction between the physical environment and the social, economic, and cultural features of our daily lives. Thus, the role of local communities, as the producers as well as consumers of the built environment, is highly important in making today’s urban life. Among the diverse urban scales, a residential neighbourhood is considered the spatial context in which ordinary people interact with their neighbours and the environment for a relatively longer term, and thus, community participation is critical in the process of neighbourhood improvement in order to fulfil the local aspiration for ‘desired living environment’ and ultimately achieve grassroots urbanism. In South Korea, participatory planning has been widely adopted in recent years to revitalise deteriorating residential areas where run-down low-rise houses are concentrated without sufficient amenities. In the past, urban renewal in Korea had been largely market-driven, completely changing the urban landscape by replacing low-rise houses with high-rise apartments. However, as the global economic crisis adversely affected the real estate sector in the late 2000s, profit-oriented urban renewal based on sweeping redevelopments for higher-density housing has been gradually shifted to community-led regeneration with a greater focus on improving the communal spaces in the neighbourhood while retaining the existing spatial structure. The city government of Daegu, a tertiary metropolitan city in Korea, has organised a systematic community design and training program for urban regeneration, particularly of old residential neighbourhoods, since 2009 in which over 600 local people have participated so far. This study examines the nature of the local aspiration for the ‘ideal’ residential areas by analysing 40 final proposals made by the local participants in this program from 2011 to 2016. Specifically, by conducting a qualitative data analysis, it attempts to identify the physical elements that the participating residents wished to improve in their neighbourhoods and the features of their design solutions, and the proposed measures to operate the interventions. It also interprets the social, economic, and cultural factors reflected on in the proposals. By doing so, this paper attempts to portray how local communities living in decaying neighbourhoods envision the future of their housing areas in the context of Korea’s changing urban renewal paradigm.
