Towards local regeneration: A case study of Janghang, South Korea

Abstract

Janghang is a planned city that has three defined areas of urban infrastructure: a smelting factory, railway, and port. These were built one by one in the 1930s after the land was reclaimed on a large scale to exploit rice and gold production during Japanese colonial rule. For the last 90 years, Janghang has gone through booms and busts as a modern industrial city, symbolising Korea’s rapid economic development, urbanisation and industrialisation in a short period of time. These three urban infrastructures have formed the local identity of Janghang, leaving behind industrial structures of the past. Industrial remains have the potential to strengthen local regeneration and social cohesion in the local community. Meanwhile, while various regeneration projects are currently underway in Janghang, they have caused problems as they have focused too much on outcomes in a top-down manner led by local government. In this paper, the author proposes that a regeneration project should be conducted in the following manner: stage 1 — status survey and documentation; stage 2 — listing of industrial remains; stage 3 — turning industrial remains into assets; stage 4 — local identity and master plan; stage 5 — public project; stage 6 — reuse of industrial remains. In addition, each stakeholder in local regeneration should play their specific role: experts should document the local area’s history and discover its identity; local government should put in place the policy and management systems to turn local industrial remains into assets and set appropriate budgets; and local residents should preserve, use, and continue to reimagine industrial remains and benefit from local regeneration.