Gamcheon Culture Village. South Korea.

Gamcheon Culture Village.

https://use.metropolis.org/case-studies/gamcheon-culture-village#casestudydetail 

Gamcheon Culture Village, a well-known tourist area that was regenerated as part of an urban village regeneration initiative, is located in Busan, South Korea. In recent times, the village has received increasing attention as a regional tourism-based regeneration model. 

However, it is now losing its uniqueness, as a number of similar domestic and international models have mimicked its design due to its success. In addition, as a result of a drastic increase in tourists, problems are arising, such as environmental issues and inconvenience for residents. 

This study attempts to propose a policy for the sustainable vitalization of Gamcheon Culture Village as a tourist destination based on the application of a co-creation-based regional innovation model, as suggested by Hong et al. (2017). For this purpose, we co-hosted a regional innovation workshop in conjunction with the residents’ committee of Gamcheon Culture Village. 

According to the analysis results, the main obstacles identified in terms of vitalization were as follows: lack of differentiated tangible and intangible content and service; lack of tourist information; traffic problems; and other inconveniences arising from the coexistence of a tourist location and a residential area.

Gamcheon Culture Village is a representative regional tourist spot that was identified for regeneration and has received considerable domestic and international attention in recent times. 

However, despite the fact that the village has been allocated major budgetary funding of over 10 billion KRW since 2009 for esthetic environmental improvements, the installation of artwork, and the creation of wall paintings, various problems are starting to appear, including lack of events that tourists can experience directly as opposed to on a screen, inconvenience for tourists due to lack of road signs and signposts, and traffic in the area, coupled with environmental problems as a result of the drastic increase in the number of tourists. 

Gamcheon, Busan. S. Korea.

In terms of external factors, the number of urban villages regenerated has now reached saturation point. These include 82 dilapidated villages[1] that were chosen for the village art project initiated by the Korean government as part of the New Deal art policy during the period from 2009 to 2015. These villages are flooded with art pieces, including walls and street staircases that have been transformed to art works. 

Tourist destinations have their own unique lifecycle, and typically, this calls for a transition of stages after a certain amount of time [2]. If no effort is made to differentiate a tourist region from other regions, it may enter the phase of decline earlier than expected. This is why regional innovation policy is necessary in the case of Gamcheon Culture Village.

Gamcheon, Busan. S. Korea. http://english.busan.go.kr/bsnews01/1320713 

In some cases, the unique strength of the region is sufficient for regional innovation or regeneration to take place, and no special effort needs to be made. However, success in this regard can often be attributed to local residents’ strong will to overcome adversity and deal with any problems that may arise. Hence, the participation and collaboration of each agent in the region is critical for regional innovation.

Fuente:   NA-Rang Kim, Soon-Goo Hong (2017). “Case Study of the Actual Application of a Regional Innovation Model Focusing on Gamcheon Culture Village”. International Journal of u- and e- Service, Science and Technology- Vol.10, No.7 (2017), pp.83-90. http://dx.doi.org/10.14257/ijunesst.2017.10.7.08. http://article.nadiapub.com/IJUNESST/vol10_no7/8.pdf

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