[Asia Exclusive] "Neglected 1st Generation New Town Ilsan, Saw New Urban Regeneration Potential"

Need for Bottom-Up Regeneration with Local Resident Participation
Urban Regeneration Strategies Change Due to COVID-19
Demand Shifts to Low-Density, Comfortable Spaces

Kim Hyun-ah, Emergency Response Committee member of the United Future Party, is being interviewed on the 2nd at the Goyang Dasijak Urban Research Institute in Gyeonggi./Goyang=Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Interview = Asia Economy Jeong Doohwan, Head of Construction and Real Estate Department, Edited by Lim Onyu] Kim Hyun-ah, Emergency Response Committee member of the People Power Party, is an expert with extensive experience in the field of urban planning. She entered politics as a proportional representative during the 20th general election, ran for the Goyang Jeong district in Gyeonggi Province during the 21st general election but was defeated, and later settled in Ilsan New Town. In a commercial building on the second floor within the new town, where her old election office was located, a new signboard was put up. It reads 'Dasijak Urban Research Institute.' It is a research institute under the Urban Regeneration Strategy Forum, where she serves as co-representative.

She said, "I have glimpsed the potential for new urban regeneration in Ilsan New Town, a first-generation new town," adding, "We are experimenting with a new urban regeneration paradigm that starts from the grassroots level, overcoming the limitations of the existing government-led urban regeneration."

Ilsan is a representative aging new town. Apartments, which were supplied on a large scale in the early 1990s to solve Seoul's housing shortage, are aging after 30 years. Moreover, with the government announcing the third-generation new towns, local residents' concerns are growing that the first-generation new towns will be neglected and deteriorate. Kim expressed concern, saying, "Existing new towns are declining due to insufficient linkage with surrounding old downtown areas and delays in establishing metropolitan transportation networks," and "The emergence of third-generation new towns will turn existing new towns into isolated islands in the metropolitan area and cause slumification."

Unlike Bundang, Ilsan is experiencing commercial district aging and urban decline due to a lack of new growth industries. Residents have made individual efforts to improve housing performance, but according to Kim, they have reached their limits. She believes regeneration is needed not only at the complex level but also at the urban level.

Kim diagnosed that the current urban regeneration promoted by the government has limitations. She said, "Although this government initially took the lead on urban regeneration issues, it was limited because it was centered on public and government budgets," and added, "We need to introduce the concept of sustainable urban regeneration by using failures as stepping stones."

Kim advocated for bottom-up rather than top-down urban regeneration. She said, "Each region and complex has different circumstances," and "Only when residents consider what they want and think about their property and the future of their village together will their willingness to pay arise."

In establishing urban regeneration strategies, she paid attention to changes brought by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Kim pointed out, "Existing high-density real estate development pursues economic efficiency to the extreme, which has limitations in hygiene and quarantine." In fact, after the COVID-19 pandemic, demand has shifted from high-density collective spaces to small, comfortable spaces. Also, the desire to secure safe residential areas is increasing.

Kim predicted, "COVID-19 will change the spatial structure of the entire city, such as the emerging need for shared work centers for telecommuting," and "In addition, urban regeneration will move toward restoring balconies and securing parks."

Kim believes that first-generation new town urban regeneration can also solve Seoul's housing problems. She said, "It takes 15 years just to settle after creating a new town," and "Revitalizing first-generation new towns, which have accumulated assets over 30 years, will contribute to solving the housing supply problem in the metropolitan area."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.