Abstract
The concept of growth has dominated the political economy of urban development, whether in the west or east, in the last half-century. The growth agenda, however, is being increasingly questioned, amid rising citizens’ discontent with their governance and urban outcomes that are often biased toward favoring corporate interests. Likewise, many South Korean cities, developed under the strong growth-first ideologies, are beginning to face a realization that the growth-oriented development projects are doing little to improve social and economic life in cities today and that alternative strategies are needed. This chapter examines such two bottom-up, artist-led revitalization projects in the city of Busan, tackling the problem of urban decline manifested in slums (the case of Gamcheon village) and deteriorating old downtown (the case of Totatoga). The two cases stand out as they differ from other strategies that seek to quickly raise economic indicators as a priority and are detached from the everyday urban lives of locals. Emphasizing conviviality, inclusion, and distributive justice to varying degrees instead, the two cases explain how and why arts and culture came to be progressive solutions to urban woes and their implications for the transitioning urban governance.
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Notes
- 1.
Korea democratized in 1987 and held its first local elections in 1995.
- 2.
In addition to the well-known case of Seoul striving to build a “human-centered city” under Mayor Park Won-soon, some other examples include the city of Kyungju deciding to transform its cultural heritage policies toward “citizen-centered” policies (Lee 2015), the city of Jeonju proposing to develop a comprehensive plan to become a “citizen-centered” eco-city (Yoo 2015), and the city of Jinju developing “citizen-centered” local welfare policies around four key themes (Kim 2014).
- 3.
The fiscal independence rate indicates the fiscal capacity of a local government . It is the ratio of the local government’s own revenues to its budget.
- 4.
The data in this subsection are based on the field interviews and site visits (in December 2013 and in October 2015) made by the author, unless otherwise stated. Many valuable stories and data were collected particularly in the 2-hour interview (5 December 2013) with artist Jin Young-sup, who had initiated the remaking of Gamcheon village. Other interviewees include an official from city hall, local residents of Gamcheon, and visitors.
- 5.
The Art Factory in Dadaepo is a name given to a group of artists working in vacant factory buildings clustered in Busan’s Dadae-dong. An owner of a private small company initiated it, providing funds to transform the factories into art spaces and studios for local artists.
- 6.
The Sanbok Road Renaissance was launched by the local government of Busan in 2011. It seeks to improve the existing slum and low-income villages’ living conditions and their residents’ livelihoods, aiming to cover 54 neighborhoods and 634,000 residents (about 20% of Busan’s population) (Kim 2012).
- 7.
The case of Totatoga has been published by the author and Se Hoon Park as “Overcoming urban growth coalition: The case of culture-led urban revitalization in Busan, South Korea” in Urban Affairs Review, 2016. (doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087416638449). Please refer to the article for a more detailed study of Totatoga. This section briefly summarizes some key information and findings of the case.
- 8.
In 2009, he read a newspaper article that described how the city government was having difficulty in finding a use for its small leftover budget set aside for culture and art-related use. He saw this as an opportunity to come up with the idea of Totatoga and contacted the City Hall, which welcomed his plan.
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Joo, YM. (2019). Progressive Solutions to Urban Woes: Arts and Culture as Tools for Urban Revitalization in Busan, South Korea. In: Douglass, M., Garbaye, R., Ho, K. (eds) The Rise of Progressive Cities East and West. ARI - Springer Asia Series, vol 6. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0209-1_13
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