Lessons from good and bad practices in retail-led urban regeneration projects in the Republic of Korea

Abstract

Industrialized countries suffer from the negative influence of decline in their traditional retail districts with the rapid increase of online sales and out-of-town shopping developments. Upon recognising these problems, governments have responded to the decline of traditional retail districts with retail-led urban regeneration. Although there are many case studies on urban regeneration projects, most of them primarily focus only on good or successful cases, despite the fact that the exploration of a bad or unsuccessful case can provide more insight into failed projects. This study aims to examine the lessons that can be learned by comparing good and bad practices for accomplishing successful urban regeneration projects in traditional retail districts. Using the survey data from the Small and Medium Business Administration (SMBA) of the Republic of Korea in 2014, we identify good and bad practices for comparison through an integrated approach using both quantitative and qualitative methods. We find that good practices are focused on self-sufficiency improvement; conversely, bad practices are based on the development of supportive government policies to benefit the revival of the districts. For the successful promotion of a retail-led regeneration strategy, a supporting system, such as a policy, is necessary to bring about the cooperation and sharing of a common goal for long-term business results to be derived at the policy level.