Abstract
South Korea has industrialized and urbanized rapidly since the 1970s, and subsequently, the historic downtown areas of major cities have been hollowed out as the population and industry have become concentrated in urban centers. Based on the Urban Decline Indicators of Korea, in accordance with the Urban Revitalization Act of the South Korean government, a comparative analysis of the population changes, office vacancy rate, building aging rate, decrease in the number of industries and employees, and housing supply and demand in historic downtown areas and new urban areas of six major South Korean cities demonstrated that all six historic downtown areas have declined significantly. Currently, little research is available in South Korea on the expansion of urban living and the inflow of urban residents through office-to-residential building conversion. Therefore, this study explores the expansion of urban residences to revitalize these historic downtown areas. To this end, this study examines the feasibility of converting poorly functioning, vacant offices in historic downtown areas into residential spaces to present a sustainable strategy for their complexation. This study finds that office-to-residential building conversion is a sustainable way to recover urban space and grow the population and industry in historic downtown areas.
Highlights
Cities that have been built over hundreds or thousands of years are transforming, and historic business downtown areas are being abandoned in favor of new, purpose-built urban centers
According to the Urban Decline Indicators of Korea [26] denoted in the Special Act on the Revitalization and Support of Urban Regeneration [13], a significant decrease in population is defined as a decrease of more than 20% compared to the most populous period in the last 30 years, or a decrease in population in three or more consecutive years for the past five years in a given area
The era of rapid economic growth in South Korea has come to an end, and the hollowing out of the downtown areas that began in the 1980s undermines the cities’ competitiveness, as diversity and vitality decline and infrastructure is underutilized
Summary
Cities that have been built over hundreds or thousands of years are transforming, and historic business downtown areas are being abandoned in favor of new, purpose-built urban centers. Maintaining history and tradition, and at the same time the sustainable development of a compatible view of “preservation” and “development” is necessary for urban development that intends to preserve historic downtown areas. Sustainability in urban development, including urban population, economic, and social changes, must be achieved in a way that accommodates the needs of current and future generations while preserving the quality and ecological functions of the natural environment over time [1]. The importance of sustainability in urban revitalization is emphasized by urban problems stemming from the unprecedented increase in the population, which has resulted in economic growth, social welfare, greater demand for resources and energy, rising housing prices, a lack of jobs and land for development, and an overall poorer quality of life [2,3]. The urban environment plays an important role in addressing social and economic sustainability [4,5]
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