ZEMCH 2019 International Conference Proceedings April.2020 | Page 214
1. Introduction
Cities are the core of economic growth, and as industries within a city grow and expand, they tend
to become more successful and innovative. While this does contribute towards the urban economy[1],
consumerism and the citizens’ demand for better living quality and attractiveness of their working
environment increases. Slowly, cities begin to push out its industries and relocate its productive areas
to “disappear into the outskirts of the city or to low‐wage countries”[1]. As a consequence, a problem
emerges in urban development where cities become a place of consumption without production, and
with that, dead spaces emerge within the urban fabric.
Positive effects may be felt within the city’s Central Business District. As consumerism increases
so will demand towards labor, thus enabling more job opportunities. However, this shift of
productivity that is aimed only to fulfill consumption needs would never work in order to sustain a
city that lives in a 24/7‐hour framework. In theory, a good city should have a continuous flow of activity
from morning to night and vice‐versa [2]; however, the reality is that areas of consumption would be
at its peak during the evening yet turn deserted at night, creating what are known as ‘dead spaces’.
This causes certain pockets of the city’s urban fabric to decrease in space quality, and land becomes
more expensive as its value is now only given if it can accommodate itself to satisfy the needs of
consumption.
With the city’s urban fabric being far from perfect, and where “every city has pockets of underused,
underutilized land or decaying urban areas”[3], a city should strive to have a mixed‐use of activities,
ranging from: commercial, living and production to create a city that lives in the 24/7‐hour framework.
Furthermore, absence from either one of the three activities or failure for each of them to complement
one another would lead towards an area’s inability to progress or sustain itself in the long run. A clear
example of this problem is demonstrated in the area of Seogye‐Dong, South Korea.
2. Materials and Methods
This study begins by observing the recent conditions of Seogye‐Dong as a primary case study and
comparing them to the conditions of Kampung 1 Laweyan as one of the batik 2 industries in Java Island,
Indonesia. Kampung Laweyan is used as a second case study and acts as a precedent that demonstrates
how regeneration can occur by applying the three elements of mixed used activities: living, production
and consumption.
With regards to the area of Seogye‐Dong, the Seoul Government has pinpointed this area for urban
regeneration since 2018, due to its underperformance (Fig. 1a). Despite Seogye‐Dong being an
industrial area in the past, its geographical location sitting next to the heart of Seoul’s Central Business
District (Fig. 1b) has caused this area to push away many of its productive industries, leaving only a
handful behind. Likewise, part of Seogye‐dong’s underperformance is a by‐product of that exact
consumer‐based Central Business District that has developed over the years.
1
2
Kampung, also can be spelled as Kampoeng, is an Indonesian term meaning village.
Batik is a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to whole cloth, originating from Indonesia.
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ZEMCH 2019 International Conference l Seoul, Korea