Background
Saengyeon-2dong and Jungang-dong in Dongducheon face typical urban decline challenges. Over 80% of buildings are more than 20 years old and deteriorating, while residential population continues to decline. Urban sprawl to new commercial districts, weakened business competitiveness, and eroding community bonds have severely diminished the region's self-regeneration capacity. Thus, a fundamental urban regeneration strategy rooted in community and municipal capacity building—rather than merely physical infrastructure rehabilitation—became essential.
Approach
This education program transcends theoretical learning, instead focusing on practical, hands-on engagement with the region's actual assets and resources. Delivered over 3 days in intensive 5-6 hour daily sessions, the program systematically guides participants from local diagnostic analysis through project proposals to implementation strategy development. Participants come to understand the distinct roles of public sector, private sector, and community organizations, and develop concrete action plans within their respective positions.
🔍
Discover
Local Content
Discovery & Utilization
🛠
Implement
Place Making
Concrete Execution
📢
Spread
Storytelling
Value Sharing
🌱
Sustain
Grassroots Change
Ecosystem Building
The program follows a three-stage structure: 'Discover → Implement → Spread', with each phase incorporating action learning that produces immediately implementable outcomes. From understanding the 'why' to planning the 'how', participants experience a collaborative urban regeneration model combining voluntary community participation with municipal support.
Key Educational Content
The curriculum comprises three core modules. First, local content discovery and utilization training uncovers hidden regional assets—history, culture, local figures, and landscapes—and teaches how to convert these into urban regeneration assets. Second, place-making education leverages small-scale projects in concrete spaces (alleys, plazas, buildings) to give residents direct experience of neighborhood transformation. Third, storytelling and local identity education enables communities to craft a unique regional narrative that simultaneously builds resident pride and attracts visitors.
Expected Impact
10+
Small Projects Identified
Through this program, residents and officials who directly experience urban regeneration's necessity and potential will catalyze a sustainable regeneration ecosystem. Small community projects collectively drive neighborhood-wide transformation, which then cascades to surrounding areas, anchoring a sustainable urban regeneration model. Beyond simply rehabilitating aging buildings, this creates a foundation for resident-led, livable neighborhood development.
Project Significance
This initiative demonstrates that urban regeneration is not a top-down infrastructure rehabilitation process but rather a bottom-up, community-participatory endeavor. By strengthening municipal officials' policy implementation capacity, cultivating residents' voluntary participation, and building local expert networks, the program creates sustainable urban regeneration infrastructure. The modest transformations experienced in Saengyeon-2dong and Jungang-dong are expected to scale as a regeneration model for economically declining urban areas nationwide.
#UrbanRegeneration
#CapacityBuilding
#CommunityEngagement
#LocalContent
#PlaceMaking
#Storytelling
#CivicParticipation
#Dongducheon
#SustainableCities
