HBC Community Agreement survey results shared
Shinheung Market, hidden in a labyrinth of old buildings, is showing signs of a generational change. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar
By Celeste Kriel
The
Haebangchon Urban Regeneration Center
hosted an English-language meeting Monday to share the results of a proposed “Community Agreement” for members of the Haebangchon (HBC) community, and create a space for community discussion.
The meeting was the second in a series run by the center this month to communicate with foreign residents and business owners in the area about various projects being undertaken by the center. They aim to afford residents a better quality of life, to uplift businesses and continue to develop the area into a budding neighborhood of arts and culture.
HBC is a particularly interesting testing ground as a model of urban regeneration. While the number of local residents is drastically on the decline, foreign residents have been moving in, with the foreign population accounting for around 16 percent of the total. The proposed agreement, to be completed between 2019 and 2020, will reflect the voices of as many residents as possible.
“The aim of the community agreement is to create more harmony between the diverse groups of people living in Haebangchon,” Lim Jin-gyu, manager of HBC Regeneration Center, told the Korea Times.
The center teamed up with Tium, an urban regeneration activist cooperative, to conduct the community agreement survey between December 2017 and April of this year, through in-person surveys and online. Kim Ho-chul, a Tium activist, presented the survey findings at the Monday meeting.
Of the 501 participants, there was an even age, gender and occupation distribution and 51 were international residents. Most participants were in their 20s or 30s.
The survey showed 83 percent of residents and business owners would like to continue living and working in Haebangchon in the future despite conflicts faced on a daily basis.
Regarding the conflicts, the survey showed that the majority of conflict faced by Koreans in the neighborhood stemmed from neighbors and visitors regarding parking issues and trash disposal, while international residents largely complained of conflicts with neighbors, visitors and landlords over issues such as rent, driving and walking, as well as noise and light pollution.
Most participants responded they would like to address issues regarding trash, noise, management of communal facilities and “good neighbor manners” to be included in the community agreement, with international residents voicing a need for win-win lessor-tenant agreements.
A majority (29 of 51) of international residents are “undecided” about whether a community agreement could help ease conflict in the community, while 10 “disagree” and only 8 “agree.” On the other hand, a majority of local residents “strongly agree” and “agree.” Of the total, 41 percent of respondents were willing to participate in the process of drawing up the community agreement with 12 percent willing to “actively” participate.
Kim highlighted that the community agreement would most likely not be a perfect list of rules and regulations, but rather highlighting tools for communication within the community and establishing rules organically through open communication.
“The agreement probably won't be to punish or praise people, but rather to allow open communication between residents,” Kim said.
HBC Urban Regeneration Center will hold its next meeting on Nov 26.
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