Traditional markets as community centers have played a role in serving as a place of commodity exchange, facilitating formation of shared culture between local residents and market tenants through information exchange and personal interactions. Tradit...
Traditional markets as community centers have played a role in serving as a place of commodity exchange, facilitating formation of shared culture between local residents and market tenants through information exchange and personal interactions. Traditional markets fell into stagnation due to the rise of new market typology, such as open circulation market and ‘Super Super-Markets’(SSM’s) in the 1990s and the consequent change of consumer patterns, and as a result. their function as local community centers began to diminish.
The ‘Traditional Market Redevelopment Projects’ were initiated on the grounds of the ‘Special Act on Promotion of Traditional Markets and Commercial Districts (Special Act)’ to revitalize commercial function and competitiveness through redeveloping the againg physical structures. Despite the initial purpose of revitalizing traditional markets, the Redevelopment Projects were oriented heavily towards residential use and were carried out in favor of developers and owners without the participation of existing tenants. This resulted in disharmony with surrounding environment as high rise residential-commercial buildings were constructed in low rise residential areas.
This study identifies problems through data analysis, case studies with field survey and tenant surveys, expert survey and interviews for the Traditional Market Redevelopment Zones in Seoul, and proposes institutional improvement strategies and long-term improvement plans. The analysis results of the Traditional Market Redevelopment Projects in Seoul reveals that 40 projects out of 48 completed ones (83%) were redeveloped into mixed-use residential buildings and 65% of the completed projects are located in the General Residential Areas.
The issues drawn from legal review of the Special Act and other related laws, surveys, and interviews include the difficulty in pursuing the Projects due to the lack of detailed provision of compensation standards, despite the stipulation that necessitates protective measures for existing market tenants. As for such measures, other related laws rather than the Special Act itself need to be revised. In addition, as most traditional markets are located within General Residential Areas, spatial incongruity arises in the cases of protruding landscape, right of light, right of a view, and others. Exemptions from the Special Act including building coverage ratio and floor area ratio need to be readjusted to characteristics of the area to effectively manage the residential environment.
Traditional markets eligible for the Redevelopment Project only need to satisfy a few general prerequisites, such as safety defects of facilities and loss of competitiveness, and request project implementation with the consent of land and building owners. The final decision to proceed the project is made by the Traditional Market Redevelopment Committee in the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Since screening criteria on the appropriateness or scope of Redevelopment Zones are ambiguous, it is necessary to strengthen eligibility for the project.
Therefore, this study suggests institutional improvement strategies for Traditional Market Redevelopment Projects on the grounds of the Special Act in three general aspects: 1) improvement of the current laws: 2) improvement direction allowing for sustainable urban management and market function: and 3) improvement of management and operation. After revising planning and policy for redevelopment process and method, the revision of the Special Act and the associated legal system may be approached over a long-term.
Moreover, the Seoul Metropolitan Government needs to establish policy direction for the Projects in terms of sustainable urban management and market function, and further specify project eligibility requirements, exemption options and guidelines for project deliberation criteria through municipal ordinances. Suggestions on management and operation, such as entire ad