Civic Urbanism and the State: Transition of the State Involvement in Community Building in Seoul, South Korea

Abstract

Strong states and markets have been driving urbanisation in East Asia for decades. Recently, citizens, civic groups and civil society organisations have become increasingly engaged in shaping the living environment in cities. Community building in localities is an important case of civic engagement, and is considered an integral part of a localised sustainability agenda to build socially inclusive cities. While the enabling role of the state in community building is well known, there is a gap in research, addressing community building as a part of a long tradition of community movements in East Asia. This paper focuses on the evolving state– civil society relations in community building in Seoul to better understand the historical evolution of community movements and their contribution to the recent surge of civic urbanism in the city. The research follows a comparative case-oriented approach, where Songhak Maeul, Seongmisan Maeul, Seowon Maeul and Samdeok Maeul are compared as examples of a different state involvement in community building in Seoul. The authors conducted in-depth interviews, which were complemented with participants observation and an extensive review of secondary resources. The research findings suggest that community building used to be marginalised in the past, but has now become an integral part of the urban governance. Historical continuity of community movements shows that civic urbanism in Seoul is re-emerging rather than newly emerging. The research, however, also argues that a growing institutionalisation of community building weakens its transformative potential to address urban and social challenges in Seoul.