| Rural Prospects and Planning Strategies on Rural Development (Year 3 of 3) | |||
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| Author | Sim, Jaehun | ||
| Views | 88619 | Publication Date | 2020.02.18 |
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Research Background Recently the value of rural areas has been refocused, and the expectation of growth in rural areas has risen. However, various types of problems that hinder the conservation of rural areas and their rurality have still occurred. Systematic policy and planning tools are needed to make rural areas sustainable, responding to the reckless development and reinforcing the value and function of rural areas. This study is the final of the third-year. It summarizes the future issues in rural areas, then presents planning strategies for the implication of livable and beautiful rural areas. Research Methodology This study covers from national territory to rural areas (eup and myeon) in space, and from the year 2015 to 2040 in time. The main content is rural spatial planning, regulation of land use management, connections between plans and projects. We reviewed literature related to spatial planning, regulation of land use management, and development projects. Also, we applied various statistical data to identify the velocity and pattern of changes in future rural areas. Rural areas are categorized in terms of residence, workplace, and leisure based on the future predict model developed in the second-year study. We set up the spatial planning unit to take into account the living community, biosphere, and farming in rural areas. A survey was conducted targeting rural residents, and interviews with local government officials were conducted for understanding the general perception and willingness to participate in rural planning. Besides, we carried out a field survey, expert workshop, and consultation to identify issues and implications for rural spatial planning. Findings According to the SWOT analysis for future issues in rural areas, the strengths of future rural areas are excellent accessibility to the natural environment, a pleasant low-density environment, and undeveloped resources. The weaknesses are vulnerability to the development pressure, lack of vitality from population aging, unbalanced distribution of the population. The opportunities are the increased awareness of values in rural areas, increase in urban to rural migration, the economic potential of converged agriculture, technologies of the 4th industrial revolution. Finally, the threats are slowness in national growth, continuous reckless development, and decrease in farming activities due to concentration in high-growth industries. Our research showed that these problems would abound in rural areas, and we explained why it is necessary to introduce rural spatial plans to make rural areas sustainable. Many counties around the world recognize rural areas as the space for solving urban problems. The main characteristics of their rural spatial planning for solving the problems are as follows: First, the vision, goals, and agenda are presented clearly. They serve to prompt the development of rural areas by setting the right direction for spatial planning, and reflecting the national development plans and local governments’ requirements. Second, such planning focuses on conservation rather than development. Third, it includes regulations for land use management to enhance the execution of specific plans. Fourth, the planning system considers the consistency and compatibility between various plans. Fifth, rural spatial planning can reflect particular policy needs in rural areas because the scope of planning is not large and individual plans can be flexibly combined. Sixth, rural spatial planning implements agreements that can connect plans and projects to enhance the execution of the individual plans. Seventh, each of the plans emphasizes the participation of the community and residents in the planning process. The urban spatial planning of Korea is designed to support the growing demand for urban areas. Rural areas were regarded as unoccupied space and targets for building new urban areas. In other words, the purpose of urban spatial planning is to construct a dynamic city, and the development of rural areas is not considered. Although there are many policies to protect farmland and mountain areas in the current regulation of land use management, such regulation is not sufficient. The reason is that Korea still focuses on development rather than conservation concerning land-use management. According to the survey of rural residents’ awareness, rural residents tend to consider the prevention of reckless development as more critical for spatial planning than income increase. Many of them are willing to follow regulations that may arise from rural planning. Rural spatial planning should be approached in a way to prepare a planning process that can be led by the residents, responding to such changes in awareness of rural residents. Thus, local-government policies are needed to support the capacity of rural residents. The rural spatial planning needs a different approach from the existing plans, considering the conflicting interest of conservation and development, the poor finance of local governments, and the relationship between existing rural development projects. Based on the vision and plans of the mid- and long-term development in rural areas, the principle of “pre-planning, post-project” is required as an efficient policy tool to respond to the reckless development and to the need for conservation of multifunctionality of rural areas. Rural spatial planning needs to be established with a plan to supplement the insufficient parts in the existing spatial plans. It is necessary to present differentiated maintenance and management measures by benchmarking Germany’s planning regulation for external and internal areas. In the era of decentralization, local governments should be the ones that establish and carry out plans that meet the national development vision and local situation. Most local governments, however, are expected to have difficulties in establishing and executing their plans effectively because they have not accumulated sufficient experiences. Therefore, local governments should cooperate with the national government to secure financial support and foster organizations to carry out their spatial planning. By doing so, local governments will be able to promote sustainable development. Researchers: Sim Jaehun, Song Miryung, Han Yicheol, Seo Hyeongjoo Research period: 2019. 1. ~ 2019. 12. E-mail address: jhsim@krei.re.kr |
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