Dongdaemun, a traditional market place wearing a modern suit: the importance of the social fabric in physical redevelopments

The loss of economic and social vitality in traditional city centers is a serious problem for many municipalities and planners. To solve this problem, many “redevelopment” policies have been established and carried out, but often these have not been effective. One case of commercial area redevelopment that is worthy of careful examination is Dongdaemun, a 100-year-old market place in Korea that has been revitalized by supporting and conserving merchant organizations instead of total redevelopment and transformation for other uses. This case demonstrates the importance of the social fabric in revitalization, and shows that total redevelopment for new uses is not necessarily the best method. Redevelopment of city centers usually concentrates too much on spatial transformation and neglects the importance of the existing social fabric; these traditional social fabrics have a latent energy that has accumulated over time. This paper attempts to show that this latent energy can be conserved and enhanced to revitalize old commercial areas.