The Effect of the Creation of Local Spatial Content on the Lives of Residents: A Case of Hangeul Sa-rang Street in Sejong City

Abstract

Recently, local streets are being created with spatial contents such as themed streets. This means that a simple everyday space is realized as a cultural space, and it is expected to play a role as a medium to improve the quality of cultural life of the residents and further more realize the local identity. Sejong City, which was launched in 2012 for balanced national development, also intends to utilize ‘Hangeul’, the greatest achievement of King Sejong the Great, as a cultural material for realizing urban identity, and is creating a ‘Sa-rang Street for Hangeul’ in Hansol-dong, Sejong City. Sejong City established an ordinance to utilize Hangeul as a cultural material, and established an institutional and administrative base by establishing a Hangeul Promotion Department. The Hangeul Sa-rang Street was selected as the Hansol-dong where the first village is located through a local contest. This study aims to analyze the effect of spatial content creation on the lives of residents using the Hangeul Sa-rang Street in Sejong City as a case, and a statistical analysis method was applied to conduct the study. As a result of analysis based on the questionnaire of 211 people, it can be confirmed that the name and development potential of Hangeul Sa-rang Street were all high with an average value of 4.0 or higher based on a 5-point likert scale. In addition, it was investigated that ‘improving the pedestrian environment’, ‘improving convenience facilities’, and ‘creating a square’ were important for residents to create a Hangeul Sa-rang Street. In addition, it was found that the Sa-rang for Hangeul was generally positively perceived in economic, social, cultural, and environmental aspects. Based on this analysis, the conclusion was firstly revealed that both local residents and merchants positively recognized and expected Hangeul Sa-rang Street. Second, in creating the Hangeul Sa-rang Street, it is necessary to consider the pedestrian environment, plazas, and convenience facilities first. Third, it was analyzed that Hangeul Sa-rang Street needs to be implemented as a spatial content representing Sejong City through long-term and gradual supplementation rather than simply a space for tourism.