Neighborhood Identity Formation and the Changes in an Urban Regeneration Neighborhood in Gwangju, Korea

Abstract

Since the Urban Regeneration Act in 2013, central and local Korean governments have endeavored to regenerate deprived urban neighborhoods. This study analyzed how these efforts have changed the nature of neighborhood identity in Yanglim, Gwangju, Korea. The authors analyzed 62,386 Naver blog posts from 2013 to 2022, utilizing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) technique, Topic Modeling (i.e., Latent Dirichlet Allocation). Using trend analysis by topic, three phases were identified: (1) Phase 1: Flourishment (January 2013 to October 2016); (2) Phase 2: Maturation (November 2016 to February 2020); and (3) Phase 3: COVID-19 (March 2020 to October 2022). In the first phase, the collective actions between the local government and citizens to improve the declined neighborhood formed the Yanglim area’s reputation as the “History and Cultural Village” and as “Penguin Village”. The unique identity of the area in the second phase, along with gentrification issues, created a hot spot (e.g., cafés and restaurants), drawing the attention of tourists and locals. More recently, the Yanglim area has become a place for locals’ daily activities with their loved ones, as tourist traffic greatly dropped off due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Until now, the Yanglim area has experienced a process of successful urban regeneration from flourishment to degentrification. AI techniques represent a novel application that can support policy makers and stakeholders in understanding citizens and taking further actions to create economically and socially sustainable neighborhoods.