서울시 도시재생의 지역 공동체에 대한 비판적 고찰: 실천 공동체 개념을 중심으로

Since the enactment of the Urban Regeneration Act in 2013, South Korea has experienced a paradigm shift in its urban development policy from wholesale urban redevelopment towards community-based urban regeneration. Central to this urban regeneration is a transition of power in decision-making from the state and its technocratic apparatuses to local community through community development. However, it is a challenge to achieve the power transition through the urban regeneration project implemented with limited public fund in the short term. This article aims to identify and discuss this challenge by examining the existing basis for sustainable development of local communities in the recent urban regeneration in Seoul. To this end, it critically reviews how the local community in Changsin-Sungin’s urban regeneration has grown by using the concept of community of practice. The critical review suggests that the local community can be restricted as a centrally governable or manageable community of practice due to the bureaucratic time frame, competitive state funding and conservative national legislation. Despite such limitations, at the same time, it also argues that new social networks and experiences from the urban regeneration can serve as the impetus for local communities to continue bottom-up practices and improve collective capabilities in informal as well as formal ways.