Category Archives: Articles

Cultivating together: unearthing the transformative potential of community gardening as prefigurative collective action in Ljubljana

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With Laura Mittermaier
Local Environment
Taylor and Francis | Oxfordshire | 2026 | ISSN 1354-9839 | 1469-6711

Community gardening as a form of collective action has the potential to drive transformative social change. Despite this, few studies offer empirical insights into how community gardening affects transformative social change in practice. This study aims to address this gap by examining the Onkraj gradbišča community garden in Ljubljana. Employing fieldwork with participant observation, exploratory and in-depth interviews, and a review of secondary sources as research methods, the study explores how community gardening enables and sustains transformative social change and how institutional support (or lack thereof) impacts community gardening as a transformative community strategy. The findings reveal that Onkraj gradbišča fostered key conditions of transformative social change, including inner transformation, collective leadership, community capacity building, and some scaling strategies. In contrast, scaling up strategies were ineffective and the absence of institutional support limited the impact of community gardening on enabling governance. These findings suggest that the transformative potential of Onkraj gradbišča to contribute to path-shifting urban sustainability transitions was limited. Nevertheless, as a form of prefigurative collective action, Onkraj gradbišča provided a tangible alternative for food production, community capacity building, land use management, and urban planning in the city. The study argues that performing a “vision of a better world” may be the main legacy of Onkraj gradbišča, highlighting the transformative potential of community gardening in Ljubljana.

Source: doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2026.2669757

Songhak Maeul: Community Capacity Building in Marginalised Neighbourhoods of Seoul

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ARIscope
Asia Research Institute | Singapore | 2025

Three decades ago, South Korean director Kim Dong-won made two important documentaries about the struggles and everyday life of the people of Songhak Maeul. Yet Songhak Maeul remains little-known as a successful case of community capacity building in a marginalised neighbourhood in Seoul. This article provides a historical background and explains the impact of market-driven urban redevelopment on neighbourhood communities in Seoul. It revisits community activism in Songhak Maeul and highlights some of its achievements and legacies that deserve closer attention as a reminder of the importance of resilient neighbourhood communities in the face of growing environmental and social challenges in cities.

Source: doi.org/10.25542/fpns-vk13.

Changing scope of gentrification in Seoul? Neighborhood transformation and displacement in Sangwangsimni and Changsin-Sungin industrial clusters

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With Kim Kon
The Developing Economies
Institute of Developing Economies | Chiba | 2024 | ISSN 0012-1533 | 1746-1049

Gentrification and displacement used to be an integral part of neighborhood transformation in Seoul, contributing to its economic and urban growth. While direct displacement has recently declined, new forms of displacement are emerging. This study employs a qualitative, case-oriented research approach to understand gentrification in Seoul by comparing neighborhood transformation and displacement in Sangwangsimni and Changsin-Sungin industrial clusters. In Sangwangsimni, the property-led urban redevelopment contributed to the direct displacement of residents. In contrast, Changsin-Sungin residents were able to remain in place because of the state-led urban regeneration. However, the latter resulted in residents’ feelings of powerlessness, emotional distress, and alienation, which increased displacement pressure and contributed to their indirect displacement. The consequences of neighborhood transformation for displacement reveal not only the changing scope of gentrification in Seoul but also the enduring role of the state in facilitating capital accumulation through the class remaking of the city.

Source: doi.org/10.1111/deve.12420.

Re-emerging Civic Urbanism: The Evolving State–Civil Society Relations in Community Building in Seoul

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With Su Kim
Emerging Civic Urbanisms in Asia: Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, and Taipei beyond Developmental Urbanization, pp. 196-94
Im Sik, Cho, Blaž Križnik, Jeffrey Hou (eds.)
Amsterdam University Press | Amsterdam | 2022 | ISBN 9789463728546

State and markets drove urban development in South Korea for decades, giving little voice to citizens. Recently, citizens have become increasingly engaged in shaping their living environment. While the enabling role of the state in expanding citizen participation is well acknowledged, the importance of community movements has been overlooked. The chapter explores community movements in Seoul and their relations with the state to better understand their contribution to the recent surge of civic urbanism in the city. Comparison of neighbourhood community building in Seoul shows that civic urbanism, while marginalized in the past, has re-emerged as an integral part of urban governance. The chapter also suggests that the growing institutionalization of civic urbanism can weaken its transformative potential to build inclusive and resilient neighbourhoods and cities.

Source: doi.org/10.5117/9789463728546.

Author’s copy is also available for download.

Beyond Construction Site, beyond informality?

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With Aidan Cerar
Beyond small gardens: Beyond Construction Site community garden, pp. 72-79
Urška Jurman, Polonca Lovšin (eds.)
KUD Obrat | Ljubljana | 2021 | ISBN 978-961-95545-0-0

Beyond Construction Site community garden has been active for more that a decade. Located in Ljubljana city centre, it is well known to the public. As a successful case of urban gardening, food supply, community building and temporary land-use management, it has attracted considerable media coverage and experts’ attention. Less attention, however, has been placed on its importance for citizen participation in the city. The article discusses Beyond Construction Site community graden as a case of community building and citizen participation that can help building partnerships between residents, neighbourhood communities, civil society organisations and city government, and in consequence contribute to democratic neighbourhood management and sustainable urban development in Ljubljana. The article argues that the City of Ljubljana has so far failed to take this opportunity and expand citizen participation beyond Beyond Construction Site to urban gardening and community practices in the city.

More about the book on the Beyond Construction Site webpage.

Between the state and citizens: Changing governance of intermediary organisations for inclusive and sustainable urban regeneration in Seoul

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With Kim Kon and Krystallia Kamvasinou
Land Use Policy, 105
Elsevier | Amsterdam | 2021 | ISSN 0264-8377

Cities across East Asia once experienced rapid economic growth and urban development under a strong interventionist state. The recent economic slowdown and political changes have pressured them to find alternatives to the previous state-led or market-driven urban development. New forms of participatory governance have been devised to mobilise citizen participation in decision-making. Citizen participation, however, is not simply about direct interactions between the state and citizens. It is also guided and facilitated by intermediary organisations that are state- or self-funded bodies working between the state and citizens. Seoul in South Korea is a case in point. Over the past decade, Seoul Metropolitan Government has institutionalised intermediary organisations to expand citizen participation in diverse areas of urban life. In urban development, a more inclusive approach has been put forward through new partnerships between government, intermediary organisations, and citizens. In this article, a case study of such partnership is critically examined.

Urban regeneration in the Changsin-Sungin Area shows two meaningful changes in the governance of the intermediary organisation. The first change occurred when the intermediary organisation recruited residents as staff members and helped them to create a new local cooperative. The second change happened when the local cooperative took over the role of the intermediary organisation. Analysis of these changes revealed that intermediaries have a contradictory role in urban regeneration. On the one hand, the intermediary intervention has expanded citizen participation and improved consistently the engagement of the community of practice. On the other hand, intermediary intervention has served to instrumentalise citizen participation and constrain the growth of an autonomous community of practice while helping the state to retain control over urban regeneration. In this sense, the intermediary-led participation contains seeds of yet-to-be realised potential, albeit with the current flaws, for more inclusive and sustainable urban regeneration, which this study recognises as an integral part of emerging post-developmental urbanisation in South Korea.

Source: doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105433.

Social mobilisation in localities and urban change in South Korea: The evolution of the Geumho-Haengdang-Hawangsimni community movement in Seoul

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Asian Studies, 9(1), pp. 317-343
Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana | Ljubljana | 2021 | ISSN 2232-5131

South Korea experienced rapid economic and urban growth in the past that was driven by an interventionist state and speculative markets, and citizens were largely excluded from decision making. Urban change also used to be characterized by the large-scale demolition of poor neighbourhoods and forced evictions of the residents. As a result, different forms of social mobilization emerged in localities, aiming to protect the interests of the residents and local communities, and claim their collective right to the city. The article examines the evolution of the Geumho-Haengdang-Hawangsimni community movement in Seoul as a case of social mobilization in localities. The qualitative case study is based on a longitudinal analysis of causes for its emergence, aims, organization and practice of the community movement to better understand its importance for urban change in South Korea. The results of the study show that the community movement strengthened community building and contributed to urban change at different levels. They also reveal the contradictory relation between the state and community movements, which must maintain their financial, organizational and political autonomy while collaborating with the state to achieve their aims. In doing so, the Geumho-Haengdang-Hawangsimni community movement has successfully maintained its autonomy, for which it can be considered a good example of autonomous and sustainable community building in cities.

Source: doi.org/10.4312/as.2021.9.1.317-343.

Sharing Seoul: Appropriating alleys as communal space through localized sharing practices

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With Cho Im Sik
Built Environment, 46(1), pp. 99-114
Alexandrine Press | Oxon | 2020 | ISSN 0263-7960

Sharing practices are an important part of urban life. This article examines the appropriation of alleys as communal space to understand how sharing practices are embedded in localities, how communal space is constituted and maintained, and how this sustains communal life. In this way, the article aims to understand the spatial dimension of sharing practices, and the role of communal space in strengthening social relationship networks and urban sustainability. Seowon Maeul and Samdeok Maeul in Seoul are compared in terms of their urban regeneration approaches, community engagement in planning, street improvement, and the consequences that the transformation had on the appropriation of alleys as communal space. The research findings show that community engagement in planning is as important as the provision of public space if streets are to be appropriated as communal space. Community engagement has changed residents’ perception and use of alleys as a shared resource in the neighbourhood by improving their capacity to act collectively and collaborate with other stakeholders in addressing problems and opportunities in cities.

Source: doi.org/10.2148/benv.46.1.99. Authors accepted manuscript is also available.

Deciding together: Citizen participation in planning the neighbourhood improvement in Seoul and Singapore

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With Cho Im Sik and Kim Su
Asia Review, 8(2), pp. 62-102
Seoul National University Asia Center | Seoul | 2019 | ISSN 2234-0386

Cities in East Asia are faced with growing social, economic and environmental risks. National and local governments are, hence, looking for novel policies that could improve the long-term capacity of cities to address these risks more comprehensively and effectively. Citizen participation and neighbourhood improvement are both considered playing a key role in building more inclusive and sustainable cities. This article compares the transformation of Samdeok Maeul in Seoul and Tampines in Singapore to better understand the importance of citizen participation in planning the neighbourhood improvement, and its consequences on urban development in general. Both cases represent a similar shift from previous state-led towards participatory planning. The research follows a case-oriented qualitative approach. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with major stakeholders, participant observation, expert workshops, and review of secondary resources. The research findings suggest that in both cases the residents were able to affect neighbourhood improvement through community engagement in the planning process. At the same time, the research findings imply that the state remains largely in control over the process, which indicates the challenges that need to be considered in order to empower communities in Seoul and Singapore in the long run.

Source: doi.org/10.24987/SNUACAR.2019.02.8.2.65

Streets as spaces of community building: A case study of urban regeneration in Samdeok Maeul, Seoul

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Asian Studies, 6(2), pp. 231-251
Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana | Ljubljana | 2018 | ISSN 2232-5131

Streets play rather diverse roles in the everyday lives of cities, which have changed considerably in recent decades. The South Korean capital of Seoul is no exception in this regard. Streets once used to be traditional centres of social and economic life, which thus affected the urban structure and identity of the city. The rapid growth of motorised traffic along with market-driven urban development gradually transformed the streets into traffic corridors, with a very limited role in reproducing and maintaining the communal life in localities. The Seoul Metropolitan Government and civil society, however, recently increased their efforts to improve walkability and recover streets as a part of public life in the city. The urban regeneration of Samdeok Maeul is an example of these efforts, where street renewal was carried out with of an aim of raising the quality of the living environment as well as enhancing community building. The case study of Samdeok Maeul can in this regard contribute to a better understanding of streets as spaces of community building as well as community-based urban regeneration, and the role of different stakeholders in it. The research results show that urban regeneration strengthened the communal importance of streets in Samdeok Maeul, which was mainly a result of civic participation in urban regeneration rather than the actual street renewal. Partnerships, which are in this way established between public institutions, civil society and residents, could lead towards socially more inclusive, just and sustainable urban development in Seoul and beyond.

Source: doi.org/10.4312/as.2018.6.2.231-251