• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.297-317
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• 2006

This article is aimed to find a more successful way to build a metropolitan-wide governance for enhancing industrial cluster in South-East region, Korea. We begin a research with reviewing a current study of regional cluster and its governance. New industrial system and agglomeration changed regional growth theory and urban system. In traditional system, a central city dominated economy of the metropolitan area. However, with development of new transportation and communication technology, a central city lost their superiority to suburban cities. In other words, growing competition between central and suburban cities changed traditional concentration and diffusion theory of urbanization which dominated urban geography for last decades. Next, current situation of development of industrial cluster in South-East region is examined to suggest policy for more competitiveness. South-East region has grown as the most prominent cluster of mechanical engineering and metal industry in Korea since the late 1970s. In the form of agglomeration and network of a specific and its related industry, South-East region has formed a linear industrial belt along with the inter-regional South Coast Highway and contain about ten industrial cities. Accompanying with this growing South-East region, a problem has risen from geographic mismatch between metropolitan-wide industrial cluster and its administrative boundary. Since industrial cluster has no specific administrative boundary, adequate government support for developing industrial cluster has not been provided. Responding to the problem, academics and policy makers maintain need in establishing a metropolitan-wide governance for supporting a cluster. At the end, this paper provides some implication to planners and policy makers.