• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.13-24
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• 2016

What are the roles and functions of urban gardening created by citizens in Sujin 2-dong, Seongnam-si? This study has looked into urban gardening in everyday life in a bid to find possible solutions for sustainable urban regeneration. The paper has examined the types, functions, and characteristics of urban gardens in Sujin 2-dong, where the urban restoration project is in progress. This study has conducted primarily on-site inspections and interviews. The research findings are as follows. Most urban gardens in Sujin 2-dong have a vertical structure rather than a regular ground-based one due to lack of land. Six major locations of building a garden include the front of a building, rooftop, top of a gate, stairs, wall, and yard. Rooftop gardens are most common and are built mostly for production purposes. Due to architectural characteristics of this village, there are relatively many stair gardens built mostly for aesthetic purposes. The garden in front of a building has served multiple functions, including formation of entry, privacy protection, and prevention of unauthorized parking. Other than those, detached houses have quality urban gardens built with greater effort and care, while multi-household houses have seen a decrease of stair gardens and an increase of vertical gardens due to their comparatively limited space. By utilizing this research, we hope to show that it is important to understand the local's wisdom and voice for a sustainable urban environment as well as keep these findings in mind during the construction of new buildings. This study would be expected to be useful as primary research for urban gardening in everyday life and alternative ways of urban regeneration.