• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.54-65
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• 2020

This study examines history, usage, and spatial change of Cheoldo Park and its significance in the park planning in the Japanese colonial period focusing on the concept of a sports park. Cheoldo Park was verified as the first newly planned park built during the Japanese colonial period and continuously appeared in the official planning documents with different names and areas as a new planned park. This suggest that changes of Cheoldo Park reveal the important conceptual transition in the park planning. Activities in the park were understood by analyzing news paper articles and pictures, while spatial changes of the park were analyzed through maps and aerial photos. Changes in a park planning process were examined through analyzing the planning documents and maps. Cheoldo Park was opened in 1915 as a supporting facility of the Yongsan rail company residence complex. As Cheoldo Park became one of the urban parks of Gyeongseong in 1925, it had functioned as one of the main sports complexes of Gyeongseong. Although a sports park was suggested as a new type of urban park in the 1930's park plan, the programmatic aspect of a sports park was not distinctly defined yet. Cheoldo Park was not regarded as a sports park in the 1930's park plan. As a sports park was distinguished from other types of urban parks pro grammatically in the 1930s, the city tried to transform Cheoldo Park into a sports park. In the park plan of 1940, with major spatial expansion, Cheoldo Park became Ichon Park to be a main large park and sports park of Gyeongseong. Cheoldo Park contributed to the establishing a new direction of modern park planning, shifting from planning focus on quantitative improvement to qualitative improvement of urban parks. It also provided a realistic model to implement the park plans to overcome various limitations of the Japanese colonial period.