• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.34 no.2 s.115
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• pp.57-71
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to find common characteristics in everyday landscape cognition that the residents share and to restore the resulting characteristics through citizen-participatory town design. Through the residents participatory workshop supported by the Gwangju Buk-gu District Autonomy and Citizen Academy of Gwangju YMCA, 304 people from eight administrative districts participated in three programs. In each program, photographed landscape images representing everyday conditions of the townscape were presented in several ways: in program 1, the residents' mental map was studied; in program 2, landscape images of real places were matched to locations on a map; and in program 3, the landscapes were scored on a scale from 1 to 5 according to five descriptive categories. The elements that were recognized as common landscape features were public facilities, pedestrian spaces, school areas, and parks and natural green spaces. Additional results including recognition of the participants affection for the village and a common landscape image shared by the people, as inhabitants looked around at the space of their own lives. It seems possible that more creative townscapes can be created by residents through participatory programs.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture International Edition
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• no.1
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• pp.102-110
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• 2001

A townscape has both aspects of seeing and living. However, the main streams of townscape making have been mostly focused on the former perspective so far. Such trends are apt to lack the realities of urban living. In this view, a prerequisite to complement the existing formalistic view with this realistic one is needed in order to accomplish the holistic characteristics of a townscape. Many city governments of Korea are currently trying to improve the quality of living quarters by providing diverse kinds of open spaces such as vest-pocket parks, pedestrian-friendly streets, and supporting the residents participatory village making. In this context, this paper will review the possibilities of the realistic approaches in townscape making by examining some current cases being tried in Korea cities. In conclusion some main issues to be solved in future can be listed as the conflict between general citizen′s view and the residents′ view", the conflict between social aspects and aesthetical aspects" and the conflict between the tradition and the vernacular reality in design".