• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.32-41
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• 2009

Places such as famous urban sights and foreign settlements have recently been created in Korea, which reflects the increase in social and cultural exchanges and the number of place-making and landscape-planning projects. Understanding place identity is required in environmental design and planning. This paper examined the components of the identity of place through comparison of perceptions of "placeness" between residents and visitors of Seo-Rae Village, Seoul, Korea. More than 40% of French nationals in Korea reside in the village, which many Koreans visit as an urban sightseeing place. Twenty-five French inhabitants and forty-one Korean visitors were surveyed. Insideness of Seo-Rae Village was formed by limited activities and needs of the residents, primarily children's education and food purchases. Residents mentioned that the physical environment, especially buildings, lacked theauthenticity of French style. The symbolic meaning of the French village influenced the visitors' activities. The authenticity of French style, however, did not affect the perception of visitors and outsideness of the place. Visitors' activities and cognitive meanings of the place were formed mainly by the commercial environment established by Korean investments. Commercialization of the place and related activities played an important role in establishing insideness of the place. The village shows the phenomenon of the reversal of insideness and outsideness. The "placeness" of Seo-Rae village has been shaped by visitors' tastes rather than the true experience of insideness. Mass identity formed by mass media using French characteristics influenced this phenomenon. Insideness formed by inhabitants appeared to be a pseudo-place, which was created by the French tastes of visitors and lacked French authenticity. Seo-Rae Villagerepresents a superficial cloak.