Dual policy to fight urban shrinkage: Daegu, South Korea

Abstract

Daegu is a South Korean inland metropolis, which grew rapidly with a booming textile industry during the country's industrialization under the developmental state. Over the past twenty years however, it has been badly hurt by South Korea's overall slowing down of the economy and population growth. Its key challenges are deindustrialization, population decline, and rising socio-spatial inequality with suburbanization promoting declining inner-city centers all strikingly similar symptoms shared by many former industrial cities struggling to find a new niche in the global economy. This city profile identifies multi-level policy responses that have sought to revive Daegu and confront its urban shrinkage, under South Korea's relatively recent policies of democratization and decentralization. In particular, it highlights the coexistence of two seemingly opposite policy trends: one of pro-growth strategies and another, more inclusive, regenerative approach.