Inner-group and inter-group relations in Seoul participatory planning: revisiting the concept of social capital

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the composition of social relations in Korean community-led regeneration planning. Power dynamics among participants are understood as an important factor in shaping decision-making planning processes. While the concept of social capital and the social network theory have received great attention, particularly in recent Asian planning cases, as tools to understand participatory processes, empirical studies on processes of building social capital among different social groups in participatory planning are still limited. This study examines the uneven formation of social capital and its operation to unpack participatory planning mechanisms that may unintentionally reproduce the relationships of domination/marginalisation in the decision-making consultation processes. The study focuses on a recently designated community-led regeneration project, the Garibong-dong urban regeneration project in Seoul, a neighborhood where a considerable number of Korean Chinese communities live.

KEYWORDS:

• Social capital
• inter-group relations
• immigrant groups
• community-led regeneration
• South Korea
• Seoul

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 dong is a unit for the smallest administrative district, similar to the ward in the British system.