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영어

The purpose of this study is to observe the urban transformation and status of suburban areas of Kyeongseong (京城) in the early 20th century by investigating the Yeong-deong-po (永登浦) area. Yeong-deong-po had been a sparse region where only some vegetables and fruits were cultivated in the Joseon Dynasty because of constant flood damage. The other major industry of this region was the ceramic industry; thus, the villages were located in the hilly sections along the Han River, where there existed less concern about flood damage, and an abundant supply of sand for ceramics. Urbanization started in this area in the early 1900’s when two important railways intersected here and a new small town was formed in front of the station. As a major traffic point and appropriately separated place from the downtown area of Kyeongseong, Yeong-deong-po had been recognized as a suitable place for the development of an industrial area by government officials. Large-sized factories were built here starting from the 1910’s and Yeong-deong-po became recognized as an industrial area nationwide in the 1920’s. In the 1930’s, the development of Yeongdeong-po into an industrial area by Chongdokbu (總督府) began as part of the Joseon industrialization policy. Urbanization plans such as the zoning system, main roads system and land readjustment projects were implemented in Yeong-deong-po and many big factories, including branch factories of Japan’s zaibatsu (財閥, conglomerate) companies, were built under the enthusiastic support of Chongdokbu and Kyeongseongbu (京城府). Developed into an industrial area which symbolized modernism, the community leaders of Yeong-deong-po must have felt proud of their town and desired the construction of urban infrastructure and facilities like those of the adjacent area of Kyeongseong. However, Yeong-deong-po, which was no more than one suburban area in spite of its being considered as a very important region, did not have enough power and money to start such construction by itself. The urban plans and construction that the people of Yeong-deong-po had desperately wanted were implemented right after it was decided that this region would be included as part of Kyeongseong in 1936; this phenomenon has interesting implications regarding the characteristics of urban plans and status of suburban areas in the early 20th century in Korea.