Earticle

This study is about the research of living environment in residential areas created by the land readjustment projects in the modern era, and recently lifted from Residential Environment Improvement district at the same time. The five criteria for evaluating the residential area are safety, health, convenience, comfort, and sustainability. The level of resident satisfaction in general is as follows. [completely dissatisfy as 5.30%, dissatisfy as 16.29%, neutral as 49.62%, satisfy as 16.29% and completely satisfy as 6.82%]. The results of the five survey items on the residential areas show that residents are aware of the area not as an old residential area to be demolished, but as a comparatively excellent residential area, namely very different results from the designation criteria of the redevelopment area designated by the Urban and Residential Environment Improvement Act. If the road conditions and the deterioration of the buildings are judged to be designated as the redevelopment area and to be removed these settlements, the residential areas with social sustainability could demolished. Based on this study, it is necessary to conduct the research to find out the reason for deriving the results of each evaluation item in the succeeding study. These studies are needed to rediscover, to develop and manage the value of many old residential areas scattered in the city centers of local areas.

The decrease in population of school age is one of major influencing factor of transformative educational environment. After the nineteen eighties, the population of South Korea has increased step by step, but the population of school age has been decreasing rapidly by low birth rate. As a result, closed school by merger and abolition of small school occurred all over the country. The closed school needed effective function as center of local community. Consequently the purpose of this study is to provide basic data for effective policy making of closed school by comparative analysis of educational environment such as number of students, schools, students per class, status of usage of closed school of the east area and the west area divided by The Tae Baek Mountains in the Gangwon-do, which has the least students in the nationwide. The results of this study are summarized as follows: 1) Gangwon-do has high decreasing rate of population, schools and students compared with other provinces. However it has significantly low number of students per class. 2) The number of students, schools of the west area in Gangwon-do outnumbers that of the east area. However the number of students per class of the east area in Gangwon-do lesser than that of the west area.

This study is to seek for the reuse of vacant houses in the old settlement of urban area, focused on the Andeokbeol in Cheongju city, Korea. The following results were derived. Firstly, the maintenance and reuse methods of vacant houses are made for a number of house type as well as a variety of locational characteristics(flatland, gentle and steep slope) of the Andeokbeol. Secondly, reuse plans of vacant houses are established for a variety of classes such as local residents, artist and youth activist around cultural complex(Cheongju old cigarette factory), and outsiders. Thirdly, owners, users and intermediaries of vacant houses should find a solution to the reuse of them in company with Andeokbeol residents. And also institutional and administrative support measures are established for reuse of vacant houses.

This study is a basic study for the planning of rural community center space, which introduced the concept of healthcare. As the rural community center is a place where the elderly in rural areas live mainly during the day, this place is very important place for the healthy life of the rural elderly. We conducted an interview survey for 207 users over 65. The survey was organized with three regions to consider the regional characteristics of the community center users and geographical characteristics. As a result of the analysis of planning elements, the main preferences for indoor and outdoor space elements are planning elements such as safety, air quality, light, and the thermal environment and safety handle, night lights, safety walkway. These preferences should be considered for the more healthy friendly rural community center.

Recently, various tourist products using hanok have increased rapidly. In the meantime, there is a steady demand for Hanok architecture. However, there are many negative perceptions about wood deformation and biodeterioration. Wood deformation and biodeterioration are related to moisture content. And the cracks occur in the process of removing water from the wood. Therefore, this study investigates the moisture content and cracks of dried hanok made of wood according to the drying method of wood. Drying methods include natural seasoning and artificial seasoning. There was a difference in moisture removal depending on drying period and method of natural seasoning. Drying time should be about 3 years for natural seasoning, so the moisture content of the wood is stable. In addition, the moisture absorption rate was low even in a humid environment where the voids were removed. However, natural seasoning is time consuming. Artificial seasoning, on the other hand, can quickly remove moisture from the wood and reduce porosity, but it is costly. Cracks that occur during the drying of wood may become problematic in appearance and stability due to wider spacing over time. As a result, the difference in the moisture content of the timber depending on the drying method and drying period of the wood was maintained even after the formation. These gaps appeared to be differences in moisture absorption in a wet environment.

Since 1980’s, Countless schools across the nation, particularly in rural areas, have been closed down by the large fall in number of students. Otherwise, an elderly population has been increasing rapidly, so the demand for welfare services for the elderly population is also increasing. However, the supply of elderly welfare facilities remains inadequate. The purpose of this study is to propose remodelling plan of elderly welfare facility using Closed schools. The result of this study were as follows; in unit-based facility plans, Single room type can be used for elder who lives alone or an elderly couple. Senior Congregate Housing type can be used for four to five people. These two types have equal sunlight and ventilation conditions for each room, and are for an old man in relatively good health. Membership resort type is for the healthy senior who lives in the rural area or lives in the city who wants short-term residence. In case of a Nursing home type, the existing one-sided corridor was converted into a central corridor and each classroom is divided into four rooms. This type has advantage for nursing and management, on the other hand, the corridor is narrow and each room has differences for sunlight and ventilation.

There are approximately 1.06 million vacant homes in Korea, accounting for 6% of all housing, and approximately 98 thousand vacant homes are in Gyeongsangnam-do, taking up 8.7% of the housing in the province. In particular, the number of abandoned house in Gyeongsangnam-do is rapidly increasing from 6.7% in 2010 to 8.7% in 2015. This study examined the current state of abandoned house in Gyeongsangnam-do according to the characteristics of cities and rural areas, causes for vacancies, and demand for use of such abandoned house. The study areas were selected based on case studies in Korea and overseas, and a survey was conducted among residents in the selected areas. The survey was on awareness of abandoned house in the neighborhood, causes for vacancies, awareness of owners, the influence of the abandoned house, plans to deal with abandoned house, and plans to utilize abandoned house. The results showed that most residents were aware of abandoned house, especially the ones in rural areas, who had detailed perceptions about abandoned house nearby such as when the homes became empty and whether there are owners of the homes. As for the influence of abandoned house on the surrounding environment, both rural areas and cities responded that abandoned house mostly spoil the beauty of the neighborhood, followed by psychological anxiety such as fear of crimes. Regarding plans to utilize abandoned house nearby, at least half of the residents wanted to use them as rental housing after repairing them. A survey on the actual condition must be conducted at the provincial level in order to establish an integrated system to manage abandoned house in Gyeongsangnam-do. Moreover, it is necessary to come up with application measures according to categories and standards to classify the state of abandoned house in order to use them as resources for community regeneration.