Earticle

As South Korea enters a super-aged society, addressing the functional obsolescence of elderly welfare facilities in island areas has become a critical challenge. Unlike mainland facilities, senior centers in isolated island regions require a self-contained service delivery system, which inevitably leads to frequent spatial extensions. This study aims to investigate the current status of extensions in 14 senior centers in the island areas of Sinan-gun and analyze the resulting changes in spatial performance to propose improvement strategies. The field surveys and physical measurements revealed that 64.3% of the surveyed centers had undergone physical extensions, with a significant concentration of rearward extensions to accommodate communal dining and storage functions. However, these unplanned expansions resulted in a "performance trade-off," securing functional area at the cost of degrading natural lighting, cross-ventilation, and circulation continuity, while increasing safety risks due to floor level differences. In conclusion, to enhance the spatial completeness of senior centers in island areas, it is essential to establish a standard spatial model that incorporates essential functions from the initial design stage. Furthermore, a pre-planning review system must be implemented to objectively evaluate environmental and safety performance during future extensions.

This study aimed to clarify the formation and spatial composition of a clan's architectural space in Mopyeong Village, Hampyeong, focusing on three buildings of the Papyeong Yun clan—Imcheonjeongsa, Subyeoksa, and Shincheon Kang Clan's Jeongnyeo. While previous studies on the village have mainly addressed eco-friendly planning elements and landscape, this study examined how clan functions were embodied in architectural space within a rural settlement, combining analysis of historical records, field survey, and a comparison with another settlement of the same clan. The results are as follows. First, the dedication record Subyeoksagi confirms that Subyeoksa was newly built in 1957 and its record inscribed in 1962, showing that the clan's architectural space was formed cumulatively over two centuries—from Jayang Seowon (1750) and the commendation of the Jeongnyeo (1812) to the construction of Subyeoksa. Second, the three buildings correspond to the jeongsa, sau, and jeongnyeo types and to the functions of lecturing, ancestral veneration, and commendation, respectively. Third, Imcheonjeongsa and Subyeoksa each form an independent entrance through a raised three-gate, while a connecting side gate links the lecturing and veneration areas within a single walled precinct. A comparison of building forms further shows that Imcheonjeongsa is a lecture-hall-type building corresponding to its lecturing function, whereas Oksanjeongsa of Okdong Village, despite sharing the name jeongsa, is a pavilion-type villa, confirming that architectural type should be judged by function and form rather than by name. This single-precinct integration of the three functions is rarely found among the cases examined so far, unlike Okdong Village of the same clan, where the buildings are dispersed. The study reinterprets Mopyeong Village as a historico-cultural architectural asset in which clan functions are realized through architectural space.

This study aims to propose management strategies for preventing non-agricultural use in farmland accessibility improvement projects, focusing on the Agricultural Machinery Access Road Project in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. It reviews previous studies, ordinances, management guidelines, and the 2024 project status, and analyzes institutional and operational issues as well as land category composition and accessibility to urban areas around newly constructed project sites. The results suggest that the characteristics of the project sites are difficult to explain solely by the administrative distinction between urban districts and eup/myeon areas, and that the need for preventive management varies depending on locational conditions such as land category composition, urban area accessibility, elevation, and surrounding land-use conditions. Therefore, preventing non-agricultural use requires location-based site selection, differentiated management by project type, institutional criteria for preventing de facto road formation, and a post-project monitoring and maintenance system. This study is significant in that it analyzes farmland accessibility improvement projects from the perspective of farmland accessibility change and sustainable farmland management.

This study evaluated the suitability of construction cost estimation criteria applied at the detailed design stage of smart greenhouse projects and proposed improvements reflecting the structural and construction characteristics of lightweight steel smart greenhouses. The results showed that construction costs varied significantly depending on the estimation criteria because the Standard Estimating System and the Standard Market Unit Price do not adequately reflect the repetitive modular construction characteristics of lightweight steel smart greenhouses. In particular, the total construction cost estimated using the greenhouse-specific estimation standards was approximately 51.7% of that estimated using the Standard Estimating System, indicating a substantial difference between the two estimation criteria and highlighting the need to improve the current construction cost estimation standards. Lightweight steel works consistently accounted for the largest share of the total construction cost 32–33%, while non-structural finishing and cladding works also represented substantial cost components. In contrast, auxiliary steel works showed a relatively higher proportion under the greenhouse-specific estimation standards, highlighting the importance of greenhouse-specific structural members in construction cost estimation. These findings indicate that more appropriate estimation standards are required for smart greenhouse projects. Establishing greenhouse-specific estimation standards, revising labor productivity criteria for repetitive modular construction, developing separate standards for non-structural finishing and cladding works, and subdividing auxiliary steel work items would improve the accuracy and reliability of construction cost estimation.

This study proposes a machine learning model to predict the priority of vacant house occurrence at the administrative-dong level, using Yeosu City, Jeollanam-do, as a case study, against the backdrop of growing social costs associated with vacant houses inrural areas and small-to-medium regional cities experiencing population decline and aging. A dataset covering 26 administrative-dong units was constructed by integrating building registry records (48,529 entries), administrative-dong-level vacant house statistics, population and household data at the administrative-dong and administrative-ri levels, elderly population statistics (aged 65 and over), and single-person household data. A three-tier priority label (low, medium, high) was generated based on the distribution of vacancy ratios. The prediction model was designed as a LightGBM-based two-step classification framework: Step 1 distinguishes areas with a vacancy tendency from those without, while Step 2 differentiates medium- from high-priority areas. Single-split cross-validation yielded F1 scores of 0.765 (Step 1) and 0.900 (Step 2), and repeated stratified cross-validation (20 repeats × 5-fold) confirmed stable performance, with mean accuracies of 0.694 (SD = 0.054) for Step 1 and 0.791 (SD = 0.090) for Step 2. SHAP analysis identified the proportion of structurally vulnerable buildings (block and wood construction), average lot size, and building age-related variables as the most influential predictors of vacant house priority. The elderly population ratio, computed directly from raw administrative records on the population aged 65 and over and single-person households, demonstrated meaningful explanatory power, ranking seventh with a SHAP contribution of 0.501. The prediction results showed that older urban-core administrative-dong units exhibit higher vacant house risk than rural eup and myeon areas. Notably, Hwajeong-myeon and Nam-myeon - which recorded the highest elderly population ratios in Yeosu City - were classified as medium or low priority, suggesting that population aging alone is not a sufficient condition for vacant house occurrence and becomes a risk factor only when combined with physical building deterioration.

The Samrye Culture and Arts Village has been used as a warehouse in the region in the past, but these abandoned facilities are being used by local artists for cultural and art-related purposes with the support of local governments, which is used as an art activity, work, promotion and sale for local artists, and as a place for local residents to enjoy local art. In recent years, the scale has grown and the fields of use have diversified, and it has been said to be an exemplary example of regional regeneration using local facilities. In particular, this study aims to conduct research and analysis on Samrye Culture and Arts Village, an exemplary case that has been transformed into various types of complex cultural spaces through recycling of local old facilities among local regeneration programs conducted in local cities, and to present basic data on the development and possibility of local culture through regeneration of local old facilities, and finally the possibility of local regeneration. The results derived from this study are as follows. First, in terms of program, the Samrye Culture and Arts Village currently has four exhibition halls that are the most representative and central facilities, and the space and programmatic limitations of the exhibition hall, the needs of local residents are supplemented by multi-purpose halls and outdoor performance halls. In the case of exhibitions, the four exhibition halls are properly distributed through special and permanent, and the contents are also operated as a system in which local artists mainly participate, focusing on local interests, so they are evaluated positively in terms of participation and contribution to the region. Second, from an architectural point of view, most of the exterior of the buildings retain the appearance used by previous buildings and use them without abandoning images of past buildings by repairing and remodeling only part of them. In the case of internal facilities, such as cement walls, high floors, and exposed gable roof frames, remained the same. Third, in terms of regional regeneration, the entire Samrye Culture and Arts Village provides an essential space to play a public role in harmony with the region, formation of local culture, and revitalization of the community, making a significant contribution to promoting local revitalization.

The purpose of this study is to explore ways to establish a residential environment that enables the elderly to continue residing in their existing homes while maintaining independent living despite the decline in physical function. To this end, an analysis was conducted using raw data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s ‘2023 Survey on the Status of the Elderly,’ sampled using a probability sampling method targeting the elderly aged 65 and older nationwide. The main research findings are as follows. First, there was a dominant tendency among both urban and rural elderly people to wish to remain in their current residences. In particular, 48.6% of all respondents indicated that they wished to continue living in their current homes even when it became difficult to perform independent daily activities due to deteriorating health. Second, regarding household types, elderly couple households accounted for the highest proportion followed by single-person elderly households and households living with children. In terms of housing types, rural elderly people predominantly lived in detached houses, while urban elderly people predominantly lived in apartments. Regarding occupancy types, the majority of elderly people owned their own homes, but some also resided in rental housing. Third, the main complaints regarding residential housing included ‘inconvenience’ due to inadequate structure or facilities, and ‘uncomfortability’ resulting from poor heating, cooling, humidity, and hygiene. Fourth, regarding housing types, urban elderly residents of apartments and rural elderly residents of detached houses had higher life satisfaction. Furthermore, regardless of residential area, among those who owned a home, there was a tendency for life satisfaction to significantly improve as satisfaction with the housing and local environments increased.

This study develops a multi-criteria spatial decision-making framework for selecting a walkable local vitality hub in the center of Seonghwan-eup, Cheonan City, a declining small-town area. Four intersection-based candidate sites were selected along Seonghwanjungang-ro within the overlapping 500 m walking catchments of major anchor facilities, including Seonghwan Station, Seonghwan Terminal, and the Seonghwan Innovation District. The analytical framework integrates Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), Space Syntax, and network-based Origin-Destination (OD) Cost analysis. KDE was used to measure the concentration of commercial and daily-service facilities; local integration was calculated to assess the structural centrality of the pedestrian network; and OD Cost analysis measured accessibility from the three anchor facilities. The three indicators were standardized using Min-Max normalization and integrated under an equal-weight base model, followed by sensitivity analyses with alternative weighting scenarios. Candidate Site 1 showed the highest potential vitality, whereas Candidate Site 2 achieved the highest composite score through a more balanced performance in potential vitality, structural centrality, and network accessibility. Candidate Site 2 remained the top-ranked site across the tested weighting scenarios. The findings indicate that integrating demand concentration, street-network structure, and anchor-facility accessibility can provide a more balanced basis for identifying walkable regeneration hubs in declining small-town centers.

The open-campus model has attracted attention as a spatial approach to addressing challenges facing universities and their surrounding communities. In this model, the ground floor serves as a spatial interface between the urban pedestrian network and internal public spaces, providing a physical basis for university-community connectivity. This study examined how the extent of ground-floor openness affects the spatial structure of pedestrian networks across urban and architectural spaces, focusing on the Niagara Building at Malmö University in Sweden, and the surrounding area within a 200 m radius. Ground-floor spaces were classified according to access conditions as publicly accessible spaces (P) and conditionally accessible spaces (C). Three segment models were constructed: Model U, representing only the urban pedestrian network; Model U+P, incorporating publicly accessible interior spaces; and Model U+P+C, extending the network to include conditionally accessible spaces. Angular segment analysis with a metric radius of 200 m was conducted using DepthmapX. Changes in the values and percentile ranks of Normalized Angular Integration (NAIN) and Normalized Angular Choice (NACH) were compared across the external segments common to all three models. By integrating urban and architectural spaces into a single pedestrian network, the study examined stepwise changes in spatial hierarchy associated with different levels of ground-floor openness.

This study clarifies the operational and utilization characteristics of Multifunctional Small-Scale Nursing Facilities (MSNFs) in hilly/mountainous areas (MtA) compared to urban metropolitan areas (Tokyo). MSNFs were classified based on combined facility types and service provision performance, case facilities were examined for operational conditions, and travel distances of registered users were analyzed. Key findings include: 1) Standalone facilities were predominant in MtA (53.2% vs. 35.7% in metropolitan areas), whereas combined facilities in MtA exhibited dispersed annexation patterns across Types II and III (~20% each). 2) Regarding service performance, MtA facilities showed a significantly higher proportion of high-frequency home-visit care (≥ 32 times/month: 9.1% vs. 1.4% in metropolitan areas). 3) Operational case analyses revealed that wide-area shuttle transport with grouped passengers and physical corridor/floor integration with Combined Group Homes (GHs) for smooth post-service residential transitions are critical operational features in MtA. 4) Travel distance analysis demonstrated that 61.9% of registered users in MtA resided >3 km from facilities, compared to only 6.1% in Tokyo (where 51.7% resided ≤1 km). These findings indicate that MSNFs in MtA cover substantially broader geographical service areas and require spatial and operational strategies tailored to sparse, wide-area care delivery compared to urban facilities