Touristification, commercial gentrification, and experiences of displacement in a disadvantaged neighborhood in Busan, South Korea

ABSTRACT

One of the most prominent topics in scholarship on touristification and gentrification is displacement, including not only direct physical displacement, but also the emotional and social impacts associated with indirect displacement. Although research on touristification and gentrification has begun to examine the experiences and perceptions of residents undergoing displacement in low-income urban neighborhoods, it has paid less attention to the spatial characteristics of indirect displacement and the distinctive characteristics of displacement associated specifically with tourism. In Gamcheon Culture Village (GCV) in Busan, South Korea, touristification and commercial gentrification have generated limited direct physical displacement of residents and business owners spatially concentrated in areas adjacent to the main tourist thoroughfare. However, indirect displacement in the sense of displacement pressure and un-homing has a more widespread and complex presence within the community, depending in part on residents’ proximity to tourist activity. In addition, tourism-induced displacement can create dimensions of un-homing less common in typical gentrifying neighborhoods. Our findings suggest a need both for more comparative empirical research on indirect displacement and for urban policies attentive to un-homing associated with touristification and gentrification.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban tourism
• gentrification
• touristification
• displacement
• un-homing
• South Korea

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank those who participated in the research and shared their lives, experiences, and knowledge about Gamcheon Culture Village, and two anonymous reviewers and the editor for their critical feedback to help improve this article.

Disclosure statement

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

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Along with Daegu, Busan was one of only two cities under the control of South Korea (not captured by the North Korean army) during the first three months of the Korean War.

2. The Maeul Misul project (2009–2012) is a follow-up to another public art project initiated by MCST, “Art in City” (2006–2007). Both projects aimed to create jobs for local artists and to give residents access to public art (Korea Arts Management Service, 2007). The selection criteria for both grants were local need, creativity, public participation, feasibility, and sustainability.

3. Miro means “maze” in Korean.

4. Over the past 5 years, the exchange rate has ranged from roughly US$1= 1,050 KRW at the lowest to roughly US$1= 1,250 KRW at the highest.

5. Based on figures found at Expatistan (expatistan.com), Cost of Living (cost of.live), LivingCost.org (livingcost.org) and Numbeo (numbeo.com), as of March 2021.

6. The interviewee used the term gentrification, which has been adopted in Korean directly from English. He explained that he learned the term through his interaction with Saha-gu district officers, and it is more widely used and understood than the Korean dungji naemolim, which has been proposed as a translation.

7. Haeundae-gu, one of the sixteen districts of Busan, is known as the district where the most expensive apartments in the city are concentrated.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Minji Kim

Minji Kim is an Associate Research Fellow at the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements. Her research focuses on issues of urban and neighborhood change induced by tourism and regeneration and their complex effects on communities’ daily lives in East Asian cities. Her current work is centered on critically developing place-based policies to tackle interregional inequality in regionally unbalanced countries, such as South Korea.

Ryan Holifield

Ryan Holifield is Associate Professor of Geography and Urban Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. His research and teaching focuses on human dimensions of environmental change, addressing issues of democracy, governance, policy, and social and environmental justice. His past and present research, including collaborations with graduate students and other colleagues, addresses such topics as environmental justice policy and practice in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, health risk assessment at hazardous waste sites, social justice and brownfield redevelopment, voluntarism and urban parks, the politics of urban green space and river restoration, and informal science learning about urban environmental change.