Yunmi Park

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor (Assistant) at Seoul National University

The deterioration of commercial districts in Seoul, South Korea, is intensifying due to competition among the self-employed, COVID-19 impact, and declining offline consumption. Recognizing the importance of commercial districts in urban vitality, reinvigorating these areas is crucial. The initial step in such efforts would be assessing the extent o...

As a global phenomenon, gentrification has far-reaching social and economic implications. As civic engagement and public understanding are crucial for responding to gentrification, employing a game-based approach could be effective due to the games’ ludic attributes. However, existing gamified interventions often lack structured game design and emp...

The so-called "Corona Blue" decline in mental health after the COVID-19 outbreak. This study examines how COVID-19 risk perception affects mental health via urban space usage in Seoul, Korea, and Shanghai, China. It uniquely explores direct PR-MH and OS-MH effects, along with indirect effects mediated by pandemic-driven changes in urban space utili...

This study addresses the critical issue of road safety in urban environments, with a specific focus on the Greater London Area. Utilizing a novel, theory-driven approach, the study investigates the multifaceted impact of urban fabric factors on road safety, operationalized through a severity-weighted index of road accident frequency per capita. Thr...

As societies strive to return to pre-COVID-19 norms, there's growing recognition of the profound changes people have experienced over the past two and a half years. This has prompted discussions on how to shape future transportation strategies to align with evolving lifestyles. Understanding people's travel patterns before, during, and after the pa...

Korean Translation (Eng->Kor) Foster, S. R., & Iaione, C. (2022). Co-cities: Innovative transitions toward just and self-sustaining communities. MIT Press. https://product.kyobobook.co.kr/detail/S000213133349

Due to the growing importance of accessibility to urban amenities on quality of life and neighborhood satisfaction in South Korea, various efforts have been made to improve accessibility to urban amenities by establishing a minimum standard, an approach called Living Social Overhead Capital (Living SOC); for example, one such standards states that...

This study explored the determinants of happiness during the COVID-19 pandemic by emphasizing a broad range of factors, including individual (i.e. socio-demographic status, life situations, attitudinal and perceptual characteristics) and policy restrictions. In particular, the study delved into the impact of changes in life situations and mobility,...

In South Korea, academic and policy discussions on shrinking cities have increased, but unified definitions and diagnostic criteria have yet to mature. This study analyzed five years of research from South Korea to review how scholars define "Korean Shrinking Cities." In particular, papers that include terms like 'shrinking city,' 'declining city,'...

This study examined how depopulating municipalities in South Korea have incorporated smart decline strategies into their comprehensive plans. The evaluation of a decline strategy score (DSS) was developed with 39 assessment criteria derived from previous literature. The DSSs of 55 depopulating cities were compared based on depopulation trend, p...

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant social changes through government prevention andcontrol measures, changes in people’s risk perceptions, and lifestyle changes. In response, urban inhabitantschanged their behaviors significantly, including their preferences for transportation modes and urban spaces inresponse to government quarant...

The global spread of COVID-19 and continuing emergence of mutated viruses have taken a direct economic toll on local alley market districts. However, the measurable economic impact of COVID-19 differs by market, depending on the characteristics of the local market district. Studies are required on market sales that reflect changes in people’s perce...

Most scholarly attention to vanishing cities is fairly recent so, to guide future research, a comprehensive evaluation of prior findings is required. This study is a network analysis of 333 publications authored in English, published over the last two decades. The findings are as follows: (1) shrinking city research has increased significantly sinc...

Many American manufacturing cities have experienced depopulation and economic downturns over the past five decades, and various revitalization strategies have been suggested to overcome the decline issue—ranging from redevelopment to smart decline. However, while most land bank-related studies have focused on socioeconomic dynamics (income levels,...

Young people’s decreased active and independent travel to schools has prompted many countries to devise various policies, initiatives, and programs to counter the associated health detriments. Meanwhile, scholarly studies have identified how children were walking and biking to school benefits physical and mental health, social and cognitive develop...

Excessive amounts of neighbourhood vacant land and abandoned structures can significantly lower community and outsider perceptions, and ultimately impact the mental health conditions of inhabitants. While depopulation, economic conditions and land use dynamics can all play a role in the amount of neighbourhood-scaled vacancies and structural abando...

This research examines the uneven spatial-demographic distribution of population loss in one US "shrinking" city, Birmingham, Alabama, and analyzes the city's planning role in and response to population loss. It examines the connections between Birmingham's historic racial zoning law and urban renewal practices and the resulting patterns of depopul...

Excessive vacant housing (VH) has been often linked to negative externalities (e.g., crime, arson, property devaluation, or disconnected neighborhoods). As a result, governments and communities invest many resources toward limiting amounts of VH. While the VH literature has increased, VH studies are relatively new in South Korea. In this regard, th...

This research examined social media’s role in understanding perceptions about the spaces in which individuals interact, what planners can learn from social media data, and how to use social media to inform urban regeneration efforts. Using Twitter data from 2010 to 2018 recorded in one U.S. shrinking city, Detroit, Michigan, this paper longitudinal...

Increasingly detrimental effects of fine particulate matter (PM) have been observed in Northeast Asia owing to its rapid economic development. Previous studies have found that dust, combustion, and chemical reactions are the major sources of PM; nevertheless, the spatial configuration of land use and land cover, which is of most interest to planner...

The Special Act on Promotion and Support for Urban Regeneration, enacted in 2013, requires every municipality to develop its own Urban Regeneration Strategy Plan (URSP). The initial step of the development of a URSP is to measure urban decline. Many studies and policy documents, including the guideline of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and T...

Cycling is a sustainable form of transportation that can reduce car usage and benefit both individuals and society. Bike-sharing systems (BSSs) help to position cycling as a daily transportation option and have been widely established in many countries. Previous studies have investigated the association between urban environmental factors and BSSs’...

Planning interventions have been applied to improve the well-being, hereafter happiness, of residents. The happiness in shrinking cities, in particular, becomes more critical since urban decline tends to induce an unequal and uneven distribution of care under a limited budget and human resources. Using geo-tagged Twitter, census, and geospatial dat...

The numbers and investments for Urban Regeneration projects, including New Deal initiatives (URNDP), have increased after establishing the Special Act on Promotion of and Support for Urban Regeneration in 2013. Academic studies need to carefully explore these regeneration projects to support, evaluate, advance the future progress of urban regenerat...

As the popularity of New Urbanism has grown, local governments have attempted to translate New Urbanist planning components into planning policy forms. Through observation of comprehensive plans in 40 cities in Florida, this paper explores the extent to which New Urbanism principles are embedded in terms of factual basis, goals, tools, intergovernm...

Housing vacancies have become a major issue in depopulating, or shrinking, cities. All urban areas, however, are subject to some degree of vacant housing. A small percentage is necessary to allow mobility and sufficient space for growth, and is an indicator of healthy urbanization. Conversely, widespread housing vacancies may indicate structural cr...

Vacant and/or abandoned properties exist in every city regardless of whether they are growing or shrinking, and the properties are not always a bad thing, and all underutilized land does not have to be developed. Some types of vacant land are unused but can be productive. Some may have natural resource value for inhabitants and provide green space...

Design and construction professionals are entrusted to design built environments that can assure public safety. Crime statistics is one indicator that reflects the correlation between built environments and public safety. Acknowledging the perception of pedestrians, specifically their psychological and emotional reactions toward certain public spac...

One of the most critical tasks in creating community plans and developing local planning policies and priorities is projecting populations, as accurate projections help communities appropriately distribute resources and services. While inaccurate population projections are problematic and have long-term and lasting effects for all cities, they are...

This research examines the mismatch between the reality of a city’s population loss and the planning strategies they have adopted. Thirty-five depopulating U.S. cities’ comprehensive plans are analyzed to determine whether they are acknowledging past depopulation trends, how they are projecting future population changes, and what planning strategie...

Neighborhood decline is a critical issue in shrinking cities. Components of sustainable urbanism such as mixed land uses have risen as possible urban planning-based approaches to help mitigate urban and neighborhood decline. This research identifies examines if mixed land uses can help mitigate urban decline by using the tax delinquent status of si...

양극화와 젠트리피케이션 등 기존 부동산 개발 및 관리 방식으로는 해결하기 어려운 문제들이 심화되면서 국가와 시장이 아니라 지역공동체가 소유하고 운영하는 새로운 접근 방식의 필요성이 제기되고 있다. 이런 종류의 부동산을 본 연구에서는 지역공동체가 주도하여 확보하고 관리하며, 이를 통해 지역공동체의 역량 강화, 지역성 회복, 지역발전 등 공공의 이익에 이바지하는 사회적 가치를 창출하는 ‘사회적 부동산’ (social real estate)으로 명명한다. 이 연구의 목적은 지역공동체 주도의 사회적 부동산 소유와 관리·운영이 활발하여 성공적이라고 평가되는 영국의 사례를 살펴보아, 아직 사회적 부동산 영역이 초기 단계인 우리나라...

Every city seeks opportunities to spur economic developments and, depending on its type, vacant land can be seen as a potential threat or an opportunity to achieve these developments. Although vacant land exists in all cities, the causes and effects of changes in vacant land can differ. Growing cities may have more vacant land than shrinking cities...

Neighborhood development is primarily comprised of structural elements that include design elements, nearby amenities and ecological attributes. This paper assumes that the process of development itself also influences the character of the neighborhood-specifically, that the rate of development and build-out ratio influences neighborhood turnover....

Vacant urban areas (VUAs) can consist of both vacant land and abandoned structures. In this article, the authors summarize a recent survey on VUA, examine current conditions and causes of VUA, and explore the possible interconnections among these conditions and causes. The research examines employment, fiscal position, elasticity, population altera...

Christopher Alexander’s book, A Pattern Language, introduces 253 design patterns that offer a vast grab bag of neo-traditional design options for place-making. One of the more compelling strengths of the text is the connectivity rule which indicates that each pattern is closely connected to other complimentary patterns. What remains unclear is whic...

This paper explores the extent to which new urbanist principles (e.g., compactness, mixed use, street connectivity, and open space) influenced neighborhood residential turnover in Austin, Texas, from 2009 to 2011, with a focus on micro-scale-level neighborhoods. The results of this study indicate that new urbanism principles play unique roles in tur...

This paper explores the extent to which new urbanist principles (e.g., compactness, mixed use, street connectivity, and open space) influenced neighborhood residential turnover in Austin, Texas, from 2009 to 2011, with a focus on micro-scale-level neighborhoods. The results of this study indicate that new urbanism principles play unique roles in tu...

New extraction processes have unleashed an oil and gas renaissance. The boom has expanded employment opportunities and swelled state and local budgets. The renaissance, however, has a darker side. Environmentalists argue that it harms the environment, hastens the deterioration of infrastructure, and inconveniences citizens. While states may enjoy t...

01/2017 Interview with Dr. Frank James Popper at Rutgers University, Kukto, 423, 53-61. Print. http://library.krihs.re.kr/upload/publication/publication1/0000081542.pdf

Elderburbs, defined as old suburban neighborhoods in terms of their ‘built environments’ and ‘demographic structures’, have emerged prominently in academic discussion due to the social vulnerability and outdated built environments of senior dominant neighborhoods that barely meet the needs of their aging populations. Even though previous literature...

Even though there is a general acknowledgement that green infrastructure can have a positive role in reducing stormwater runoff, few studies have explored how specific spatial configurations of landscape—one of the critical components of green infrastructure—could influence runoff generation. This study attempts to address this gap by examining the...

The principles of New Urbanism such as increased density, mixed land uses, and street connectivity are often recommended in response to the typical conditions of suburban developments. Much current empirical research has begun to test whether these principles can increase property values. The findings of these studies have, however, been quite inco...

This research seeks a comprehensive process for developing a design guide utilizing pattern language and social network analysis. Pattern language is a structured mechanism for describing good design practices, the patterns. Network analysis helps quantitatively analyze the relationships between the patterns and identify the relative importance of...

Planning scholars and practitioners know that planning projects and research are more likely to achieve significant outcomes when the problem is addressed at the most appropriate level of neighborhood. Selecting the right scale of neighborhood, however, is always challenging. To create conceptual framework for the choice of an appropriate neighborh...