사회적 공간으로서 청계천의 의미 형성과 변화

Abstract

Cheong-gey-cheon(淸溪川) was hidden under huge concrete structure from 1937 through 1977. And it has been restructured under the name of ‘restoration’(復原). So many people took an interest in the process, especially NGOs related to history, culture and environment and mass media participated actively in it. People were interested in the restructuring process, as Cheonggye- cheon is not just a stream of water, but a public space with which people have interacted and on which they have accumulated different meanings. As it were, it has played a role as a public space of culture until 1997 when it was completely hidden. This paper focuses on the general meaning changes of a space as a dynamic process of meaning contestation. It is not simple to argue about the meaning changes of a specific public space because it depends on different factors such as a point of time, its subject, and another various circumstances. So I try to find out general meaning changes of the space through surveying related publications, newspaper articles, videos and interviews with several old people who have experienced Cheong-gye-cheon for a long time. Culture is a dynamic process of meaning formation and also a process of competition for the definition of a subject. This case study is somewhat meaningful as we have an opportunity to think over the relation between a public space and culture changing dynamically in it.