부평 애스컴시티 안팎의 공간 변화 연구－1945년~1949년 시기를 중심으로－

Abstract

This study empirically examines the spatial transformation of Ascom City in the Bupyeong area of Incheon from Korea’s liberation in 1945 to 1949, just before the outbreak of the Korean War. By doing so, it seeks to clarify how the Incheon Army Arsenal of the Japanese Imperial Army was converted into a U.S. military logistical base during the early post-liberation period. The study area encompasses the present-day Bupyeong Camp Market, which served as both a major weapons production hub during the Japanese colonial period and a strategic military base under the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK). The temporal scope spans from the immediate withdrawal of the Japanese forces to 1949, when U.S. troops temporarily left the Korean Peninsula. As this transitional period has been largely overlooked in previous research, the study focuses on tracing the spatial reorganization and utilization of former Japanese military facilities under the U.S. occupation system, drawing primarily on overseas archival materials. The research methodology integrates layout plans and documents of the Incheon Army Arsenal collected from the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (JACAR) and the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS), alongside photographs, maps, and aerial imagery produced by the U.S. military and housed at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). In particular, the 1941 Japanese arsenal layout plan and the 1946 U.S. aerial photographs were adjusted to a common scale and analyzed using the Map Overlay Method, enabling a visual examination of the continuity and transformation of the area’s urban infrastructure, road networks, building clusters, and facility systems immediately after liberation. This methodological approach effectively reveals spatial layers and structural changes that conventional text-based historical studies have been unable to capture, and is well suited to the aims of this research. The spatial analysis shows that Ascom City was reorganized into a multifunctional military complex with zones designated for logistics, engineering, medical services, communications, and housing. Many preexisting Japanese military facilities were remodeled and reused by the U.S. Army. Through the activities of construction engineering units under the XXIV Corps, new housing, hospitals, warehouses, and roads were built, and a U.S.-style road system (ABLE–BAKER–CHARLIE–DOG–EASY–FOX, FIRST–SIXTH STREET, etc.) was introduced, forming a new urban structure in Bupyeong. Furthermore, analysis of the Map of Ascom City (1947–1948) reveals clear functional differentiation by unit and the spatial configuration of each zone, demonstrating the adaptive transition of Japanese-era industrial space into a U.S. logistical base. By addressing the underexplored transitional period of the U.S. military government (1945–1949) and applying the map overlay method to analyze the multi-layered spatial restructuring of Japanese military facilities into an American supply base, this study offers significant scholarly value. The archival materials uncovered and organized through this research will serve as key evidence for evaluating the historical significance of the Bupyeong Camp Market return site and for developing strategies for its preservation and future utilization. Moreover, this study proposes a new framework for Korean urban history regarding the conversion of modern military installations into urban space. As a foundational step, it will support subsequent research on urban change—from the post-armistice period to the dismantling of Ascom City (1953–1973) and the formation of industrial complexes in Bupyeong during Korea’s industrialization—thus fostering interdisciplinary research across spatial history, urban history, military history, and oral humanities.