The Political-Economic of Capitalism and its Effects on Spatial Dynamics

도시공간의 변화에 내재한 정치${\cdot}$경제적 논리의 규명-서울시 도심재개발을 대상으로-

In Korea, the urban studies of geography have mainly dealt with such a series of research as system of urban place and internal structure of urban area. The existing studies have been carried out with ecological approach. Ecologists, now a days, regard organiation and transfor-mation of the urban space as the process of invasion, succession, and segregation. However it is more proper that cities should be considered not as fragmantary objects, as some ecologists insist, but as synthetic ones in social structure. This research, with adopting a case of the renewasl of central area in Seoul, tried to make it clear that the formation and transition of the city is a product of social structure and examined polical and economic logic which exists in variation of urban space in detail. The results of this study are as follows; Urban renewal of central area is closely related with production and reproduction in capitalist society. In urban center, as business activities had increased since 1973 due to decen-tralization of production process, the necessity of reorganizing the land use in existing central area accordingly increased. The urban renewal program of central area in Seoul was inrroduced under such situation. The urban renewal of central area reflecting the capital logic has changed the central area with six hundred year's tradition. From the urban renewal of central area, not only was the central area, which traditionally had been mixed with various fun-ctions, simplified into the unitary area of busi-ness, but also physical landscape changed. As the land lot in renewal area expanded into regular shape, buildings became larger and taller. The program tremendously raised the price of related area. Aiming at these profits caused by the raised price, a great number of capitalists participated in the program. And as the benefit ratio of the manufacture sector continuously dropped with the economic recession, the pro-gram was carried out much more vigorously. That was because the idle capital accumulated during the recession was invested in property sector and was self-proliferated. The urban renewal raised the land value of central area and drove out the people living in this area. The people moved into the whole parts of the city resulting diffused squatter settlements. And the urban changes in central area were results of the policy of municipal authorities, who supported and systematized the changes lawfully and administratively, as well as reali-zation of capital logic. Due to the renewal policies of central area in Seoul, much more renewals by the only capitalists were carried out than those by the people themselves living in that area. The integration of land ownership in the law of urban renewal shows the reason of that. Moreover, the law allows the third deve-loper to participate in the tasks and admits the land expropriation rights. The municipal autho-rities guaranteed the profitability of the tasks through finacial aid, tax benifit, and relaxation of regulations for construction. As examined above, the changes in the land use of urban space have been led not by the ecological process of development of the city itself, but by the restructuring of capitalism and the intervention of the government authorities.

본 연구는 서울시 도심재개발을 대상으로 도시공간의 재편과정에 내재하는 정치.경제적 논리를 규명함으로써 도시의 형성과 변화가 사회구조의 산물임을 밝히고자 하였다. 서울시의 도심재개발 사업은 1970년대 전반부터 생산과정의 분화가 이루어짐에 따라 대기업 본사가 도심으로 집중하는 상황에서 시작되었다. 또한 도심재개발은 1980년대 불황국면에 접어들면서 더욱 활발해졌는데, 이는 불황시기의 유휴자본의 문제를 도시공간을 재개발하는데 투자하여 극복하려는 논리에 근거한 것이었다. 그리고 도심재개발은 이를 전체적인 수준에서 주관하고 토지소유권의 통합, 토지수용권의 인정, 제 3개발자 인정, 재정. 세제상의 혜택, 건축규제의 완화 등 법적. 행정적 지원기관인 서울시의 정책과 맞물려 있었다. 그 결과 생활터전으로써의 도심은 업무공간으로 단순화되고, 도심인구의 空洞化現象은 더욱 심화되었다.