• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.91-106
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• 2001

Local government takes an active role in the (re)making of local socio-economic space. To support such an argument, the three different actions by the local government of Taegu, urban planning and local industrial districts, the establishment of special educational institutions, and textile festival are analyzed. The division of the city's space into residential, commercial, and industrial area by local government constrained the location of local manufacturing industries. It also forced textile industry to move to the outskirts of Taegu. As the education level in South Korea rose after the late 1970s, the local government of Taegu as well as local industrial capitalists had to do something to acquire a stable supply of labor to local manufacturing industries, particularly textile one. After the late 1970s, the special classes for the education of local workers, especially textile ones were established within vocational high school and company-operated high schools were also built in Taegu. Finally, local government started a program of textile festival in 1985. Through textile festival, local government as well as local textile business people tried to reproduce textile industry as the main economic activity of Taegu.