Analysis of the Distinguishing Characteristics of Small Towns in Korea

With the establishment of municipalities, public interest in small towns in Korea has been on the rise. To initiate an effective study and suggest subsequent policies for small towns, it is necessary to analyze and discuss substantive issues based on specific conditions of these small towns. The primary objective of this paper is to categorize small towns into types and to analyze the peculiarities and differences of their internal factors. The focus of this research is to determine the general characteristics of the classified towns and to suggest specific revitalization and specialized studies about them. In the main analysis of this paper, 39 small towns are divided into sets according to urban rank, conditions of location, and size of the population in the central site. Furthermore, distinctions of the divided towns are analyzed using three constituents for urban organization, including populations, activities, and facilities/land. From the research results, it was determined that there is a difference between small town types, according to population, land cost, and urban activities, based upon the urban rank and size of the population in the central site. Therefore, this paper concludes it is necessary to conduct further studies on time series analysis regarding the peculiarity changes of the types, and to complement the variables for future related studies.