Historical Park has no legal restrictions on installation standard, scale, park facility area and so on in order to be constructed in diverse ways depending on the characteristics of the corresponding historical and cultural resources. However, this l...
Historical Park has no legal restrictions on installation standard, scale, park facility area and so on in order to be constructed in diverse ways depending on the characteristics of the corresponding historical and cultural resources. However, this legal autonomy, on one hand, may cause such problems as installation of improper facility in the historical park or excessive facility ratio. In addition, historical park shall search for different measures from those for ordinary neighborhood park in terms of the method to preserve and use various historical and cultural resources, which is the objective of historical park. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the laws and regulations pertinent to historical park and identify the construction and management status of Seoul historical parks in order to provide a basic data which may contribute to construction of future new historical park.
As of 2015, there are 15 historical parks in Seoul, among which 10 parks have been already constructed and 5 have not yet been constructed. This study analyzed 10 already constructed historical parks and drew out 4 analysis criteria (Historicity, aesthetic element, educational attributes and social element). The targets for analysis are divided into construction stage such as historical and cultural resources, space function, park facility and park plantation status and the management stage such as operation management and use management. The status and improvements for historical parks in Seoul are as follows:
First, the Historicity analyzed the type of historical and cultural resources, introduced space ratio, type of space arrangement by function, major tree types, management system and usage movement line. Above all, the historical parks in Seoul are classified into cultural heritage oriented park and non-designated cultural heritage oriented park. The cultural heritage oriented park is regulated by laws for the purpose of preserving the prototype of cultural heritage so the park function shall be minimized. However, the street adjacent or around the park shall be understood as included in the landscaping of the historical and cultural resources. In Bongeun·Shingye historical park which have park facility ratio over 40% the new·expansion constructions were concentrated on the buildings with stronger religious functions. In the major tree types, Italy poplar tree planted in Dongmyeo Park was broken by 2010 typoon ‘Kompasu’, which destructed the wall. In the historical park within Gyeonghee Palace, a foreign tree, American sycamore, was planted as a fast-growing tree in the palace and adjacent spaces, which is a risk factor. The operation management of cultural heritage oriented historical park is divided into cultural heritage management and park management. However, for the non-designated cultural heritages whose management system is unified, there is no professional management of historical and cultural resources so there is a need for complementation of cultural heritage management.
Second, aesthetic analyzed the design of introduced facilities and major tree types in terms of harmony with the historical objects. With respect to the design of introduced facility, the leisure facility in the historical park within Gyeonghee Palace used primary colors such as red and blue. The convenience facilities in 6 Loyalist Park used stainless steel. Yanghwahin Historical Park has a pagora with membrane structure, which is not harmonized with the historical and cultural resources. As the traditional tree type among major tree types, pine tree and crape myrtle showed higher frequency. There is a need to apply such traditional trees and planting method. On the contrary, the foreign trees such as American sycamore and acasia planted in Gyeonghee Palace·6 Loyalist Park are not harmonized with the historical and cultural landscape.
Third, educational attributes analyzed the type of historical and cultural resources, usage, information delivery method and type of used programs in terms of appropriateness of information delivery. Above all, for the non- designated cultural heritage oriented park, the education and information delivery on the symbolic meaning and celebration of the corresponding historical and cultural resources are important. However, for Itaewonbugundang historical park, there is no related facility so it requires the installation of history-related facility. In addition, for the history-related facilities installed in Gyeonghee Palace·6 Loyalist·Shingye·Yanghwajin historical park, they are used as the resident convenience facility or religious facility differently from the original purpose, it seems that regulations over the change in use of history-related facility are required. For the usage movement line, Dongmyeo, Itaewon bugundang historical park has no open cultural heritage space so the access to and experience of cultural heritage is restricted. On the other hand, for the information delivery, the guidance signs in Dongmyeo historical park contain missing or incorrect information and the guidance booklet is printed in black and white so they are inefficient to deliver information. The guidance sign in Yanghwajin park is marked as ‘Yanghwajin Grave Park’ instead of historical park. Therefore, there are needs for readability-enhanced design, QR code for foreign visitors and multi-language guidance service. For Dongmyeo·Itaewonbugundang historical park, cultural heritage guide service and use program are not provided.
Fourth, Sociality analyzed the type and usage pattern of introduced facilities in terms of the appropriateness of usage pattern. As for the facilities in the historical parks, Bongeun Culture Hall in Bongeun park is used as a wedding hall. The tennis court is operated on a membership basis so they weaken the public aspect of historical park. Thus, reconsideration over the inappropriate usages for protection·view·guidance of historical and cultural resources is required. The usage pattern of historical parks included rest, education, exercise and religious activity. These resulted from the educational aspects of historical and cultural resources and the religious facilites in Bongeun, Shingye, Yanghwajin park, which showed difference from the neighborhood park. With respect to the name of historical park, in Dongmyeo·Shingye park, there were some users who did not recognize the parks as historical park. Therefore, Dongmyeo Historical Park is required to use the designated name ‘Donggwan King Grave’, while Shingye Historical Park is required to correct its name focusing on the corresponding historical and cultural resource ‘Danggogae Martyr Sacred Place’.
This study has the implication that this study examined the management status of 10 historical parks in Seoul in detail to provide the guidance for future historical park construction. As the results suggest, historicity, aesthetic, educational attributes and sociality were not only the analysis criteria in this study but also the conditions that the historical parks in Seoul have to meet.