Utilization of Oral Records and Urban Regeneration Projects in Gunsan: From the Perspective of Village History Reconstruction into Cultural Contents

The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the history of the village based on the oral records of villagers carried out as part of the cultural urban regeneration project in Gunsan City. In addition, it intends to review the use of the oral records into content. The study area is Sinheung-dong located in the old downtown of Gunsan. This neighborhood is one of Gunsan’s representative tourist destinations, in which there are various modern cultural heritages that represent the modern era. The historical background of tourist destinations centered on Sinheung-dong is the Japanese colonial period, in particular the 1930s. This study raises questions about the fact that the identity of Sinheung-dong is limited to one period of Japanese colonial rule and becomes a tourism resource. Therefore, this study tried to explore the various modern experiences of the local residents of Gunsan based on the oral records of residents currently living in Sinheung-dong, and to reconstruct the history and local identity of the village based on them. Finally, this paper explored ways the collected oral records could function as exhibition contents for major cultural facilities in Sinheung-dong village, which were created as a result of the urban regeneration project.&#x0D; </jats:p