Space and Environment
- P-ISSN1225-6706
- E-ISSN2733-4295
- KCI
ISSN : 1225-6706
Vol.30 No.4
Abstract
This paper is to discuss characteristics of epidemiological state, and its concern about human rights and human-ecological security as major issues in the COVID-19 crisis to search for measures of coronavirus control balancing with economy and with human rights. In doing so, it is emphasized that even though overall returning of the state responding to the crisis would be inevitable, its roles should not merely be remained in epidemic control, but be more concerned about human-ecological rights and security without alienating civil society. From this point of view, this paper examines theoretically and historically the situation in which the state has returned in the COVID-19 crisis, and then describes what kinds of influence the crisis and the state’s measures to it have made domestically on basic rights of citizens, providing some principles and guidelines for restriction of human rights in a situation of epidemic crisis and suggesting further a concept of ‘ecological right’. Finally this paper considers a transformation process from national security to human security especially in the international responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing ‘ecological security’ as an alternative one to overcome fundamentally the crisis.
Abstract
The global spread of the COVID-19 has raised an increased attention to the Anthropocene. The outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 is a very Anthropocenic event in the sense that it has brought a planetary catastrophe of pandemic, while offering a preliminary snapshot of “the world without us” caused by widespread lockdown and social distancing measures. While existing work on the COVID-19 has focussed on its health and economic aspects, this paper draws attention to the nonhuman world affected by the COVID-19. Drawing on recent ‘more-than-human’ studies of political ecology and biopolitics, this paper examines several ways through which human-nature relations have been reconfigured in South Korea amid the COVID-19 and related social distancing. It specifically focuses on nature- based tourism landscape, zoos, and farming. The cases illustrate that human- nature relations have emerged in diverse and sophisticated ways beyond the prevalent dichotomies of the reinforced human control over nature, or the return of nature. While significant decrease of human activities allowed proliferation of nonhumans (e.g. blossom of flowers, birth of zoo animals), biopolitical intervention of the government soon followed to secure public health and capitalist economy. This paper argues COVID-19 engenders an anthropocentric mode of biopolitics that allows increased manipulation of nonhuman lives in the guise of public good.
Abstract
This paper analyses South Korea’s response to COVID-19 in the concept of Foucauldian biopolitics. South Korea’s model is managing this pandemic situation without any extensive spatial restrictions, such as lockdown and blocking borders, whereas most countries rely on them. This paper understands this model as a biopolitical ‘politico-epidemiological’ model which takes the apparatuses of security, focusing on the ‘problem of circulation’, as a global and primary strategy, rather than oppressive orders, and locally utilizes disciplinary exercises. Also, this paper argues that various technologies which are regarded as instrumental in this model, such as geospatial technology, computational technology, and medical technology, are jointly exercised under this mechanism. This approach provides a more comprehensive and practical understanding of the ‘politico-epidemiological’ model that is actually exercised in the pandemic situation, rather than just focusing on the individual parts of the model.
Abstract
This paper approaches at-housing-risk household phenomenon as a structural problem of capitalism. The theoretical resources for this are the working poor and housing vulnerable groups. The double precarity of the working poor refers to the combination of labor precarity and housing precarity. The dynamics of housing vulnerability can be used to distinguish between current housing poverty and future housing crisis. Underneath the housing crisis, which develops in the stages of income reduction, overdue rent, and involuntary displacement, lies the double precarity of the working poor. The nature of housing crisis is shaped by the simultaneous precarity of labor and housing in urban space, particularly the process of housing precarity due to precarious labor. Exploring the nature of such problem requires qualitative rearticulation beyond the quantitative expansion of housing welfare policies as a countermeasure. The working poor’s housing crisis represents a blind spot in housing welfare policy, which is based on current state of housing poverty. As housing crisis is a fundamentally different problem compared to housing poverty, a new method of housing welfare policy that is distinct from direct housing support should be discussed in response to the housing crisis. An empirical analysis of Korean case support the conceptual consideration of at-housing-risk households. The combination of labor precarity and housing precarity exists regardless of income level in Korea. Furthermore, labor precarity may be as significant as, or more significant than, low-income level in determining who has no choice but to choose unstable housing in large cities. This approach allows the recognition of housing crisis as a unique structural problem in the capitalist society, not as a one-time event caused by COVID-19.
Abstract
This research addresses the impact of COVID-19 on the education, game, child-parent relationship, and playing space of elementary school children. The researcher surveyed 449 elementary school children from three schools in different living conditions in the Sosa district of Bucheon City, Korea. The results of the research indicate that since COVID-19 appeared, online classes have been insufficient for including various content, retaining students’ concentration and interest, and producing an educational effect. For students living in poorer conditions, the educational effect of online classes has been even worse. Elementary school children’s educational discourse, according to the classes with living conditions, is maintained through private education and self-directed learning ability. Concerning schoolroom classes during COVID-19, students’ interaction with their teachers and friends has decreased significantly. Since the time children spend with their parents has increased due to COVID-19, family relations have improved. However, game use time has increased by 13 minutes. Moreover, the rate of children living without adult supervision during the day is now 32.3%, and the recreational space in the areas with poor living conditions is unprepared for this change.
Abstract
In this study, we explore essential conditions under which collaborative governance across local districts of a city works. The existing literature has emphasized the autonomy of individual actors and, at the same time, the consensus among the actors for a successful collaboration, but we argue that autonomy and consensus are likely to be incompatible in practice. We identify five conditions to facilitate the operation of the governance: shared implicit norms for collaboration and a relevant decision-making structure, interim achievements, a system for fair distribution of benefits, a shared mechanism for internal control, and a social norm of reciprocity and trust. We then analyze the structure, the process, and the interim outcomes of the collaborative governance across the four local districts in northeastern Seoul, South Korea. We find out that the collaborative governance has not been fully established due to the unevenly distributed benefits, the lack of internal control mechanisms, and the low level of reciprocity and trust. Our case study is based on an archival study, in-depth interviews, and participatory observation.
Abstract
재건축은 정비사업으로서 도시에서 주택을 신규로 공급할 수 있는 중요한 제도이다. 그러나 현재 한국의 재건축은 소유자 조합이 수행을 전적으로 책임지고 있다. 긴 역사에도불구하고 재건축은 여전히 많은 문제를 가지고 있으며, 특히 재건축 추진에 많은 시간이소요됨에 따라 도시에 신규로 공급되는 주택이 부족해지는 결과가 발생하였다. 또한 재건축에서 발생하는 불로소득이 소유자에게 귀속되었고, 이는 사회적 불평등의 한 원인으로지목되고 있다. 싱가포르와 홍콩 그리고 독일의 재건축 제도를 검토한 결과, 싱가포르는 재건축 수행 기간을 단축시키기 위해 일괄매각방식(en bloc sale)으로 추진하고 있으며, 홍콩은 공공기관에서 수용보상형태로 수행하지만 민간회사에 개발을 의뢰하는 민관협동방식을 취하고 있다. 독일은 도시개발의 성공적 수행을 위해 지방자치단체가 재건축을 주도적으로 수행하고 있다. 따라서 현행 재건축 문제를 해결하기 위해서는 공공이 적극적으로 참여할 필요가있다. 즉 재건축을 단순한 사유재산의 활용으로 간주할 것이 아니라 도시에 주택을 공급할수 있는 중요한 공적인 수단이라고 인식해야 할 것이다.