Abstract

The study aims to prove the raison d'etre of public libraries in urban regeneration paradigm. Life SOC Plan is one of South Korea's urban regeneration policies. Public libraries are considered important in life SOC Plan because public libraries are "Social Anchors". Social Anchor is space-time-bounded place that accelerates diverse people's interactions. Social Anchor makes collective identity that supports production of social capital. Public libraries are institutions producing social capital but have weak collective identity because their missions(open, sharing, equality of information) don't allow boundaries and membership. The study conducted literature reviews and case studies to confirm how collective identity of public libraries strengthens. As a result, the study confirmed that renovating under-used space based on urban regeneration paradigm makes place identity of the under-used space to collective identity of public libraries. Thus, constructing public libraries by renovating under-used space is Social Anchor formation model based on urban regeneration paradigm.