Urban regeneration project site is a meaningful ‘place’ where people live, not a meaningless ‘space’. Placeness is formed when the place and the psychology of the people are combined. Placeness can be a means for achieving the goals of urban regeneration project. Because placeness varies by region characteristics, and if it is commercialized, it will promote continuous visit and regional revitalization. In particular, the psychological impact that plays an important role in placeness formation is represented by the ‘place image’ and ‘place attachment’. Place image and Place attachment visualizes the meaning of the ‘place’ and creates a bond between people and the place.
In this sense, Several regions have been trying to form placeness by using various methods. Urban regeneration project is also one of the ways to create placeness. This is because the declining city tries to play a role as a meaningful ‘place’ through urban regeneration project. However, existing studies are not enough to deal with the relationship between urban regeneration project and the placeness. And there is a lack of detailed discussion on the process of forming placeness within the urban regeneration project site.
Therefore, in order to approach the relationship between urban regeneration project and placeness, I will analyze the process by which the visitors are affected psychologically in urban generation project site. So, the purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of the visitor’s recognition of the physical environment and activity program of the urban regeneration project site on the place image and place attachment. Furthermore, it is to verify the formation of placeness within the urban regeneration project site. In order to derive the results, the study site was selected as Junangdong, Cheongju. The formative factors of Placeness in Junangdong consisted of physical factors that mean physical environment, behavioral factors that mean programs in the physical environment, and psychological factors that mean place image and place attachment. Then, user survey was conducted to measure the formative factors of Placeness. Ordinal logistic regression model was used to analyze the effect of recognition of physical and behavioral factors on psychological factors.
The results of the analysis are as follows. First, the place image of ‘distinctive/artistic/new’ is formed by recognition of street environment, open space, arts and cultural activities, and Sonamu-gil flea market activities. Second, the place image of ‘young/free/characterful’ is formed by recognition of street facilities and Sonamu-gil flea market activities. Third, the place image of ‘familiar’ is formed only by recognition of street facilities. Fourth, the place image of ‘energetic/vital’ is formed by recognition of street environment, open space, arts and cultural activities, and street performance activities. Fifth, place attachment of ‘a place you want to stay longer’ is formed by recognition of street environment, street facilities, street performance activities and experiential activity. Sixth, the place attachment of ‘discriminative place’ and ‘place to miss if this place changes’ is formed only by recognition of street environment.
Based on these results, it was confirmed that the visitors of the Junangdong recognizing the physical and behavioral factors and forming a specific place image and place attachment. These results indicate that placeness was formed in the Junangdong. However, most of the influencing factors are limited to physical factors. Therefore, it is necessary to supplement the behavioral factors in order to form richer placeness. And factors of urban regeneration project that are easy for the visitors to recognize should be prepared as a basal condition for forming placeness. Ultimately, visitors should ''feel'' rather than simply ''see'' the place. This will be a strategic method for regional revitalization.
This study is meaningful in that it is evaluated by paying attention to the psychology of visitors. And it is different in that it analyzes the placeness formation process focused on actual urban regeneration project sites. However, it is difficult to obtain objectivity because it deals with only one study case. In addition, measurement items of place image and place attachment were derived from previous studies without considering regional characteristics. In order to overcome this, future studies should draw psychological factors based on the psychological factors based on local situation. Also, it would be a better study if we compare and analyze other urban regeneration project site. This study will contribute to the foundation of the operation of the urban regeneration project to create the urban space filled with memory and meaning.