Living in a small town
A Week in Danyang (6)
Danyang is a provincial city. Danyang-gun as a whole has a population of less than 30,000. It is also less than the size of one dong in Seoul. Danyang's area is 780.16 km2, which is larger than Seoul's 605 square km, but its population is 27,737, which is smaller than Yeoui-dong (32,905). Moreover, the population continues to decline. Danyang, which is decreasing from 40,000 (2000) to 31,817 (2010) to 29,155 (2020), had 92,860 people in 1970.
Over the past 50 years, Korea's population has increased, but Danyang's population has decreased by one-third. This phenomenon is not unique to Danyang. As the population of the Gyeongbu axis, which was the main development axis in the past, has recently been decreasing, the centrifugal force is bound to be much greater in Danyang, which is surrounded by mountains and not far from a large city.
Through this trip to Danyang, I wanted to test the old idea that I, who had lived only in Seoul, “could I live in another city?” and observe what efforts local cities are making. Although it is inseparable from Seoul, what should you do if you want to try a different lifestyle?
The lifestyle I want is:
1. You can meet your basic needs without driving.
2. Easily connected to Seoul or the airport
3. There is a unique restaurant downtown
4. There is nature around like mountains, rivers, and the sea.
The regions I was considering in the past were Chuncheon and Cheongju. Both cities have many universities and convenient transportation to Seoul. Danyang is much smaller than the two cities. Danyang downtown, home to 10,000 people, about 35% of Danyang-gun, was a planned city centered around one major road. Danyang downtown, which was created in a planned manner as the central function was relocated due to the submergence of Chungju Lake, was easy to understand and easy to navigate.
It is largely divided into the Sangjin-ri area, which has a new town feel, which appears when you go around the area where major public institutions and schools are located, but both areas are walkable. I don't know if it has to be that way, but most housing types consist of apartments. The most recently built apartment complex, Ipyeonhansesang, has 396 households that began moving in in June of this year. Although there are no other large-scale construction companies, there are apartments with 200-300 households, so it seems possible to facilitate convenient management.
I mainly stayed at Sonomun Danyang, which is on the border of Sangjin-ri and the city, and in the city, I mainly walked around, drank tea, went to the market, bought necessary items, had a meal, and came in and cooked simple things. There were a variety of ingredients and semi-finished products available in the city. The variety of restaurants was not very diverse, but there were some distinctly distinctive mandarin fish stew, sundae, and garlic-related foods.
What I liked most of all was that the entire city was quiet and great for walking. Of course, everywhere I went, there were a bit too many performance halls or event halls, so I thought it might be a town that focuses excessively on festivals and tourism, especially on one-off events. The advantage of being close to Seoul can attract people who want to take a day or short trip to Mancheonha Skywalk, ziplining, and paragliding, but it can be a negative factor in making people visit the same area repeatedly or choose Danyang as their second home. It may be possible.
How can we make people choose ‘living’ rather than traveling? What is the way to achieve voluntary migration in Danyang, which was successful in Jeju, Yangyang, and Gangneung, rather than forced migration through Innovation City? It has advantages such as beautiful nature, a comfortable city, and low housing costs, but it is an area that can be chosen in the era of 4 degrees and 3 villages, where you can spend in Danyang for a little longer rather than just visiting for a short time on the weekend or traveling by group tour bus. It seems like we need to think a little more about how we can become one. To that end, the current Ondal Hall and Sambong Story Hall's poor cultural content and excessive festival-centered space composition seem to require other programs tailored to the younger generation. Could surfing in Yangyang be an activity that is difficult to enjoy in other regions, such as paragliding?
