농촌중심지활성화사업의 변화와 실무적 개선방안

As the phenomena of the decline of rural areas and the degradation of their functions due to the centralization of the metropolis, the phenomenon of aging and low fertility rates emerge as realistic problems, for the improvement of the conditions of residents’ settlement in rural areas, the necessity of life service functions increases. In rural areas, such as the eup and myeon areas, since most areas, excluding the central areas, are spread spatially wide, the level of benefits from life service differs depending on the area. In terms of the fairness of the policy, an equal level of facilities and programs should be provided for each village, but it is hard to consider this a reasonable alternative due to the budget problem. Thus, it is necessary to concentrate life service function facilities in the rural center and to build up an efficient service delivery system in the surrounding areas, rather than small-scale diversified investment. A rural center revitalization project is a policy to enhance the quality of life in the center and the surrounding areas together, by building up a system that can expand the central functions such as education, welfare and culture to the eup and myeon areas, which are the rural centers and to deliver the services of the center to the surrounding areas, responding to the increase of underpopulated villages. This study discussed changes and problems of the rural center revitalization project and drew plans for improvement as follows: First, it would be necessary to strengthen the connection system with city/county master plans and to stipulate the time of consultation among the related departments of the local government in the planning process. Second, it would be necessary to clarify the roles and authority of PM group and stake holders. Third, it would be necessary to improve the system to increase the participation rate of residents in the surrounding areas and to improve the accessibility between the center and its surrounding areas. Lastly, it would be necessary to concretize measures for the practical support after the completion of the project.