Potential for local communities in rural areas: sustainable development of prison siting in South Korea

Abstract

PurposeCorrectional facilities often constitute locally unwanted land use (LULUs), with local residents strongly demanding their relocation. Accordingly, the construction of correctional facilities is currently being promoted in regions that are far from city centres. Some local government officials consider relocating correctional facilities to rural areas as a golden opportunity to revitalise the economies of these areas. This paper focuses on the possibilities of local community participation in the sustainable development of prison siting in rural areas.Design/methodology/approachThe methods and procedure of this study are as follows: (1) to review the relevant literature about regulations or cohesion policies when correctional facilities are constructed, (2) to examine the current issues relating to the conflict between correctional facilities and the local community from the perspective of LULUs and (3) to compare the construction processes of correctional facilities and public buildings in South Korea. The latter focuses on Daegu Correctional Facility as a site study through which to investigate how the facility interacted with the local community when the government decided to locate the correctional facility in a rural area.FindingsThe case study confirmed that communication methods between correctional facilities and stakeholders at each stage affected the occurrence and resolution of conflicts between them. In particular, it was found that correctional facilities in rural areas can transform the characteristics of the community by providing an open facility that serves community needs and boosts the local economy.Originality/valueThis study contributes to a new vision for locating correctional facilities, wherein conflicts are resolved through communication with local communities in rural regions. In addition, the study argues that community participation could allow correctional facilities to function as living hubs in the community and so benefit the residents of rural areas.

Broadband last-mile connectivity model for effective bandwidth utilization in rural and urban-underserved areas

“…The situation is similar to that in the developed world where in early 2009 it was estimated that 30 percent of the rural European population still had no broadband access. This gap has been effectively addressed in developed countries and that the most important aspect is not the connectivity but rather effective utilization of the deployed broadband connectivity to deliver acceptable user experience for it to be beneficial to communities and bridge the digital divide (Park et al, 2013). In their paper, Park et al (2013) try to pin point the utilization and sustainability of broadband adoption in rural areas in South Korea where they found that investment in human capital is more important than investing in infrastructure and that involvement of local communities in the connectivity initiatives made an impact.…”

“…This gap has been effectively addressed in developed countries and that the most important aspect is not the connectivity but rather effective utilization of the deployed broadband connectivity to deliver acceptable user experience for it to be beneficial to communities and bridge the digital divide (Park et al, 2013). In their paper, Park et al (2013) try to pin point the utilization and sustainability of broadband adoption in rural areas in South Korea where they found that investment in human capital is more important than investing in infrastructure and that involvement of local communities in the connectivity initiatives made an impact. This is the case with many other countries like Tanzania, where there is a good number of initiatives to connect the rural areas but the impact is not seen.…”