Journal of the Korean Geographical Society ISSN:1225-6633(Print) 대한지리학회지

This paper aims to examine the population reduction trends and to understand the characteristics of growth and decline in local small cities by analyzing the social and economic indicators such as GRDP per capita and the amount and quality of employment, stability of housing and urban poverty. The results of this study are as follows: First, although the number of small cities has decreased nationwide over the past two decades, the proportion of small cities in the non-capital region is still large and important. Second, the polarization has been expanding in the growth of local small cities, and the imbalance deepening with a few of growing cities and a lot of stagnant or declining cities. Third, growing local small cities rely primarily on exogenous factors for their growth, and stagnant or declining local small cities are highly unstable in employment and housing, and even the traditional functions of small cities have not been important as a growth factor. Finally, when comparing quantitative and qualitative indicators of regional production and employment in local small cities with those in the capital region, the stagnation and decline of local small cities can be regarded as a process of uneven regional development by geographical transfer of values.