The importance of preserving intangible cultural heritage (ICH) for sustainable development has been widely acknowledged by the international society. Various forms of cooperation have taken place to prevent deterioration and destruction due to its inherent characteristic of ‘intangibleness’. Public engagement, however, has largely been excluded from the system in spite of its significance in safeguarding ICH by inducing people to be trained as successors. In this respect, this paper discusses and emphasises the necessity of public engagement in safeguarding ICH. To this end, it suggests the use of digital technologies to create museum content to encourage public involvement with and learning about ICH. Focusing on ICH in Korea, digital exhibitions on Jultagi and Daemokjang utilising virtual reality technology are proposed. The ultimate aim of this article is to contribute to the sustainability of world ICH for humanity through digital exhibitions.

With the process of urbanization and post-industrialization, the diversity of regions and their unique cultures have become cultural properties for the competitiveness of cities. The concept of cultural heritage and resources has expanded in recent years. In the past, they were confined to architectural and artistic artifacts, but now, cultural heritage and resources have evolved to include environmental elements, industrial and vernacular construction, urban and rural settlements, and intangible elements related to community activities and ways of life. The community is the carrier of cultural resources and heritage. Cultural heritage sites contribute to the creation of a community’s identity. This multi-layered discussion of community engagements in cultural heritages and resources provides a unique approach to understanding cultural properties as sustainability enablers. This paper intends to go beyond the theoretical assumptions of the role of community cultural resources by studying the target research group, Bukjeong village in Seoul, Korea. The paper focuses on the possibilities of community engagement for sustainable development for urban regeneration. It proposes that cultural sustainability in its broader definition should be derived from the community realities of a particular place or cultural context. This approach must be grounded in the principles of regional networks, urban governance, and community-based activities.

Background and Objectives: Despite the standard interval of 6−8 weeks between neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) and surgery, it is debated whether an interval of >8 weeks increases the pathologic complete response (pCR) rate. We investigated the interval between nCRT and surgery, and its impact on oncological outcomes and postoperative complications in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. Methods:We retrospectively reviewed patients with rectal cancer who underwent total mesorectal excision after long-course nCRT between 2000 and 2020. They were divided into two groups-those who underwent surgery at 6−8 and >8 weeks after nCRT. Surgical outcomes (stoma rate and postoperative complications), pCR, tumor regression grade (TRG), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS) were compared.Results: We selected 770/1153 patients with rectal cancer, including 502 and 268 patients surgically treated at 6−8 and >8 weeks after nCRT, respectively. The pCR rates were similar between the two groups (14.7% vs. 15.3%, p = 0.836), while the TRG was significantly better in the >8 weeks group (p = 0.267). Additionally, the postoperative complications, recurrence, 5-year RFS, and OS rates were not significantly different between the two groups.Conclusions: Although tumor regression increased in the >8 weeks group, the oncological benefits of surgery >8 weeks after nCRT remain uncertain.

Abandoned industrial facilities have become a nuisance in cities because the needs of society members are continuously changing. Idle industrial facilities might be considered to be merely abandoned and empty spaces, but they are in reality historic sites that illustrate the period of industrialization in the region. They are valuable because they serve to accumulate memories from the past. Recently, with the need for urban regeneration, there have been various discussions on converting the abandoned industrial facilities into cultural art spaces. They are intended to promote the sustainability of communities and cities by vitalizing the area. Considering the social dimensions of urban regeneration, it is necessary to render such a creative space as a ‘Third Place’ to promote the city’s sustainability. Converted industrial facilities, through the medium of ‘Voluntary Arts Activities,’ have many elements that are suitable for the needs of a creative space, and even for a ‘Third Place’. As opposed to the private sector, it is seen that when the public sector regenerates these facilities, they approach this issue in order to lower the cultural arts barrier. The public sector, which is a government-centered first sector, conducts regeneration projects based on the ‘Democratization of Culture’ perspective. However, in order to promote participation in the third sector, which is a community-based, non-profit sector that actually uses the space, it is important to approach the issue from the ‘Cultural Democracy’ perspective. Focusing on this aspect, this study aims to examine cases of public sector-led converted cultural arts spaces by ‘Voluntary Arts Activities’ in France and South Korea, namely ‘Le Centquatre-Paris,’ the ‘Oil Tank Culture Park,’ and the ‘West Seoul Arts Center for Learning’. This will allow us to contemplate the possibility of sustainable spaces, individuals, communities and cities.

Gunsan is a port city located on the west coast of South Korea. After the port was opened in 1899, foreign concessions were formed there, and the modern city began to be formed in accordance with Japanese colonial policy. This region grew into a modern port city by exporting rice harvested from the plains in the hinterland to Japan and managed and controlled commercial and industrial products of the surrounding area. Modern industrial facilities such as warehouses, financial, and administration facilities necessary for seizing the food resources for the colony were built there, and Gunsan developed as a hub city in the southwestern region of South Korea during the 1930s. However, after liberation in 1945, the number of modern industrial facilities in this area, which contained traces of Japanese imperialism, gradually declined. In the 2000s, as urbanisation accelerated, the problem of abandoned modern industrial facilities was raised, and the necessity of urban regeneration by utilizing the modern industrial facilities scattered in the original downtown of Gunsan emerged. The purpose of this paper is to examine the regional activation and cultural regeneration of the city by using modern industrial facilities as cultural places and targeting the case of Gunsan, which was developed as a colonial-planned city. In particular, through field studies, this paper examines those cultural spaces, utilising modern industrial facilities that contribute to the formation of regional uniqueness, mediate local communities, and create future values of sustainable cultural regeneration.