Basic Report

This research recognizes that inter-regional cooperation is essential to strengthening regional competitiveness for balanced national development. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop supporting measures to revitalize inter-regional cooperation. For successful regional cooperation, the following factors are considered to devise institutional supporting measures: 1) prerequisites such as existing inter-regional network; 2) institutional aspects including detailed financial support from central government for cooperation projects, institutional preparedness such as legislating cooperation support laws, clarity of rules and operations on decision-making, and cooperation mechanisms involving various actors; and 3) behavioral aspects, such as the voluntary will of local actors, the initiative of specific actors, the degree of participation in cooperation, and the degree of interaction between the actors.
   The theoretical review discusses the importance of inter-regional cooperation in the global economic era and the theories of Mega-City Regions. Then it develops an analytical framework through analyzing previous studies on requirements of successful inter-regional cooperation.
   The linkage structure between regions can be identified by grouping regions based on the high correlation of inter-region travel. The interactions between regions were analyzed by dividing them into city and county units. The dominance and relative intensity of the center and center that serve as nodules of the linkage structure were measured. The analysis used traffic data of the National Transportation OD. It was conducted for the cases that showed existing linkage structures, including the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam region, Jirisan region, the Southern Coastal-South Central region, and Gyeongbuk-East Coast region.
   The analysis confirmed that the existing inter-regional linkage structure is a critical trigger for inter-regional cooperation and a significant factor in activating inter-regional cooperation. Having a close regional linkage structure reflects that the regions share the same economic and living area. It creates various regional administrative demands, triggers regional cooperation, and affects the scope and depth of cooperation, which is the level of participation and interaction.
   This study examined the motivation, willingness, level of participation, and interaction as the behavioral aspect that activates inter-regional cooperation. The leadership, which is pointed out as a major factor in revitalizing cooperation between regions in Korea, was examined by analyzing the leading actors in each area. The result showed that local government leadership plays an essential role in raising the need for inter-regional cooperation and reaching cooperation projects. Still, there was also a limit to the role of leadership in successfully carrying out inter-regional cooperation projects. The most important factor in the behavioral aspect is the motivation and willingness to cooperate. In the case of Korea, where the experience of inter-regional cooperation is weak and successful cases are rare, the factor that serves as an opportunity to decide and launch inter-regional cooperation is the most important. The limitation in the behavioral aspect is limited participation of the private sector.
   The institutional aspect of revitalizing inter-regional cooperation analyzed both central and local governments. The analysis confirmed that the central government’s financial incentives are the primary factor in promoting inter-regional cooperation. The central government’s financial incentives based on Special Act on Balanced National Development promoted inter-regional cooperation while the Local Autonomy Act contributed to maintaining the cooperation. The limitation in the institutional aspect is the absence of continuous regional cooperation development policies and the limited participation of the private sector.
   Based on the analysis, this study proposed basic principles as 1) strengthening regional autonomy, 2) preparing regional discrimination strategies, and 3) promoting the participation of various actors. The strategies include 1) promoting autonomous inter-regional cooperation, 2) establishing a support system for promoting inter-regional cooperation projects, and 3) strengthening public-private partnership through participation of local innovation subjects.