What do you think about the image of Ulsan? The image of an industrial or rich city may come to mind. As a manufacturing industrial city, the nominal GRDP (Gross Regional Domestic Product) of Ulsan for 2012 was the best compared to other cities, standing at about 60 million won per-capita. Also, Ulsan has a large population and a high income level among its citizens. The reason why Ulsan has this image as a wealthy city, is that Ulsan was selected as the biggest coastal industrial complex by the government in 1962. During the past 50 years, accumulated capital, labor and factory productivity have led Ulsan’s economy. However, according to the national average rate of economic growth investigated by the Bank of Korea, Ulsan recorded a low rate of growth compared with the national average during the past 10 years, and the Bank of Korea said that the gap is gradually increasing. If so, can Ulsan maintain the image of a good place to live in from an economic aspect?

The industrial structure of Ulsan is excessively focused on the manufacturing industry. This includes automobiles, shipbuilding and petro-chemistry. This has led not only to Ulsan’s economic output but also to Korea’s economic growth. However, Ulsan may not be a global leader in these industries for much longer. Developing countries like China and Indonesia have worked hard to catch up on the technical skills of advanced countries so that they can meet their domestic needs by using their own technology. In the past, countries such as U.S, Japan and Korea have exported high-tech products to developing countries, however their exports are rapidly decreasing.

Lee Sang-dae, a researcher at the Future and Vision office of Gyeonggi Research Institute, presented a research paper; Go to the way of urban innovation, which said one of the four risk elements includes the city’s declining focus on major industry. According to the research, when a city has a specialized industry, we need to shift the focus on developing a variety of major industries. As a result, Ulsan needs to seek solutions to overcome this problem.

If so, what should Ulsan do to solve this problem? First, Ulsan should have a new complex city brand through higher value-added businesses, which means industry making high profits from investment. Ulsan has brought economic prosperity based solely on the manufacturing industry. To keep Ulsan’s economy prosperous, Ulsan must not only rely on the manufacturing industry, but also develop higher value-added businesses such as the tourist industry, culture industry and the service industry. If Ulsan has higher value-added businesses, it will improve the quality of life for its people, and be working towards sustained economic growth.

Even if Ulsan is a city that has a high population and income level, Ulsan lags behind other cities in the culture industry. Ulsan’s citizenry feel frustration about Ulsan culture, caused by insufficient facilities and programs. Now, Ulsan facilities based on culture is ranked extremely low among 16 municipal corporations. Due to these deficiencies in cultural facilities, the Ulsan citizenry spends its money to enjoy culture in nearby Busan, a city with a well-formed culture infrastructure. Ulsan is trying to form various culture industries. Nevertheless, Ulsan is incomplete as of yet. Ulsan needs to have higher value-added businesses with the culture and tourist industry, so that Ulsan will raise the culture level of its citizenry and also revive Ulsan’s local economy.

Ulsan has many tourist attractions. There are superb natural landscapes stretching out along the east coast and the 12 noted scenery sites of Ulsan have a variety of beautiful view. Every vacation season, many “Railers;” students, under the age of 25, travel around cities in Korea by using a “rail-ro” ticket during 5 or 7 days. “Rail-ro” is a railway journey program that allows you to pass through every train station in Korea. The Korea Railroad Corporation has been running this program since 2007. However, “railers” lack information about Ulsan so they usually just go to other regions. We cannot overlook that tourists visiting is a force for enhancing local economic growth. Ulsan needs to think about developing its brand to bring tourists into the city. Tourism is a higher value-added business that will develop the local economy and create jobs without the need to build more factories.

Ulsan had become the nucleus of the manufacturing industry and has led to the economic growth of Korea. However, Ulsan bears a heavy burden as the manufacturing industry takes hits from other developing countries. To breathe new life into Ulsan’s economy, the local government, business and citizens need to recognize the current economic state of Ulsan, and they should actively struggle to revive the economy.

Ulsan’s revival has to match with its slogan: Ulsan: Elegant and a warm creative city, it is the time for Ulsan to take new steps. Recently, with slogan: Elegant culture city, Ulsan is planning and actively implementing local festivals or special exhibitions such as Jangsaengpo Whale Festival, the Pompeii and Korean Theater Festival etc. Ulsan promotes its local brand and offers tour packages. And Ulsan is not only doing manufacturing business but also planning technological development. Now, Ulsan is trying to overcome the crisis of an economic slowdown. Ulsan is still in the beginning stages. However, if Ulsan turns crisis into opportunity, Ulsan will be a more exciting and livable city. Ulsan for you!