As the world continues to urbanize, the concept of micro-urbanism has been discussed by various practitioners. For example, Jinhee Park of SsD exhibited a work titled Micro Urbanism at the Venice International Architecture Exhibition in 2021. She presented a self-sufficient micro­unit called a tapioca space, suggesting a new housing prototype. The ambiguous shared spaces allow extending individual units’ perceived boundaries and the range of activities. Like tapioca pearl gel, the edges of public/private and interior/exterior spaces softly intersect, allowing for flexible and diverse unit combinations. Therefore, it encourages longer occupancy cycles and creates a solid social foundation for sustainable community growth. Atelier Bow-Wow illustrated the relationship between the place and the behaviors of associated actors in “Graphic Anatomy Atelier Bow-Wow” and positioned the concept of micro-urbanism in terms of the linkage between the surrounding environment and the corresponding behaviors, including that of people and buildings. Micro-urbanism attempts to examine the interrelationships among diverse phenomena in urban conditions on a micro-scale that may be useful for future urban development.
Despite the popularity of urban interventions, I believe what micro urbanism is investigating in cities is increasingly relevant and necessary in rural areas. The reason I titled my research “micro-ruralism” is that I felt seeking answers only within the larger conceptual framework of rural revitalization may lead to wasteful developments, as criticized by Alex Kerr, a scholar of Eastern Culture. In other words, the importance of adding the micro dimension to the study of ruralism lies in my belief that addressing rural issues requires a good understanding of its diverse internal realities, which also requires micro-level investigations.