Starting point of the place
Among Ilsan's grid-shaped roads, Jeongbalsan Mountain is the reference point that most clearly shows the topography before the planned city. When the new town was built, the mountain was not completely cut down to make it flat, but was left as a central green space, so the surrounding roads and residential areas wrapped around the mountain. Rather than just looking at the height or view of the summit, if you look at the paths and walking axes that curve along the mountainside, you can see what constraints and directions the natural topography gave to urban planning.
Landscape changed by time
The name Bamgashi is not a brand created by the new city. The introduction to Jeongbalsan-dong, Goyang-si explains that the name comes from the chestnut thorns left on the mountain after the fall harvest, as there are many chestnut trees in this area. The current Bamgasi Village single-family home site was built on an area that included parts of the old Ilsan-ri and Janghang-ri. However, the nature of the origin of a place name must be revealed as an explanation passed down from the region. The fact that the name is old is different from the judgment that the building you see now is old.
People and issues in the story
The low-rise houses and tree-lined streets of Bamgasi Village contrast with the image of high-rise apartments in Ilsan. This landscape is also not the result of the old village being preserved as is, but rather the result of being designated as a single-family residential area in the new town plan and filled with houses and gardens over time. The unique architecture and quiet streets are attractive, but the first priority is that it is a living space for residents. When consuming in a cafe or filming location, you must consider the inconvenience caused by entering private property, shooting toward windows, and parking in alleys.
What travelers will read on the spot
If you start your walk from Jeongbalsan Station and go down to the low ridge of the mountain, Bamgasi Village, and Lake Park, you will see different principles of creating the three spaces. The mountains are leftover terrain, the villages are planned low-rise residential areas, and the lakes are newly created waterfronts. If all three places are grouped together as ‘nature-friendly Ilsan,’ the differences disappear. When distinguishing between what was the original topography and what was deliberately preserved and created, it becomes clear that the new town neither completely erased the land of the past nor left it as is.
How to check data
Photos introducing Bamgasi Village usually focus on quiet houses and street trees, but the tranquility is based on the privacy and daily movements of the actual residents. If visitors stay in the middle of the alley for a long time or block vehicle access, the advantage of the location turns into a burden for residents. It is necessary to distinguish between commercial facilities and purely residential areas and avoid visiting late at night. It is important to remember that although the public trails of Jeongbalsan Mountain and the alleyways of Bamgasi Village are close, the rights to use them are not the same. The conclusion of this article is limited to the scope confirmed by field observations and two official data, and should be revised if operation and research results change in the future.