In Korea, it is a very sensitive and difficult task to collect and analyze the data about researchers or the trends in academic studies. One of the reasons is that there is no well-organized basic data available for the study, and the another reason is that there is a certain burden of undertaking continued dispute and misunderstanding arising from the subsequent evaluation about the study.
Nevertheless, it should be an important subject to comprehend the internal and the external activities of a specific academic field. That is to say that the subject of understanding the mechanism in so-called the “Academic Ecosystem” should be an important subject.
The study of architectural history began after the liberation in 1945 by a small group of researchers. The so-called second generation researchers appeared in 1980s. After 1990s, the third generation researchers who received education from the second generation were initiated steadily in numbers. The researchers studied overseas have also joined to the domestic research group after that period.
In spite of the fact that the number of Korean researchers has increased steadily both domestically and in overseas every year, it is doubtful whether the researchers actually working in our nation have really increased. One cannot assert the situation based on just several conditions. But, when we look into architectural history in Eastern Asia, the research manpower is absolutely in shortage. Therefore, it would be meaningless to classify them into sub-area based on research interests.
Another important subject area in the academic ecosystem of architectural history is the issue of whether we have enough number of textbooks about architectural history. There have been a number of textbooks published in Korea in authorship and in translation. However, the translations of the classical foreign books still remain unsatisfactory. There are some important classical writings on architectural history of the East and the West, but there are not so many translated books based on the original versions. The situation is the same with the western classics.
Then, what would be the biggest factor that threatens the academic ecosystem of architectural history? The Author thinks that there are two important aspects to consider. The one is the internal factor that stable positions of researchers are threatened by putting emphasis on 5-year architecture design education program. The other is external factor that the social infrastructure for sustained research for new researchers is getting deteriorated. The latter factor does not have close relation with the reality of the general construction economy slowdown, because the stage for researchers of this area were also limited in the past.
In conclusion, solving these problems would not be possible without the attitudinal change of the expert group toward the architectural education. The study of architectural history must be an important axis of architectural education if we are to find a breakthrough and to set up a firm position in the global society of architecture. At the same time, we must endeavor, with a long-range view, to establish well-organized research system for the study of architectural history.