Integrated approaches to environmental footprint assessment modeling for development and environmental conservation in South Korea

To address the environmental crises emerging in the Anthropocene epoch, complex and unpredictable environmental challenges have begun to arise. In response to these crises, international conferences and organizations have been developing and researching various strategies and evaluation frameworks to implement sustainability. South Korea has actively promoted an integrated approach to national land development and environmental conservation, leading to the implementation of a complementary assessment model. Aligned with this trend, this study proposes the Environmental Footprint Assessment as a strategic framework for evaluating sustainability. The Environmental Footprint Assessment model was designed based on theoretical and methodological paradigms of sustainability evaluation, structured into systematic stages, and applied to 31 cities in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Cluster analysis was employed to classify the 31 cities into distinct groups. At the same time, the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental (PESTLE) and Driving Force, Pressure, State, Impact, and Response (DPSIR) models were utilized for macro-level analyses of regional budget investments and the interplay between developmental and environmental values within each cluster. This model underscores its significance in devising long-term strategies that integrate social and economic impacts with environmental considerations, offering a holistic approach to effectively addressing environmental crises.