Kim_Han_2012_Seoul.pdf

City profile

Seoul

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Historical development

A significant year in Seouls history is 1394 duringwhich Seoul, bythe nameofHanYang, was chosen as the newcapital of theChosun (orJoseon) Dynasty (Kim, 2009: p. 194). The first 10 years of Seoul as acapital city were characterised by uncertainty about its status asthe capital, due to competition betweenHan Yang and another candi-date capital site (the ancient capital city Gaegyeong). In 1405, HanYanghad its capital status affirmed (Ko, 2005). This resulted in a rapidpopulation increase. In the period 14091428, the number of house-holds in Han Yang increased from 11,056 to 18,522 (Ko, 2005).

The current urban structure of Seoul was shaped by Han Yangsfeng shui (literally wind and water) characteristics (Kim, 2009; Ko,2005). Han Yang was surrounded by four inner mountains and fourouter mountains with the Cheonggye stream flowing through the

structure of cities, were adopted as fundamental to the ChosunDynasty (Kim, 2009). Thus, in line with feng shui and Confucianprinciples, the Kyongbok Palace was located in the middle of thecity2; the ancestor shrine Chongmyo in the east of the Palace, andthe Dynasty Sajic in the west3 (Ko, 2005). The city wall was builtalong the four inner mountains (Fig. 1). At the corner of the citywall,4 there were four great gates including Nam Dae Moon (theSouth Great Gate) and Dong Dae Moon (the East Great Gate). Thesegates are national treasures today. The Sejongno called Eukjogeoryin Chosun was the widest road in Han Yang connecting theKyongbok Palace to Chongno in Chosun. Chongno, the main businessaxis in Han Yang, played a key role in linking business and adminis-trative functions. The Chongno started at Sejongno and ended at DongDae Moon. The area inside the city wall became the Central BusinessDistrict (CBD) and a political centre of modern Seoul. The Office of

or Cheongwadae (the Blue House) is behind thee and government offices are in front of the Palace.as repeatedly damaged in wars,5 but it was restoredas a centre of economy and trade. By the end of themodern service facilities and infrastructure wereSeoul. For example, the first western hospital andl were founded in 1885 (Cumings, 1997: p. 126).

Cities 29 (2012) 142154

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journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate /c i t iesmiddle. Functionally, the Han River offered good accessibility tothe rural areas, so that the ruler could easily collect taxes. Inaddition, Confucian principles,1 especially those relating to the

the PresidentKyongbok Palac

Han Yang wand developed19th century,introduced tomedical schoo

Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 3 8344 7055; fax: +61 3 8344 5532.E-mail addresses: [email protected] (H.M. Kim), [email protected]

(S.S. Han).1 The legacy of Confucian culture remains obvious in contemporary Korean society.Hyung Min Kim, Sun Sheng Han Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VI

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 13 August 2010Received in revised form 25 November 2010Accepted 12 February 2011Available online 13 July 2011

Keywords:Urban historyEconomic developmentHousingPlanning policiesMetropolitan governance

a b s t r a c t

Seoul is a major global citythe world economy, and chaof cities, especially of the Achanges and contemporaryurbanisation policy, infrasand future development.0264-2751/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.cities.2011.02.003

For instance, Confucianism is behind the system of government officials recruitmentin modern Korea (Cumings, 1997: pp. 300301). As a prestigious position, the statusof government official is awarded to the applicant who is able to succeed in a verycompetitive process which includes a rigorous examination. There are overwhelmingnumbers of applicants spending many years solely on preparing for the examination,known as Gosiin Korea. A special housing type, known as the Gosi-room, has been inplace for applicants to stay and study whole day. Universities usually organisetraining courses to help applicants to pass the examination. In more general terms,Confucianism is well reflected in the Korean aspiration to education. Korea is anexceptionally well educated country and this contributed to its rapid industrialisation(Amsden, 1989: p. 219).010, Australia

th a history of over 600 years. Its development trajectory, current status innges faced in socio-spatial dynamics present an excellent case in the studyPacific region. This profile outlines Seouls historical development, recentonditions (in terms of its territory, economy, land and housing market,cture development, social impact and culture), metropolitan planning,

2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.2 This allowed the Palace to have mountains at the back and to look at water infront (). That is, there was Bookak Mountain in the north of Kyongbok Palaceand Cheonggye stream flew in front of Kyongbok Palace (Ko, 2005).

3 The influential Confucian text the Rites of Zhou had the principle ancestor shrineleft, ancestral rites right (). Han Yang followed this rule ordered by the King(Ko, 2005).

4 The city wall was demolished by the Japanese in the period 19061910 (Son,1985).

5 For example, Han Yang was invaded by the Japanese in 1592 and the Chinese in1636 (Cumings, 1997: pp. 7678).

The tram (or street car) was brought to Seoul in 1899, running fromthe West Great Gate to the east area Cheongryangni via Chongno(Son, 2005a: p. 152).6 The first train operated in 1889 linking Seoulto Incheon (Korea National Railroad, 1999: pp. 4753). The SeoulPusan railway was also built in this period (Cumings, 1997: p. 126).Between 1910 and 1945 Korea was colonised by the Japanese. Inorder to control the Korean economy and benefit from its resourceextraction, the Japanese put a high priority on changing the Koreanland system (Chang, 1971), conducting land surveys, introducingthe modern property right system, as well as reorganising landtax under the Governor-General of Korea (Jung, 1995). The Japa-nese capital flew into government projects such as transportation,communication, electricity plants and land development in orderto make Korea a source of raw material supply and a market formanufactured products (Chang, 1971). They built residential areasoutside Han Yang and brought about urban expansion by establish-ing the Chosun Civil Area Planning Enactment in 1934. The con-centration of foreigners in the south of Cheonggye stream led tothe emergence of an economic centre there. The Japanese armywas located in Yongsan, south of the CBD. After Korea gained inde-pendence from Japan, the US army took over the military base inYongsan. This made Yongsan a unique area where many foreignerslived.7

A division into two countries the South and the North fol-lowed right after independence from Japan in 1945 and the subse-quent Korean War between 1950 and 1953 left Seoul in ruins.

During the war, 35,000 out of the 190,000 houses were totallyburnt and more than 20,000 houses were badly damaged (Son,2003a: p. 11). Bombing continued for many days in Seoul and se-vere battles were fought for control of the city. As South Koreaand North Korea occupied Seoul in rotation, the city was ruinedby fires and pillage (Son, 2003a: pp. 4187).

After the Korean War in 1953, Seoul was put on the track of ra-pid urbanisation as the capital of South Korea. Infrastructureinvestment on highways that connected Seoul with other cities,as well as the development of labour-intensive export-orientedlight manufacturing industry were the main forces driving the Kor-ean economy under its powerful military dictatorship. Right afterthe Korean War, the vital task was to protect South Korea fromcommunism and to help it escape from absolute poverty. In orderto build more factories, the Urban Planning Act was endorsed in1962, replacing the former Chosun Civil Area Planning Enactment.The Land Expropriating Act was endorsed in 1962, ensuring theavailability of ample land for infrastructure. Large scale concentra-tion of investment and jobs made Seoul a magnet for rural mi-grants and further economic activities. This caused severelyuneven development in Korea to the extent that the journalisticterm the Republic of Seoul instead of the Republic of Korea wascreated (Hill & Kim, 2000). As such, Seoul soon faced a number ofurban problems, such as shortage of land, high housing pricesand extensive property speculation.

Recent changes and contemporary conditions

Seoul had about 100,000200,000 residents in the Chosun Dy-nasty. Today, its population is about 10 million; Seoul is referredas one of the emerging world cities in the AsiaPacific region (Bea-verstock, Smith, & Taylor, 1999).

Territorial and Administrative organisation

Seoul has 10 million residents with an urban built-up area ofabout 605 km2; the population density is 16,840 persons/km2.Over one-fifth of the national total population lives in Seoul, anda half of the total population lives in the Capital Region.8 Seoul iscomposed of 25 districts (local government, Gu) and all areas inSeoul are urbanised (Fig. 2). An election has been held every4 years for the mayor, the governors of the districts, and cityassembly members since 1995 when the nomination system chan-ged into an election system. Table 1 reports some key statistics ofthe districts.

As a result of natural and policy constraints Seoul is a city withone of the highest population densities in the world. 237 km2 outof its total 605 km2 cannot be used for development because ofgeographical features such as rivers and mountains (Seoul Metro-politan Government, 2006: p. 166). The Han River passes throughthe middle of Seoul and many mountains extend across the city.A greenbelt, which was established in 1971 following the exampleof London, circumscribes Seoul to prohibiting urban sprawl andpreserving the natural environment (Fig. 3). The greenbelt has lim-ited the availability of land for its expansion (Jun & Hur, 2001).

The economy

The two immediate problems after the Korean War, politicalinstability and absolute poverty, were worsened by governmentcorruption. The year 1960 saw a great movement, known as theApril 19 Revolution, that protested against the corrupted RheeSeung Man administration (Cumings, 1997: p. 344). Despite the

Fig. 1. Location of main features in the old Seoul Han Yang. Note: The base mapSuseon jeondo was drawn by Kim Jeong Ho in 1840s.

6 The tram in Seoul was demolished in 1968 because the tram was too slow to meetthe increasing traffic volume and the operation was no longer profitable (Son, 2005a:pp. 151169).

7 The US Army base in Yongsan is planned to relocate to Pyeongtaek, outside Seoul,by 2015. The site will be redeveloped into a public park called Yongsan Park. 8 Seoul and its two neighbours Gyeonggi and Incheon form the Capital Region.

H.M. Kim, S.S. Han / Cities 29 (2012) 142154 143

national desire for democracy, Park Chung Hee exercised his mili-tary power and made himself the president in 1961.

President Park had an enormous influence on various aspects ofcontemporary Korean society, including urban planning. He putgreat effort into poverty alleviation, in the hope that this effortmight help him justify his Coup dtat. He took export as the beststrategy for economic growth. Light manufacturing of productssuch as shoes, clothes, and textile were adopted as the main eco-nomic sector because Korea had no capital, no technologies, andno resources except cheap labour in the 1960s. The Cheonggyestream area, Yeongdeungpo, Guro and Sungdongwere developed intotypical industrial areas. Cloth and textile industries were clusteredin the Cheonggye stream areas. Because the Dong Dae Moonmarket

and the Nam Dae Moon market were both close to the Cheonggyestream, they turned into well known textile and cloth markets.

In the 1970s, the Korean government put an emphasis on la-bour-intensive heavy manufacturing for export of chemicals, steel,industrial machinery and products from the shipbuilding sector(Shin & Timberlake, 2006). Owing to these efforts, the size ofKorean exports increased from 100 million dollars in 1964 to 1billion dollars in 1977. South Koreas rapid economic growth inthe 1970s was recognised worldwide, and South Korea was namedone of the Asian tigers (Turner & Kim, 2004). The Korean experi-ence was also called Miracle on the Han(Cumings, 1997: p. 309).

A distinctive approach in developing the Korean economy wasthat the Korean government subsidised conglomerates, known as

Fig. 2. Population distribution by district in Seoul, 2007. Note: CBD refers to the traditional business district. YBD stands for the Yeoido business district, and GBD stands forthe Gangnam business district. These three districts are the main urban centres in Seoul. Source: Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Table 1Statistics by districts (2007). Source: Ministry of Land, Transport and Marine Affairs and Kim et al. (2008).

District Area (km2) Population (persons) Population Density (persons/km2) Average appraisal housing price (thousand won)

Gangnam 39.54 560,958 14,187 603,216Gangdong 24.58 464,546 18,899 336,663Gangbuk 23.60 345,478 14,639 178,074Gangseo 41.42 560,424 13,530 208,951Gwanak 29.57 535,571 18,112 218,169Gwangjin 17.05 376,572 22,086 348,909Guro 20.11 420,542 20,912 188,551Geumcheon 13.01 249,108 19,147 179,289Nowon 35.42 616,753 17,413 165,231Dobong 20.70 375,975 18,163 165,311Dongdaemun 14.20 376,421 26,509 221,254Dongjak 16.35 405,967 24,830 301,467Mapo 23.87 392,650 16,450 298,539Seodaemun 17.61 348,575 19,794 210,430Seocho 47.00 405,969 8638 622,950Seongdong 16.85 333,535 19,794 302,894Seongbuk 24.57 469,973 19,128 209,062Songpa 33.88 623,876 18,414 485,901Yangcheon 17.40 503,650 28,945 350,082Yeongdeungpo 24.57 408,178 16,613 303,849Yongsan 21.87 235,832 10,783 530,141Eunpyeong 29.71 459,196 15,456 180,048Jongno 23.91 165,846 6936 224,000Jung 9.96 130,044 13,057 330,732Jungnang 18.50 427,071 23,085 166,378Total (Seoul) 605.25 10,192,710 16,840 279,042

144 H.M. Kim, S.S. Han / Cities 29 (2012) 142154

chaebol, for export-oriented industry (Fujita, 2000). A Chaebol is afamily-owned and managed group of companies that exercisesmonopolistic or oligopolistic control in product lines and indus-tries (Woo, 1991: p. 149). Examples include Samsung, LG, andHyundai. Most of these chaebols are now multinational corpora-tions that represent the Korean economy. The top ten chaebols ac-counted for almost 70% of GNP in the mid 1980s (Amsden, 1989: p.136). The investment in heavy and chemical industries augmentedthe power and influence of the chaebol (Shin & Timberlake, 2006).

Headquarters of the chaebols are all located in Seoul (Hill & Kim,2000). This allowed the chaebols to forge a close relationship withthe government (Kim, 1997; Shin & Timberlake, 2006); such a rela-tionship with political power created a favourable business envi-ronment for chaebols, by, for example, offering them low interestrates (Cumings, 1997: p. 315).9 The majority of heavy manufactur-ing was located along the south-east coast of the Korean peninsula,as a part of the coastal industrialisation strategy which consideredthe easy access to deep water ports as important to transport raw

materials and export products (Shin & Ciccantell, 2009). Other fac-tories and plants in Seoul expanded into the surrounding area dueto land scarcity and the high price of industrial property in the city(Shin & Timberlake, 2006).

In the 1980s higher labour costs and shortage of new technol-ogy in Korea pushed Korean firms to branch out to foreign marketssuch as Russia, China, and Vietnam (Kim & Choi, 2004). The SouthKorean government encouraged outward foreign direct investment(FDI) as it was viewed as an important means to earn income fromoverseas. The major participants, medium- and small-sized compa-nies, invested in diverse industries at overseas sites (Kim & Choi,2004). Outward flow of investment in searching for lower-wageworkers and new markets resulted in closures of plants in mostmedium-sized cities (Douglass, 2000).

The Korean economy fluctuated and was restructured in the lasttwo decades. According to the Statistics Korea, the number ofemployees in the manufacturing sector in Seoul accounted for28.4% of all employees, in 1993, but this share decreased to 7.2%in 2008. Service sectors grew in contrast to manufacturing. In par-ticular, producer services markedly increased from 20.5% in 1993to 32.6% in 2008.10

Fig. 3. The Capital Region: greenbelt and satellite development areas. Source: 2020 Seoul Urban Plan

9 The chaebol leaders began to be involved in politics in the 1990s. Several chaebolowners and managers have run for National Assembly seats and even for thepresident (Kim, 1997: pp. 199200). The founder of Hyundai, Mr. Chung Chu Yong,came forward as a candidate for the president in 1992; his son is now a member ofNational Assembly. In addition, the previous CEO of Hyundai construction corporation,Mr. Lee Myung-Bak, became the president in 2008.

10 The figures are derived by using the number of employees in Seoul in Sassen(2001, Appendix A).


Land and housing problem

Due to rapid urbanisation, housing supply in Seoul was unableto meet the demand. Seoul reacted by constructing more apart-ments (or high-rise condominium). Since the first large apartmentpark Mapo apartment was built in 1962, apartment buildingshave become a major housing type in Seoul (Son, 2005b: p. 278).According to census in 2005, apartments accounted for 54.2% of to-tal housing stock in Seoul. In addition, 76.5% of the houses underconstruction in 2006 were apartment buildings. High-rise apart-ments were found to be a suitable form of housing in Seoul, espe-cially in urban redevelopment projects. Ha (2010) observed that100% of the housing in the urban renewal areas in Seoul was inthe form of high-rise apartments.

In spite of the large number of high density high-rise apartmentunits, property prices soared (Fig. 4). Between 1986 and 2008,housing prices increased almost threefold in spite of Koreas expe-rience of the financial crisis in 1997. The extreme example was ob-served in 1969 when land price increased by 81% in just 1 year(Jung, 1995). Huge capital gains were pocketed by private landowners. In addition to the strong demand, government regulationon residential development limited the supply of housing. Further,speculation in old and new residential developments also contrib-uted to property price hikes.

The quality of apartments normally surpasses other housingtypes in Korea and the apartment is regarded as an expensivehousing type. As such, ownership of an apartment is often a life-time dream of poor and moderate income households. However,high housing prices have caused the affordability problem whichis still critical in Seoul today. Price income ratio (PIR) was 8.79 in2007 according to Korea Housing Finance Corporation (2007),which included all housing types in the calculation. If apartmentprice was calculated alone, the PIR was 12.9 in 2007 (Jang, Hur,Kim, & Kim, 2009).

In order to alleviate the housing shortage problem and to man-age housing prices, the national and local governments introduceddiverse policies. The Korean government developed new satellitetowns in Bundang, Ilsan, Sanbon, Pyongcheon, and Joongdong. Otherpolicies, such as price-control for new apartments and land useregulations in the Capital Region, were also introduced in orderto stabilise housing prices (Kim & Kim, 2000). Taxation was usedas an additional control measure. For instance, developers werecharged a development fee according to windfall. Those whohad more than certain amount of land were levied a special taxin 1990 but the Act was abrogated in 1998. In 2006, gross real es-tate tax was introduced for those household who had expensivehouses or any property valued at more than 600 million won,though this remained a debatable issue (Kim, Hur, & Jang, 2008).

These government interventions brought about changes of landuse such as leap-frog development (Jun & Hur, 2001; Kim & Kim,2000); at the same time, the taxation policy changed real estateprice distribution (Kim et al., 2008).

The Korean government has built public rental housing nation-wide. However, the quality of public rental housing is not as goodas that of the housing for sale because the public sector has put anemphasis on the latter in the last 30 years (Ha, 2007). In addition toits poor quality, a frequently mentioned problem is the location ofpublic rental housing. Because land is scarce and expensive nearthe employment centres, public rental apartments are found in re-mote sites far from jobs and services. Consequentially, the low-in-come tenants have to bear long distance commuting from home toemployment and services.

Metropolitan Seoul has introduced an inclusionary zoning pol-icy to new residential redevelopment projects and a long-term ren-tal housing programme known as Shift. Inclusionary zoning hasmade it mandatory for developers to include a certain portion(1720%) of the housing development as social housing (Ha,2010). This is one way to recoup capital gains from the residentialdevelopment for redistribution. Shift will provide a minimum of10-year rental housing with a possible extension up to 20 yearsbased on Koreas unique leasing system known as Cheonsei. UnderCheonsei, the tenant deposits a lump-sum to the landlord at thebeginning of the contract in lieu of monthly rent. The landlordinvests the deposit and keeps the return but refunds the entiredeposit to the tenant at the end of the lease (Kim, 1990: p. 373).The Seoul Metropolitan Government builds apartments and leasesthem under the Cheonsei arrangement at a lower price (about 80%of that charged for private apartments in the same area). As theShift programme is still in its initial stage, it remains a task forthe future to evaluate its contribution to solve the housing afford-ability problem in Seoul. In addition to public housing, a Cheonseiloan programme is being used. This programme lends to moderateand low-income tenants the lump-sum deposit of up to 6 years(Jang, 2007), with an interest rate lower than that charged byprivate banks. The programme also makes it possible for tenantsto borrow a larger amount for the lump-sum deposit in order torent in their preferred location (Jang, 2007).

Urbanisation and decentralisation policy

Seouls population increased from 1.6 million to 10.6 millionbetween 1955 and 1990 (Fig. 5). From 1990 to 2005, Seouls popu-lation was reduced by decentralisation efforts to slightly below 10million.

Largely as a result of ruralurban migration, Seouls populationkept on increasing until the early 1990s. Over-concentration of the

Fig. 4. Housing price index in Seoul. Source: Kookmin bank (www.kookminbank.co.kr).


population caused problems of poor services in cities and inequal-ity among regions. Public services such as hospitals, schools, roads,and parks were not able to meet the demand of the increasing pop-ulation. Uneven development among Korean cities and regionscaused social concerns as from the decline in economic activitiesin rural areas, as well as the ageing local populations as a resultof the outflow of youth from these regions. A decentralisation pol-icy was adopted to resolve the over-concentration problem. At thenational level, the Capital Region Readjustment Act (CRRA) was en-dorsed in 1982 to control growth. The main feature of CRRA was todisperse population-attracting facilities (Kim & Kim, 2000), e.g. bylimiting the establishment of new factories using a quota system,and by prohibiting new university establishment in the Capital Re-gion (Kim & Gallent, 1998). At the city level, decentralised urbandevelopment was promoted through the building of sub-centres.Yeoido, a 8.48 km2 island in the middle of the Han River, was devel-oped in 1968 (Son, 2003b: p. 37). Apartments, financial institu-tions, and broadcasting stations were built in Yeoido after that.Gangnam was developed in the 1970s as new residential and com-mercial areas with well-established infrastructure such as wideroads, subways, bus terminals, and highways. In addition, a goodeducation environment supported Gangnams development. As aresult, Gangnam became the most expensive residential area, themost dynamic business area, and the most active entertainmentarea (see Fig. 6).

One core CBD and two new sub-centres, Gangnam and Yeoido,serve as commercial centres and provide a large number of jobs(Fig. 7). About 50% of Seouls total employment in 2008 was foundin the above three areas (Statistics Korea, 2009).11 The CBD hasgrown with a number of historically significant landmarks, withpreservation considerations preventing the redevelopment ofmany tall buildings in the district. For instance, the headquartersof Hyundai Construction is next to Changduk Palace and UnhyeonPalace. This fourteen-storey building, built in 1986, cannot be rede-veloped into a taller building under current regulations (thoughHyundai Construction builds some of the tallest buildings else-where all over the world!). Because of these regulations, the speedof change in the CBD has been outpaced by the emerging centres Gangnam and Yeoido - as well as other sub-centres in Seoul, despitethe long historic advantages of the CBD in terms of its well-estab-lished infrastructure and business environment. Accordingly, ur-ban regeneration has recently become a main planning issue inSeoul.

Infrastructure

Seoul was motorised in the last 40 years, with the increase of aregistered car population from 27,000 in 1967 to 2.9 million in2008 (Son, 2003c: p. 19, Seoul Statistical Yearbook, 2009). The ra-pid increase in the number of private cars required a matchingroad network. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government,the total length of roads in Seoul was 8093 km in 2008. Elevatedroads extended 82 km and the length of underground roadwayswas 38 km. In addition, Seoul had 34 tunnels (Seoul StatisticalYearbook, 2009). The layout of the roads was shaped by Seoulsgeographical attributes such as rivers and streams (Fig. 8). Alongthe Han River there are two highways Gangbyenbukro and Olym-picdaero on both north and south sides. In addition, highwayssuch as Dongbu Gansun highway and Seobu Gansun highway extendalong the streams that flow into the Han River.

The subway has been in operation since 1974 and at present,there are nine lines and 270 stations in total, with a total lengthof 312 km (Sohn & Shim, 2010). The subway network is laid in sucha pattern that 64.4% of Seouls land area is within one kilometredistance to a subway station (Jang, 2008). Recently the SeoulMetropolitan Government integrated a bus system into the sub-way in order for passengers to have an easy inter-mode transfer.At the same time, a bus-only lane at the centre of the road has beendeveloped. These measures have been referred to as parts of thesuccessful transportation policies that boost public transportationusage in Seoul. In terms of airports, there was Gimpo airport nearSeoul, but its capacity fell behind the demand to support anincreasing international travel volume; in response, the Koreangovernment filled in the west sea between two islands and builtthe Incheon international airport. Starting operations in 2000, thelatter is about an hour away from Seoul (50 km). In order toconnect the international airport with Seoul and other areas, anew highway and a bridge were constructed at the same time. Anew high speed railway was opened in 2007 to further improveaccessibility of the airport.

The acquisition of land for road development and wideningused the approach of land readjustment (Tojiguhwaekjongni) asSeoul did not have enough money to compensate land owners(Son, 2003a: p. 122). Yeoido and Gangnam development alsoadopted this method. In the land readjustment project, the govern-ment appropriated land and prepared it with basic infrastructure.Then part of the serviced land was redistributed back to the landowners. The government kept part of the land for public use suchas roads and parks. The land owners gained in this process eventhough they lost net land area, because serviced land committed

Fig. 5. Population change in Seoul, 19552005. Source: Census, Statistics Korea (2006).

11 The three areas include six districts (gu): Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa, Jongno, Jung,and Yeongdeungpo.


higher value. In the 1960s and the 1970s, the land readjustmentproject reached its peak. From the 1980s, conversion of green fieldinto satellite towns was defined as the main land acquisition ap-proach in the Housing Site Development Promotion Act (HSDPA).By this approach, the government purchased land that was zoned

for green space. Land zoned as such promised a cheap price, eventhough the land was close to the urban areas. Following this, thegovernment rezoned the land for residential use and consequentlydeveloped apartment parks and/or satellite towns. Typical exam-ples of satellite towns include Bundang, Ilsan, Sanbon, Pyongcheon,

Fig. 6. Gangnam business district, Teheran Street (left) and residential areas (right). Source: The promotion centre of the Korea World Trade Center (taken from the Korea WorldTrade Center).

Fig. 7. Location of command-and-control functions: head quarters of multinational corporations and producer services. Source: Plotted by author. Data are from Fortune 500Global company in 2009 and Statistics Korea for producer services in 2008 (the number of employees).

Fig. 8. Road system changes in Seoul. Source: Kang (2001).


and Joongdong. Another method involved redeveloping old apart-ments that were built in the 1970s and the 1980s. The governmentdesignated a redevelopment zone, in which the density parameterwas modified to allow higher density redevelopment and thus alarger profit margin for developers.

Social impacts

Koreas rapid industrialisation was accomplished partly on thebasis of exploitation of labourers. In the 1960s and the 1970s,workers a large portion of whom were peasant migrants whohad come to cities for employment suffered from excessive work-ing hours and poor working conditions in textile factories and shoemanufacturing plants. Protests were organised to demand betterworking conditions; these were further framed into demands fordemocracy and human rights. These protests were met with gov-ernment suppression from the military dictators in control. Ex-treme events followed. One example was Chon Tae Ils self-immolation at the Dong Dae Moon market where the textile facto-ries were. He committed suicide on the street burning himselfwhile shouting Obey the labour standard act! (Cumings, 1997:pp. 367377). Despite the repression by the military leaders, theSouth Korean people continued to express their desire for a demo-cratic society and opposed the state riding over liberty. These pro-tests and struggle brought about major changes in the politicalsystem, including the general presidential election in 1987 (Cum-ings, 1997: pp. 386393).

Inequality in Seoul was not so serious in 1993 according to Hilland Kim (2000). However, as Korea experienced economic restruc-turing, inequality was on rise in the late 1990s. The increasing Ginicoefficient shows the polarisation trend in Korea (Fig. 9). Since theAsian Economic Crisis in 1997/1998, the middle class has beenshrinking whilst the sizes of the lower and high income classeshave been on an increase. This has been partly attributable to theglobalisation process that augmented both professionals andunskilful workers (Sassen, 2001, chap. 8; Shin & Timberlake,2006). Also, huge scale layoffs in corporations took place duringthe Asian Economic Crisis. Under pressure from the state and cap-ital to make sure that there was labour market flexibility, the gov-ernment deregulated the dismissal laws and legal constraints forhiring casual workers. As a result, recent times have seen anincreasing number of irregular, socially unstable workers with adecreasing average tenure period. The seniority-based wagescheme that prevailed in Korea began to change to a perfor-mance-based one following the economic crisis. As a result, thejob instability of long-tenured workers has significantly increased(Cho, 2004).

As South Korea is getting richer, the youth no longer get a job inthe so called 3D that is, the difficult, dirty, and dangerous industries, even though manufacturing remains a strong sector.The shortage of labour in manufacturing factories has createdopportunities for labour import from other Asian countries. Inthe Capital Region there were only 46,000 foreign labourers in1992, but the number reached 570,000 in 2009 (Statistics Korea).International marriage between Korean and foreigners is also onthe increase. These changes move Korea towards a multi-culturalsociety.

Rapid urbanisation in Seoul was made possible by attracting alarge number of migrants to the city, creating a constant struggleto provide sufficient housing. In the 1950s and the 1960s, these mi-grants illegally occupied empty land and created squatter settle-ments and slums. Ha (2007) estimated that slum and squattersettlements accounted for 2030% of the urban areas in Seoul inthe 1960s and the 1970s (Fig. 10). Housing redevelopment projectswere carried out to remove the substandard housing and replacethese by building more formal housing. However, the formal hous-ing was found too costly for the relocated tenants without a sub-sidy; as a result these tenants were forcibly evicted from theirhomes (Ha, 2004, 2007). Clearly, the regeneration projects weredesigned extract profit for developers and speculators rather thanto help the ordinary urban poor (Ha, 2007). Tenants forciblyevicted, often ended up in another squatter settlement in vacanthillsides or open space (Ha, 2007). In the sense, the recent AsianEconomic Crisis has created a new housing type to meet the needsof the abruptly unemployed. This new housing is very small in sizebut close to the business districts. Tenants pay a daily rent ratherthan being committed to a long-term lease (Ha, 2002).

Income inequality and housing varieties have brought about so-cial polarisation and segregation in Seoul. Past studies show thathomeowners possess a higher level of social capital than tenantsin the short-term public rental housing (Ha, 2010). In addition,homeowners prefer not to live close to public housing in the sameapartment park. Despite government efforts to develop socially-mixed housing in the apartment parks, it remains a major chal-lenge for residents to mutually accept each other.

Cultural development

Seoul has emerged a significant cultural centre among Asiansocieties. The Hallyu (Korean wave) fever well represents the statusof Seouls cultural development. Korean pop culture, embodied insuch facets as its film, pop music, and TV drama industries, hasbeen popular in Asian countries since the late 1990s. Thus cheobolsinvested in the media industry and Korea began to export dramas

Fig. 9. Gini coefficient and unemployment rate in Korea, 19902008. Source: Statistics Korea (19902009).


as one of its export strategies after the Asian Economic Crisis(Shim, 2008: pp. 1718). Some countries found that Koreancultural products were more affordable than those from othercountries and imported Korean media products (Huat & Iwabuchi,2008: p. 4). The export of Korean television programme rapidlyincreased from US$ 5.5 million in 1995 to 100 million in 2005(Shim, 2008: p. 27). Popular recipients were China, Hong Kong,Taiwan, and Vietnam (Shim, 2008: p. 25). In addition, there wasevidence that Hallyu attracted foreign tourists (Hirata, 2008; Kima,Agrusab, Leed, & Chon, 2007). The media development is shownphysically in Seouls urban landscape. For example, multiplextheatres were built in major shopping centres in the late 1990s,offering more comfortable viewing conditions (Shim, 2008: p. 21).The proposed Digital Media City project is based on the growingstrength of the cultural industry (see future development section).

Metropolitan planning

Urban planning system

The Korean planning system is strictly hierarchical. All sub-re-gions are planned and developed according to the higher level plans.The National Land Plan covers thewhole country and is hence at thetop level. If necessary though not compulsory, the BroadMetropoli-tan Plan can be established to coordinate development in two ormore adjacent cities. The Capital Region Plan was introduced asthe Broad Metropolitan Plan in 2007 to systematically consolidate

theCapital Region. Both theNational LandPlanand theBroadMetro-politan Plan are vision-oriented. City plans established at local levelsare more detailed and project-oriented (Fig. 11).

Another key document that has shaped the planning system inKorea is the National Land Plan and the Utilisation Act, endorsedin 2003. Applying the same set of standards to both urbanised andrural areas, the Act has removed the use of double standards andthe application of different planning laws in urban and rural areas.12

Two types of plan are defined by the National Land Plan and theUtilisation Act: basic urban plan and urban management plan. Abasic urban plan is a comprehensive plan that sets basic spatialstructures and the long-term development direction. It is reviewedevery 20 years. In practice, it is observed that the making of a basicurban plan is gradually moving away from comprehensive plan-ning to strategic planning. The Seoul Metropolitan Governmentpublished its 2020 Seoul Urban Plan in 2006. The plan was the firsttrial of the transition from comprehensive planning to strategicplan making. While the basic urban plan is long-term and vision-oriented, the urban management plan is aimed short-term tasksand is updated every 5 years. It includes the designation and/oralteration of the zoning plan and the installation of infrastructuresuch as the greenbelt, urban parks, development projects, and Dis-trict Unit Planning areas.

The District Unit Planning area was introduced in 2003 to sup-plement the rigid zoning system. Zoning has been an importantplanning tool in Seoul to manage urban land use. However, zoningis not only too rigid to keep pace with rapid urban changes, butalso very much limited in its ability to create a diverse and creativeurban landscape. Hence flexibility in land use and density has beenintroduced through the designation of District Unit Planning areasin the urban management plan. This flexibility applies to a range ofparameters/aspects, such as infrastructure layout, building height,the shapes of individual buildings, an environmental plan, a trans-port plan as well as land use and density.

Seouls basic urban plan is formulated following the guidance ofthe mayor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The mayorworks with officials of the Ministry of Land, Transport and MarineAffairs to formulate the plan which then is presented to the SeoulUrban Planning Committee for deliberation. The Committee re-views the formulation and alteration of the urban basic plan,including the District Unit Plan and the Urban Management Plan.Formulation of the basic urban plan is supported by the researchinstitutions such as the Seoul Development Institute. A compulsorypublic forum is held during the planning process to ensure thatpublic opinions are heard and incorporated in the planningprocess.

Planning issues in Seoul

The fourth National Land Plan was formulated in 2000 and re-vised in 2006 to incorporate the idea of capital relocation. Forthe purpose of balanced regional growth, former President RohMoo Hyun made the pledge to transfer the capital from Seoul toChungnam Province. He pushed the plan forward ambitiously in2003.13 Despite the judgement by the Constitutional Court of Korea

Fig. 10. Shanties along Cheonggye stream in 1967. Source: Seoul DevelopmentInstitute (2000), p. 236.

12 For example, the floor area ratio (FAR) was defined using a double standard beforethe endorsement of the National Land Plan and Utilisation Act. The semi-agriculturaland forest area in rural areas was allowed a much higher FAR, which was verygenerous as compared to that applied to the adjacent urban areas. Double planningstandards led to leap-frog development, which was accompanied by inadequatepublic facilities and infrastructures (Kim & Kim, 2000).13 The consideration of capital relocation to Chungnam is not new. The idea wasfound in the early stage the Chosun Dynasty for feng shui considerations. UnderPresident Park Chung Hee, capital relocation was discussed for national defence andalso for preventing population concentration in Seoul (Ko, 2005; Son, 2003ac: pp.177266).


in 2004 that the proposed capital relocation was unconstitutional,the Roh Moo Hyun administration decided that the majority of theadministrative offices and public corporations needed to relocateto Chungnam Province, even though the capital remained in Seoul.The new city was called Administration-centred Mixed City.14 3.6trillion won was spent on land acquisition.15 Capital relocationwas treated as a hot topic. It was debated especially on issues asso-ciated with economic efficiency and even regional development. Re-cently, on 29 June 2010, the national assembly decided to continuethe development of the Administration-Centred Mixed City project.

Seoul is envisioned a first-class city in the world in the fourthNational Land Plan. This first-class city status is to be reflectedby Seouls leading role in the North-East Asian economy and itsuniqueness in cultural, environmental and social-welfare develop-ment. The key directions assert that a polycentric urban structureis necessary, which can be built by creating international nodessuch as CBD, Yongsan, Gangnam, Yeoido and Sangam. These interna-tional nodes articulate Seoul to the global network of productionand markets by accommodating critical economic functions suchas command-and-control functions and producer services, as wellas by providing a cosmopolitan culture.

The Capital Region has become more functionally significant.Whilst the population growth in Seoul has stopped or decreasedsince 1990, growth has occurred in those remote areas 40 km fromSeoul that are inhabited by people who work in Seoul. In addition,a large amount of farm land has been converted for urban usewithin the Capital Region. Urban land use in the Capital Region in-creased 1.6 times from 673 km2 to 1092 km2 in the period 19802000. On the basis of these changes, the Korean government triedto integrate the Capital Region and develop it into an incorporatedglobal-city region. The Capital Region Plan16 was formulated in2007 and revised in 2009 to loosen the strict greenbelt policy. In thisplan it is envisioned that the Capital Region will be a globally com-petitive mega-region making full use of its advantages, such as itsexcellent infrastructure for knowledge-information generation,international connectedness, key location in linking the South andNorth Koreas, and concentration of command-and-control functions.

The Capital Region Readjustment Plan (CRRP) and the associ-ated Capital Region Readjustment Plan Act (CRRPA) were both en-dorsed in 1982. CRRP is more regulative than a long-term visionplan, whilst CRRPA restricts concentrated development in the Cap-ital Region for the purpose of a nation-wide even development.This plan is based on a zoning system that divides the Capital Re-gion into three regions: the over-concentration control region, thegrowth management region, and the nature preservation region.According to the CRRPA, no new facilities that could lead to popu-lation growth in the Capital Region, such as factories, public officebuildings, and universities, are allowed to locate in the Capital Re-gion. CRRPA also introduced over-concentration charges and a fac-tory-quota system that limits the new establishments and theextension of factories in the over-concentrated areas. This is re-garded as a barrier to the development of Seoul because of itsinflexibility in introducing new functions (Kim & Kim, 2000).

As a basic urban plan, the 2020 Seoul Urban Plan has five objec-tives: to develop Seoul into a world city, a cultural city, an eco city,a welfare city, and the capital city in a united Korea in the future.Four main urban problems in Seoul are recognised in this planningdocument. First, the rapid growth has caused urban problems suchas pollution, poor landscape, traffic congestion and uneven devel-opment. Second, the lack of identity is another problem as the de-sire for economic growth has overwhelmed cultural development.Third, consideration for the disadvantaged is lacking, and publicparticipation in decision making is absent. Finally, poor competi-tiveness is acknowledged as a problem at the global level. As such,the five planned objectives provide solutions to the four problems.

Seouls goal of being more competitive faces great challenges inimplementation because the control measures proposed in theCRRP reject the provision of additional space for such a develop-ment. Even though Seoul plays a pivotal role in Korean economicdevelopment, the CRRP prohibits further growth of global cityfunctions such as command-and-control and producer services inthe city. For example, prestigious universities and hospitals pursu-ing a profit in the world cannot establish their branches in theCapital Region. Indeed, balanced development over the wholecountry is a dominant value, thus any further development inSeoul is in contradiction with the goal of regional equity. Thisfurther explains the difficulty in deregulating the land use regula-tion in the Capital Region. Even in the Free Economic Zone of theCapital Region, the process of acquiring a development permit isso complicated that inward foreign investment would not beeffective (DongA Business Review and Monitor group, 2010).

There has been criticism about the rigidity of the planning sys-tem in Korea, in which the Korean government intervenes heavily.

Fig. 11. Planning hierarchy in Korea.

14 Now it is called Sejong new city.15 US $1 was 929.2 won in 2007 on average. Thus, 3.6 trillion won wasapproximately 3.9 billion US dollars.16 The planning was collaboratively established by the Ministry of Land, Transportand Marine Affairs, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Incheon metropolitangovernment and the Kyonggi provincial government. But the practical planningprocess had been carried out by the research institutions - the Korea ResearchInstitute For Human Settlements, Seoul Development Institute, Gyeonggi ResearchInstitute, and Incheon Development Institute.


For example, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Marine Affairsprovides the detailed guideline for the basic urban plan. The guide-line defines how to survey and predict the future population, andspecifies what should be included in sectoral activities. Thus thebasic urban plan could easily turn into a comprehensive planrather than a strategic plan. Despite the fact that the basic urbanplan is supposed to be a long-term plan, it happens that thelong-term plan has changed to cater for the needs of urban devel-opment projects in specific areas (Choi et al., 2009). The Capital Re-gion Plan and the Capital Region Readjustment Plan are otherexamples to show the heavy hand of government intervention.The Korean government formulates these plans and the SeoulMetropolitan Government has to follow them up.

The distribution of activities on a regional scale has led to longdistance commuting. There is an increasing number of commutersfrom both outside and inside Seoul as a result of job concentrationin certain business districts. Thus the 2020 Seoul Urban Plan hasset up the goal to develop a polycentric mega-city. Since exces-sive development around Seoul and high car dependency are caus-ing traffic congestion and pollution, the plan puts a focus on thefringe areas to provide new jobs and improve the quality of life.In addition, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is being dis-cussed. Combined with a distributed compact urban form, TOD isexpected to reduce the travelling time in Seoul (Sohn & Shim,2010; Sung & Oh, 2010). These efforts will hopefully reduce thedependency on the existing urban centres in Seoul.

On a larger scale, Seoul is envisioned to host a number of func-tions that promote the interaction between South Korea and NorthKorea, as well as with other Asian cities. One strategy is tostrengthen the role of Incheon international airport so that it has

a stronger link with major urban centres both domestically andinternationally. Another strategy is to develop Yongsan and Sangamas strategic places for globalisation. Sangam Digital Media Centre isunder construction in the west of Yeoido. Yongsan is being devel-oped as a new office area. For future interaction with North Korea,the strategic plan is to build logistic/interaction parks in the ex-pected South-North development corridor, such as Sangam andCheongryangni/Wangsimni.

Future development

Seouls future development is characterised by its firm progressin the direction of becoming a first-class city in the world, but alsoby the uncertainties it faces related to its urban functions and landuse. The first-class city efforts are reflected in its urban regenera-tion programme and new projects that host global city functions.The restoration of Cheonggye stream in 2005 is an excellent in-stance of CBD regeneration (Fig. 12). This project demolished themulti-dimensional road that covered the Cheonggye stream andcreated a new streetscape incorporating river side features withmodern office and commercial buildings.

Seouls vision to develop into a more competitive city in North-East Asia leads to several new projects. The Sangam Digital MediaCity (DMC) development aims at building Seoul into a gateway cityto East Asia and beyond. The DMC utilises the advanced Korean ITsector and tries to integrate urban development with digital tech-nologies (Fig. 13). The DMC project area is 569,925 m2 and the con-struction will be completed by 2015 (Digital Media City website,http://dmc.seoul.go.kr). Yongsan international office park develop-

Fig. 12. Cheonggye stream: before and after restoration. Source: Doosan Corporation (http://www.encyber.com/cheonggye/41_new.html).

Fig. 13. Artists impression of Sangam Digital Media Centre. Source: Digital Media City website (http://dmc.seoul.go.kr).


ment is another initiative to boost Seouls global function (Fig. 14).Yongsan has the potential to develop because it is located in themiddle of three main business districts along the Han River, andit is currently occupied by a large number of old and low-risebuildings. The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to build com-mercial office skyscrapers, hotels, and residences, totalling566,000 m2, by the waterfront of the Han River in this area (SeoulMetropolitan Government website17). By introducing some high le-vel activities in the northern part of the Han River, the Seoul Metro-politan Government intends to even out the developments betweenthe north and the south of the Han River.

The Administration-centred Mixed City poses uncertainties toSeoul because the major functions that will be relocated to Chung-nam Province are from Seoul. They could be administrative institu-tions, head quarters of big companies or educational institutionscurrently in Seoul. Land use in the greenbelt presents anotheruncertainty. The Korean government has recently announced aplan for large residential developments in the greenbelt area in or-der to provide more decent apartments. At the time of writing thisprofile, the plan is still being debated.

On a broad regional level, the Gyeonggi government is trying tointroduce Great Train eXpress (GTX) across the Capital Region. Theaverage train speed is expected over 100 km/h and the expresstrain extends 145.5 km with 15 stations at the main nodes so thatthe moving time within the Capital Region may be drasticallyshortened. The GTX is still in its planning stage, with an expecta-tion to operate by 2016 (www.gtx.go.kr). In addition to the trans-port development, there have been large development projects inIncheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ). The new Songdo city is underconstruction in IFEZ. It is the largest private development projectin world history (Kim, 2010). Though it is too early to evaluatethe investment success in the IFEZ, it is certain that developmentsin the Capital Region consolidate the regions status as a global-cityregion.

Last but not least, the demographic changes may deeply impactfuture urban development in Seoul. One of the major concerns isvery low birth rate and an ageing population. The fertility rate inKorea was 1.19 in 2009, which was the lowest among the OECDcountries. The number of those who are older than 65 years is ona rapid increase. In 1991 the portion of the elderly accounted for3.62% of the total population; in 2003 it reached 6.36% (Seoul

Metropolitan Government, 2006: p. 327). It seems that this trendwill continue in the future.

Acknowledgements

Wewish to thank Dr. Kyoung-Seok Jang and Professor Jong HwaPark for reading an early version of this profile, the two anonymousreferees for their constructive comments, Irene Canmon Han forher proofreading and editing, and the University of Melbourneand the Australian Research Council (ARC2009-DP1094801) forpartial funding. The authors are responsible for any remaining er-ror in this profile.

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Additional resources

Digital Media City. .Doosan Corporation. .Great Train eXpress (GTX). .Kookmin bank. .Seoul Metropolitan Government. .


SeoulHistorical developmentRecent changes and contemporary conditionsLand and housing problemUrbanisation and decentralisation policyCultural development

Metropolitan planningUrban planning systemPlanning issues in Seoul

Future developmentAcknowledgementsReferences

Kim_Han_2012_Seoul.pdf

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