Cities 29 (2012) 142–154

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Cities journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cities

City profile

Seoul
Hyung Min Kim, Sun Sheng Han ⇑
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 13 August 2010
Received in revised form 25 November 2010
Accepted 12 February 2011
Available online 13 July 2011
Keywords:
Urban history
Economic development
Housing
Planning policies
Metropolitan governance

a b s t r a c t
Seoul is a major global city with a history of over 600 years. Its development trajectory, current status in the world economy, and challenges faced in socio-spatial dynamics present an excellent case in the study of cities, especially of the Asia–Pacific region. This profile outlines Seoul’s historical development, recent changes and contemporary conditions (in terms of its territory, economy, land and housing market, urbanisation policy, infrastructure development, social impact and culture), metropolitan planning, and future development.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Historical development
A significant year in Seoul’s history is 1394 during which Seoul, by the name of Han Yang, was chosen as the new capital of the Chosun (or
Joseon) Dynasty (Kim, 2009: p. 194). The first 10 years of Seoul as a capital city were characterised by uncertainty about its status as the capital, due to competition between Han Yang and another candidate capital site (the ancient capital city Gaegyeong). In 1405, Han
Yang had its capital status affirmed (Ko, 2005). This resulted in a rapid population increase. In the period 1409–1428, the number of households in Han Yang increased from 11,056 to 18,522 (Ko, 2005).
The current urban structure of Seoul was shaped by Han Yang’s feng shui (literally wind and water) characteristics (Kim, 2009; Ko,
2005). Han Yang was surrounded by four inner mountains and four outer mountains with the Cheonggye stream flowing through the middle. Functionally, the Han River offered good accessibility to the rural areas, so that the ruler could easily collect taxes. In addition, Confucian principles,1 especially those relating to the
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 3 8344 7055; fax: +61 3 8344 5532.
E-mail addresses: hyukim@unimelb.edu.au (H.M. Kim), sshan@unimelb.edu.au
(S.S. Han).
1
The legacy of Confucian culture remains obvious in contemporary Korean society.
For instance, Confucianism is behind the system of government officials’ recruitment in modern Korea (Cumings, 1997: pp. 300–301). As a prestigious position, the status of government official is awarded to the applicant who is able to succeed in a very competitive process which includes a rigorous examination. There are overwhelming numbers of applicants spending many years solely on preparing for the examination, known as ‘Gosi’in Korea. A special housing type, known as the Gosi-room, has been in place for applicants to stay and study whole day. Universities usually organise training courses to help applicants to pass the examination. In more general terms,
Confucianism is well reflected in the Korean aspiration to education. Korea is an exceptionally well educated country and this contributed to its rapid industrialisation
(Amsden, 1989: p. 219).
0264-2751/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cities.2011.02.003 structure of cities, were adopted as fundamental to the Chosun
Dynasty (Kim, 2009). Thus, in line with feng shui and Confucian principles, the Kyongbok Palace was located in the middle of the city2; the ancestor shrine Chongmyo in the east of the Palace, and the Dynasty Sajic in the west3 (Ko, 2005). The city wall was built along the four inner mountains (Fig. 1). At the corner of the city wall,4 there were four great gates including Nam Dae Moon (the
South Great Gate) and Dong Dae Moon (the East Great Gate). These gates are national treasures today. The Sejongno – called Eukjogeory in Chosun – was the widest road in Han Yang connecting the
Kyongbok Palace to Chongno in Chosun. Chongno, the main business axis in Han Yang, played a key role in linking business and administrative functions. The Chongno started at Sejongno and ended at Dong
Dae Moon. The area inside the city wall became the Central Business
District (CBD) and a political centre of modern Seoul. The Office of the President or Cheongwadae (the Blue House) is behind the
Kyongbok Palace and government offices are in front of the Palace.
Han Yang was repeatedly damaged in wars,5 but it was restored and developed as a centre of economy and trade. By the end of the
19th century, modern service facilities and infrastructure were introduced to Seoul. For example, the first western hospital and medical school were founded in 1885 (Cumings, 1997: p. 126).
2
This allowed the Palace to have mountains at the back and to look at water in front (背山臨水). That is, there was Bookak Mountain in the north of Kyongbok Palace and Cheonggye stream flew in front of Kyongbok Palace (Ko, 2005).
3
The influential Confucian text the Rites of Zhou had the principle ‘ancestor shrine left, ancestral rites right (左祖右社)’. Han Yang followed this rule ordered by the King
(Ko, 2005).
4
The city wall was demolished by the Japanese in the period 1906–1910 (Son,
1985).
5
For example, Han Yang was invaded by the Japanese in 1592 and the Chinese in
1636 (Cumings, 1997: pp. 76–78).

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143

During the war, 35,000 out of the 190,000 houses were totally burnt and more than 20,000 houses were badly damaged (Son,
2003a: p. 11). Bombing continued for many days in Seoul and severe battles were fought for control of the city. As South Korea and North Korea occupied Seoul in rotation, the city was ruined by fires and pillage (Son, 2003a: pp. 41–87).
After the Korean War in 1953, Seoul was put on the track of rapid urbanisation as the capital of South Korea. Infrastructure investment on highways that connected Seoul with other cities, as well as the development of labour-intensive export-oriented light manufacturing industry were the main forces driving the Korean economy under its powerful military dictatorship. Right after the Korean War, the vital task was to protect South Korea from communism and to help it escape from absolute poverty. In order to build more factories, the ‘Urban Planning Act’ was endorsed in
1962, replacing the former ‘Chosun Civil Area Planning Enactment’.
The ‘Land Expropriating Act’ was endorsed in 1962, ensuring the availability of ample land for infrastructure. Large scale concentration of investment and jobs made Seoul a magnet for rural migrants and further economic activities. This caused severely uneven development in Korea to the extent that the journalistic term ‘the Republic of Seoul’ instead of the Republic of Korea was created (Hill & Kim, 2000). As such, Seoul soon faced a number of urban problems, such as shortage of land, high housing prices and extensive property speculation.
Recent changes and contemporary conditions

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

The tram (or street car) was brought to Seoul in 1899, running from the West Great Gate to the east area Cheongryangni via Chongno
(Son, 2005a: p. 152).6 The first train operated in 1889 linking Seoul to Incheon (Korea National Railroad, 1999: pp. 47–53). The Seoul–
Pusan railway was also built in this period (Cumings, 1997: p. 126).
Between 1910 and 1945 Korea was colonised by the Japanese. In order to control the Korean economy and benefit from its resource extraction, the Japanese put a high priority on changing the Korean land system (Chang, 1971), conducting land surveys, introducing the modern property right system, as well as reorganising land tax under the Governor-General of Korea (Jung, 1995). The Japanese capital flew into government projects such as transportation, communication, electricity plants and land development in order to make Korea a source of raw material supply and a market for manufactured products (Chang, 1971). They built residential areas outside Han Yang and brought about urban expansion by establishing the ‘Chosun Civil Area Planning Enactment’ in 1934. The concentration of foreigners in the south of Cheonggye stream led to the emergence of an economic centre there. The Japanese army was located in Yongsan, south of the CBD. After Korea gained independence from Japan, the US army took over the military base in
Yongsan. This made Yongsan a unique area where many foreigners lived.7 A division into two countries – the South and the North – followed right after independence from Japan in 1945 and the subsequent Korean War between 1950 and 1953 left Seoul in ruins.

6
The tram in Seoul was demolished in 1968 because the tram was too slow to meet the increasing traffic volume and the operation was no longer profitable (Son, 2005a: pp. 151–169).
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.

Seoul had about 100,000–200,000 residents in the Chosun Dynasty. Today, its population is about 10 million; Seoul is referred as one of the emerging world cities in the Asia–Pacific region (Beaverstock, Smith, & Taylor, 1999).
Territorial and Administrative organisation
Seoul has 10 million residents with an urban built-up area of about 605 km2; the population density is 16,840 persons/km2.
Over one-fifth of the national total population lives in Seoul, and a half of the total population lives in the Capital Region.8 Seoul is composed of 25 districts (local government, Gu) and all areas in
Seoul are urbanised (Fig. 2). An election has been held every
4 years for the mayor, the governors of the districts, and city assembly members since 1995 when the nomination system changed into an election system. Table 1 reports some key statistics of the districts.
As a result of natural and policy constraints Seoul is a city with one of the highest population densities in the world. 237 km2 out of its total 605 km2 cannot be used for development because of geographical features such as rivers and mountains (Seoul Metropolitan Government, 2006: p. 166). The Han River passes through the middle of Seoul and many mountains extend across the city.
A greenbelt, which was established in 1971 following the example of London, circumscribes Seoul to prohibiting urban sprawl and preserving the natural environment (Fig. 3). The greenbelt has limited the availability of land for its expansion (Jun & Hur, 2001).
The economy
The two immediate problems after the Korean War, political instability and absolute poverty, were worsened by government corruption. The year 1960 saw a great movement, known as the
April 19 Revolution, that protested against the corrupted Rhee
Seung Man administration (Cumings, 1997: p. 344). Despite the
8

Seoul and its two neighbours – Gyeonggi and Incheon – form the Capital Region.

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H.M. Kim, S.S. Han / Cities 29 (2012) 142–154

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 for the Gangnam business district. These three districts are the main urban centres in Seoul. Source: Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Table 1
Statistics 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
Gangdong
Gangbuk
Gangseo
Gwanak
Gwangjin
Guro
Geumcheon
Nowon
Dobong
Dongdaemun
Dongjak
Mapo
Seodaemun
Seocho
Seongdong
Seongbuk
Songpa
Yangcheon
Yeongdeungpo
Yongsan
Eunpyeong
Jongno
Jung
Jungnang
Total (Seoul)

39.54
24.58
23.60
41.42
29.57
17.05
20.11
13.01
35.42
20.70
14.20
16.35
23.87
17.61
47.00
16.85
24.57
33.88
17.40
24.57
21.87
29.71
23.91
9.96
18.50
605.25

560,958
464,546
345,478
560,424
535,571
376,572
420,542
249,108
616,753
375,975
376,421
405,967
392,650
348,575
405,969
333,535
469,973
623,876
503,650
408,178
235,832
459,196
165,846
130,044
427,071
10,192,710

14,187
18,899
14,639
13,530
18,112
22,086
20,912
19,147
17,413
18,163
26,509
24,830
16,450
19,794
8638
19,794
19,128
18,414
28,945
16,613
10,783
15,456
6936
13,057
23,085
16,840

603,216
336,663
178,074
208,951
218,169
348,909
188,551
179,289
165,231
165,311
221,254
301,467
298,539
210,430
622,950
302,894
209,062
485,901
350,082
303,849
530,141
180,048
224,000
330,732
166,378
279,042

national desire for democracy, Park Chung Hee exercised his military power and made himself the president in 1961.
President Park had an enormous influence on various aspects of contemporary Korean society, including urban planning. He put great effort into poverty alleviation, in the hope that this effort might help him justify his Coup d’état. He took export as the best strategy for economic growth. Light manufacturing of products such as shoes, clothes, and textile were adopted as the main economic sector because Korea had no capital, no technologies, and no resources except cheap labour in the 1960s. The Cheonggye stream area, Yeongdeungpo, Guro and Sungdong were developed into typical industrial areas. Cloth and textile industries were clustered in the Cheonggye stream areas. Because the Dong Dae Moon market

and the Nam Dae Moon market were both close to the Cheonggye stream, they turned into well known textile and cloth markets.
In the 1970s, the Korean government put an emphasis on labour-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 of
Korean exports increased from 100 million dollars in 1964 to 1 billion dollars in 1977. South Korea’s rapid economic growth in the 1970s was recognised worldwide, and South Korea was named one of the ‘Asian tigers’ (Turner & Kim, 2004). The Korean experience was also called ‘Miracle on the Han’(Cumings, 1997: p. 309).
A distinctive approach in developing the Korean economy was that the Korean government subsidised conglomerates, known as

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145

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

chaebol, for export-oriented industry (Fujita, 2000). A Chaebol is ‘‘a family-owned and managed group of companies that exercises monopolistic or oligopolistic control in product lines and industries” (Woo, 1991: p. 149). Examples include Samsung, LG, and
Hyundai. Most of these chaebols are now multinational corporations that represent the Korean economy. The top ten chaebols accounted for almost 70% of GNP in the mid 1980s (Amsden, 1989: p.
136). The investment in heavy and chemical industries augmented the 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 with the government (Kim, 1997; Shin & Timberlake, 2006); such a relationship with political power created a favourable business environment for chaebols, by, for example, offering them low interest rates (Cumings, 1997: p. 315).9 The majority of heavy manufacturing was located along the south-east coast of the Korean peninsula, as a part of the coastal industrialisation strategy which considered the easy access to deep water ports as important to transport raw
9
The chaebol leaders began to be involved in politics in the 1990s. Several chaebol owners and managers have run for National Assembly seats and even for the president (Kim, 1997: pp. 199–200). The founder of Hyundai, Mr. Chung Chu Yong, came forward as a candidate for the president in 1992; his son is now a member of
National Assembly. In addition, the previous CEO of Hyundai construction corporation,
Mr. Lee Myung-Bak, became the president in 2008.

materials and export products (Shin & Ciccantell, 2009). Other factories and plants in Seoul expanded into the surrounding area due to 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 technology in Korea pushed Korean firms to branch out to foreign markets such as Russia, China, and Vietnam (Kim & Choi, 2004). The South
Korean government encouraged outward foreign direct investment
(FDI) as it was viewed as an important means to earn income from overseas. The major participants, medium- and small-sized companies, invested in diverse industries at overseas sites (Kim & Choi,
2004). Outward flow of investment in searching for lower-wage workers and new markets resulted in closures of plants in most medium-sized cities (Douglass, 2000).
The Korean economy fluctuated and was restructured in the last two decades. According to the Statistics Korea, the number of employees in the manufacturing sector in Seoul accounted for
28.4% of all employees, in 1993, but this share decreased to 7.2% in 2008. Service sectors grew in contrast to manufacturing. In particular, producer services markedly increased from 20.5% in 1993 to 32.6% in 2008.10
10
The figures are derived by using the number of employees in Seoul in Sassen
(2001, Appendix A).

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Land and housing problem
Due to rapid urbanisation, housing supply in Seoul was unable to meet the demand. Seoul reacted by constructing more apartments (or high-rise condominium). Since the first large apartment park – Mapo apartment – was built in 1962, apartment buildings have become a major housing type in Seoul (Son, 2005b: p. 278).
According to census in 2005, apartments accounted for 54.2% of total housing stock in Seoul. In addition, 76.5% of the houses under construction in 2006 were apartment buildings. High-rise apartments were found to be a suitable form of housing in Seoul, especially in urban redevelopment projects. Ha (2010) observed that
100% of the housing in the urban renewal areas in Seoul was in the form of high-rise apartments.
In spite of the large number of high density high-rise apartment units, property prices soared (Fig. 4). Between 1986 and 2008, housing prices increased almost threefold in spite of Korea’s experience of the financial crisis in 1997. The extreme example was observed in 1969 when land price increased by 81% in just 1 year
(Jung, 1995). Huge capital gains were pocketed by private land owners. In addition to the strong demand, government regulation on residential development limited the supply of housing. Further, speculation in old and new residential developments also contributed to property price hikes.
The quality of apartments normally surpasses other housing types in Korea and the apartment is regarded as an expensive housing type. As such, ownership of an apartment is often a lifetime dream of poor and moderate income households. However, high housing prices have caused the affordability problem which is still critical in Seoul today. Price income ratio (PIR) was 8.79 in
2007 according to Korea Housing Finance Corporation (2007), which included all housing types in the calculation. If apartment price 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 manage housing prices, the national and local governments introduced diverse policies. The Korean government developed new satellite towns in Bundang, Ilsan, Sanbon, Pyongcheon, and Joongdong. Other policies, such as price-control for new apartments and land use regulations in the Capital Region, were also introduced in order to stabilise housing prices (Kim & Kim, 2000). Taxation was used as an additional control measure. For instance, developers were charged a ‘development fee’ according to windfall. Those who had more than certain amount of land were levied a special tax in 1990 but the Act was abrogated in 1998. In 2006, gross real estate tax was introduced for those household who had expensive houses 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 land use such as leap-frog development (Jun & Hur, 2001; Kim & Kim,
2000); at the same time, the taxation policy changed real estate price distribution (Kim et al., 2008).
The Korean government has built public rental housing nationwide. However, the quality of public rental housing is not as good as that of the housing for sale because the public sector has put an emphasis on the latter in the last 30 years (Ha, 2007). In addition to its poor quality, a frequently mentioned problem is the location of public rental housing. Because land is scarce and expensive near the employment centres, public rental apartments are found in remote sites far from jobs and services. Consequentially, the low-income tenants have to bear long distance commuting from home to employment and services.
Metropolitan Seoul has introduced an inclusionary zoning policy to new residential redevelopment projects and a long-term rental housing programme known as Shift. Inclusionary zoning has made it mandatory for developers to include a certain portion
(17–20%) of the housing development as social housing (Ha,
2010). This is one way to recoup capital gains from the residential development for redistribution. Shift will provide a minimum of
10-year rental housing with a possible extension up to 20 years based on Korea’s unique leasing system known as Cheonsei. ‘‘Under
Cheonsei, the tenant deposits a lump-sum to the landlord at the beginning of the contract in lieu of monthly rent. The landlord invests the deposit and keeps the return but refunds the entire deposit to the tenant at the end of the lease” (Kim, 1990: p. 373).
The Seoul Metropolitan Government builds apartments and leases them under the Cheonsei arrangement at a lower price (about 80% of that charged for private apartments in the same area). As the
Shift programme is still in its initial stage, it remains a task for the future to evaluate its contribution to solve the housing affordability problem in Seoul. In addition to public housing, a Cheonsei loan programme is being used. This programme lends to moderate and low-income tenants the lump-sum deposit of up to 6 years
(Jang, 2007), with an interest rate lower than that charged by private banks. The programme also makes it possible for tenants to borrow a larger amount for the lump-sum deposit in order to rent in their preferred location (Jang, 2007).
Urbanisation and decentralisation policy
Seoul’s population increased from 1.6 million to 10.6 million between 1955 and 1990 (Fig. 5). From 1990 to 2005, Seoul’s population was reduced by decentralisation efforts to slightly below 10 million. Largely as a result of rural–urban migration, Seoul’s population kept on increasing until the early 1990s. Over-concentration of the

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

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147

Fig. 5. Population change in Seoul, 1955–2005. Source: Census, Statistics Korea (2006).

population caused problems of poor services in cities and inequality among regions. Public services such as hospitals, schools, roads, and parks were not able to meet the demand of the increasing population. Uneven development among Korean cities and regions caused social concerns as from the decline in economic activities in rural areas, as well as the ageing local populations as a result of the outflow of youth from these regions. A decentralisation policy was adopted to resolve the over-concentration problem. At the national level, the Capital Region Readjustment Act (CRRA) was endorsed in 1982 to control growth. The main feature of CRRA was to disperse population-attracting facilities (Kim & Kim, 2000), e.g. by limiting the establishment of new factories using a quota system, and by prohibiting new university establishment in the Capital Region (Kim & Gallent, 1998). At the city level, decentralised urban development was promoted through the building of sub-centres.
Yeoido, a 8.48 km2 island in the middle of the Han River, was developed in 1968 (Son, 2003b: p. 37). Apartments, financial institutions, and broadcasting stations were built in Yeoido after that.
Gangnam was developed in the 1970s as new residential and commercial areas with well-established infrastructure such as wide roads, subways, bus terminals, and highways. In addition, a good education environment supported Gangnam’s development. As a result, Gangnam became the most expensive residential area, the most dynamic business area, and the most active entertainment area (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 Seoul’s total employment in 2008 was found in the above three areas (Statistics Korea, 2009).11 The CBD has grown with a number of historically significant landmarks, with preservation considerations preventing the redevelopment of many tall buildings in the district. For instance, the headquarters of Hyundai Construction is next to Changduk Palace and Unhyeon
Palace. This fourteen-storey building, built in 1986, cannot be redeveloped into a taller building under current regulations (though
Hyundai Construction builds some of the tallest buildings elsewhere all over the world!). Because of these regulations, the speed of change in the CBD has been outpaced by the emerging centres –
Gangnam and Yeoido - as well as other sub-centres in Seoul, despite the long historic advantages of the CBD in terms of its well-established infrastructure and business environment. Accordingly, urban regeneration has recently become a main planning issue in
Seoul.
11
The three areas include six districts (gu): Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa, Jongno, Jung, and Yeongdeungpo.

Infrastructure
Seoul was motorised in the last 40 years, with the increase of a registered car population from 27,000 in 1967 to 2.9 million in
2008 (Son, 2003c: p. 19, Seoul Statistical Yearbook, 2009). The rapid increase in the number of private cars required a matching road network. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the total length of roads in Seoul was 8093 km in 2008. Elevated roads extended 82 km and the length of underground roadways was 38 km. In addition, Seoul had 34 tunnels (Seoul Statistical
Yearbook, 2009). The layout of the roads was shaped by Seoul’s geographical attributes such as rivers and streams (Fig. 8). Along the Han River there are two highways – Gangbyenbukro and Olympicdaero – on both north and south sides. In addition, highways such as Dongbu Gansun highway and Seobu Gansun highway extend along 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 length of 312 km (Sohn & Shim, 2010). The subway network is laid in such a pattern that 64.4% of Seoul’s land area is within one kilometre distance to a subway station (Jang, 2008). Recently the Seoul
Metropolitan Government integrated a bus system into the subway 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 been developed. These measures have been referred to as parts of the successful transportation policies that boost public transportation usage in Seoul. In terms of airports, there was Gimpo airport near
Seoul, but its capacity fell behind the demand to support an increasing international travel volume; in response, the Korean government filled in the west sea between two islands and built the Incheon international airport. Starting operations in 2000, the latter is about an hour away from Seoul (50 km). In order to connect the international airport with Seoul and other areas, a new highway and a bridge were constructed at the same time. A new high speed railway was opened in 2007 to further improve accessibility of the airport.
The acquisition of land for road development and widening used the approach of land readjustment (Tojiguhwaekjongni) as
Seoul did not have enough money to compensate land owners
(Son, 2003a: p. 122). Yeoido and Gangnam development also adopted this method. In the land readjustment project, the government appropriated land and prepared it with basic infrastructure.
Then part of the serviced land was redistributed back to the land owners. The government kept part of the land for public use such as roads and parks. The land owners gained in this process even though they lost net land area, because serviced land committed

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H.M. Kim, S.S. Han / Cities 29 (2012) 142–154

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 World
Trade 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 500
Global 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).

higher value. In the 1960s and the 1970s, the land readjustment project reached its peak. From the 1980s, conversion of green field into satellite towns was defined as the main land acquisition approach 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, even though the land was close to the urban areas. Following this, the government rezoned the land for residential use and consequently developed apartment parks and/or satellite towns. Typical examples of satellite towns include Bundang, Ilsan, Sanbon, Pyongcheon,

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149

Fig. 9. Gini coefficient and unemployment rate in Korea, 1990–2008. Source: Statistics Korea (1990–2009).

and Joongdong. Another method involved redeveloping old apartments that were built in the 1970s and the 1980s. The government designated a ‘redevelopment zone’, in which the density parameter was modified to allow higher density redevelopment and thus a larger profit margin for developers.
Social impacts
Korea’s rapid industrialisation was accomplished partly on the basis of exploitation of labourers. In the 1960s and the 1970s, workers – a large portion of whom were peasant migrants who had come to cities for employment – suffered from excessive working hours and poor working conditions in textile factories and shoe manufacturing plants. Protests were organised to demand better working conditions; these were further framed into demands for democracy and human rights. These protests were met with government suppression from the military dictators in control. Extreme events followed. One example was Chon Tae Il’s selfimmolation at the Dong Dae Moon market where the textile factories were. He committed suicide on the street burning himself while shouting ‘Obey the labour standard act!’ (Cumings, 1997: pp. 367–377). Despite the repression by the military leaders, the
South Korean people continued to express their desire for a democratic society and opposed the state riding over liberty. These protests and struggle brought about major changes in the political system, including the general presidential election in 1987 (Cumings, 1997: pp. 386–393).
Inequality in Seoul was not so serious in 1993 according to Hill and Kim (2000). However, as Korea experienced economic restructuring, inequality was on rise in the late 1990s. The increasing Gini coefficient shows the polarisation trend in Korea (Fig. 9). Since the
Asian Economic Crisis in 1997/1998, the middle class has been shrinking whilst the sizes of the lower and high income classes have been on an increase. This has been partly attributable to the globalisation process that augmented both professionals and unskilful workers (Sassen, 2001, chap. 8; Shin & Timberlake,
2006). Also, huge scale layoffs in corporations took place during the Asian Economic Crisis. Under pressure from the state and capital to make sure that there was labour market flexibility, the government deregulated the dismissal laws and legal constraints for hiring casual workers. As a result, recent times have seen an increasing number of irregular, socially unstable workers with a decreasing average tenure period. The seniority-based wage scheme that prevailed in Korea began to change to a performance-based one following the economic crisis. As a result, the job instability of long-tenured workers has significantly increased
(Cho, 2004).

As South Korea is getting richer, the youth no longer get a job in the 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 created opportunities for labour import from other Asian countries. In the Capital Region there were only 46,000 foreign labourers in
1992, but the number reached 570,000 in 2009 (Statistics Korea).
International marriage between Korean and foreigners is also on the increase. These changes move Korea towards a multi-cultural society. Rapid urbanisation in Seoul was made possible by attracting a large number of migrants to the city, creating a constant struggle to provide sufficient housing. In the 1950s and the 1960s, these migrants illegally occupied empty land and created squatter settlements and slums. Ha (2007) estimated that slum and squatter settlements accounted for 20–30% of the urban areas in Seoul in the 1960s and the 1970s (Fig. 10). Housing redevelopment projects were carried out to remove the substandard housing and replace these by building more formal housing. However, the formal housing was found too costly for the relocated tenants without a subsidy; as a result these tenants were forcibly evicted from their homes (Ha, 2004, 2007). Clearly, the regeneration projects were designed extract profit for developers and speculators rather than to help the ordinary urban poor (Ha, 2007). Tenants forcibly evicted, often ended up in another squatter settlement in vacant hillsides or open space (Ha, 2007). In the sense, the recent Asian
Economic Crisis has created a new housing type to meet the needs of the abruptly unemployed. This new housing is very small in size but close to the business districts. Tenants pay a daily rent rather than being committed to a long-term lease (Ha, 2002).
Income inequality and housing varieties have brought about social polarisation and segregation in Seoul. Past studies show that homeowners possess a higher level of social capital than tenants in the short-term public rental housing (Ha, 2010). In addition, homeowners prefer not to live close to public housing in the same apartment park. Despite government efforts to develop sociallymixed housing in the apartment parks, it remains a major challenge for residents to mutually accept each other.
Cultural development
Seoul has emerged a significant cultural centre among Asian societies. The Hallyu (Korean wave) fever well represents the status of Seoul’s cultural development. Korean pop culture, embodied in such facets as its film, pop music, and TV drama industries, has been popular in Asian countries since the late 1990s. Thus cheobols invested in the media industry and Korea began to export dramas

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

as one of its export strategies after the Asian Economic Crisis
(Shim, 2008: pp. 17–18). Some countries found that Korean cultural products were more affordable than those from other countries and imported Korean media products (Huat & Iwabuchi,
2008: p. 4). The export of Korean television programme rapidly increased 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 was evidence that Hallyu attracted foreign tourists (Hirata, 2008; Kima,
Agrusab, Leed, & Chon, 2007). The media development is shown physically in Seoul’s urban landscape. For example, multiplex theatres 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 growing strength of the cultural industry (see ‘future development’ section).

the Capital Region. Both the National Land Plan and the Broad Metropolitan Plan are vision-oriented. City plans established at local levels are more detailed and project-oriented (Fig. 11).
Another key document that has shaped the planning system in
Korea is the National Land Plan and the Utilisation Act, endorsed in 2003. Applying the same set of standards to both urbanised and rural areas, the Act has removed the use of double standards and the application of different planning laws in urban and rural areas.12
Two types of plan are defined by the National Land Plan and the
Utilisation Act: basic urban plan and urban management plan. A basic urban plan is a comprehensive plan that sets basic spatial structures and the long-term development direction. It is reviewed every 20 years. In practice, it is observed that the making of a basic urban plan is gradually moving away from comprehensive planning to strategic planning. The Seoul Metropolitan Government published its 2020 Seoul Urban Plan in 2006. The plan was the first trial of the transition from comprehensive planning to strategic plan making. While the basic urban plan is long-term and visionoriented, the urban management plan is aimed short-term tasks and is updated every 5 years. It includes the designation and/or alteration of the zoning plan and the installation of infrastructure such as the greenbelt, urban parks, development projects, and District Unit Planning areas.
The District Unit Planning area was introduced in 2003 to supplement the rigid zoning system. Zoning has been an important planning tool in Seoul to manage urban land use. However, zoning is not only too rigid to keep pace with rapid urban changes, but also very much limited in its ability to create a diverse and creative urban landscape. Hence flexibility in land use and density has been introduced through the designation of District Unit Planning areas in the urban management plan. This flexibility applies to a range of parameters/aspects, such as infrastructure layout, building height, the shapes of individual buildings, an environmental plan, a transport plan as well as land use and density.
Seoul’s basic urban plan is formulated following the guidance of the mayor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The mayor works with officials of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Marine
Affairs to formulate the plan which then is presented to the Seoul
Urban Planning Committee for deliberation. The Committee reviews 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 research institutions such as the Seoul Development Institute. A compulsory public forum is held during the planning process to ensure that public opinions are heard and incorporated in the planning process. Planning issues in Seoul
The fourth National Land Plan was formulated in 2000 and revised in 2006 to incorporate the idea of capital relocation. For the purpose of balanced regional growth, former President Roh
Moo Hyun made the pledge to transfer the capital from Seoul to
Chungnam Province. He pushed the plan forward ambitiously in
2003.13 Despite the judgement by the Constitutional Court of Korea

Metropolitan planning
Urban planning system
The Korean planning system is strictly hierarchical. All sub-regions are planned and developed according to the higher level plans.
The National Land Plan covers the whole country and is hence at the top level. If necessary though not compulsory, the Broad Metropolitan Plan can be established to coordinate development in two or more adjacent cities. The Capital Region Plan was introduced as the Broad Metropolitan Plan in 2007 to systematically consolidate

12
For example, the floor area ratio (FAR) was defined using a double standard before the endorsement of the National Land Plan and Utilisation Act. The ‘semi-agricultural and forest area’ in rural areas was allowed a much higher FAR, which was very generous as compared to that applied to the adjacent urban areas. Double planning standards led to leap-frog development, which was accompanied by inadequate public facilities and infrastructures (Kim & Kim, 2000).
13
The consideration of capital relocation to Chungnam is not new. The idea was found in the early stage the Chosun Dynasty for feng shui considerations. Under
President Park Chung Hee, capital relocation was discussed for national defence and also for preventing population concentration in Seoul (Ko, 2005; Son, 2003a–c: pp.
177–266).

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151

Fig. 11. Planning hierarchy in Korea.

in 2004 that the proposed capital relocation was unconstitutional, the Roh Moo Hyun administration decided that the majority of the administrative offices and public corporations needed to relocate to Chungnam Province, even though the capital remained in Seoul.
The new city was called Administration-centred Mixed City.14 3.6 trillion won was spent on land acquisition.15 Capital relocation was treated as a hot topic. It was debated especially on issues associated with economic efficiency and even regional development. Recently, on 29 June 2010, the national assembly decided to continue the development of the Administration-Centred Mixed City project.
Seoul is envisioned a first-class city in the world in the fourth
National Land Plan. This first-class city status is to be reflected by Seoul’s leading role in the North-East Asian economy and its uniqueness in cultural, environmental and social-welfare development. The key directions assert that a polycentric urban structure is necessary, which can be built by creating international nodes such as CBD, Yongsan, Gangnam, Yeoido and Sangam. These international nodes articulate Seoul to the global network of production and markets by accommodating critical economic functions such as command-and-control functions and producer services, as well as by providing a cosmopolitan culture.
The Capital Region has become more functionally significant.
Whilst the population growth in Seoul has stopped or decreased since 1990, growth has occurred in those remote areas 40 km from
Seoul that are inhabited by people who work in Seoul. In addition, a large amount of farm land has been converted for urban use within the Capital Region. Urban land use in the Capital Region increased 1.6 times from 673 km2 to 1092 km2 in the period 1980–
2000. On the basis of these changes, the Korean government tried to integrate the Capital Region and develop it into an incorporated global-city region. The Capital Region Plan16 was formulated in
2007 and revised in 2009 to loosen the strict greenbelt policy. In this plan it is envisioned that the Capital Region will be a globally competitive mega-region making full use of its advantages, such as its excellent infrastructure for knowledge-information generation, international connectedness, key location in linking the South and
North Koreas, and concentration of command-and-control functions.
14

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

The Capital Region Readjustment Plan (CRRP) and the associated Capital Region Readjustment Plan Act (CRRPA) were both endorsed in 1982. CRRP is more regulative than a long-term vision plan, whilst CRRPA restricts concentrated development in the Capital Region for the purpose of a nation-wide even development.
This plan is based on a zoning system that divides the Capital Region into three regions: the over-concentration control region, the growth management region, and the nature preservation region.
According to the CRRPA, no new facilities that could lead to population growth in the Capital Region, such as factories, public office buildings, and universities, are allowed to locate in the Capital Region. CRRPA also introduced over-concentration charges and a factory-quota system that limits the new establishments and the extension of factories in the over-concentrated areas. This is regarded as a barrier to the development of Seoul because of its inflexibility in introducing new functions (Kim & Kim, 2000).
As a basic urban plan, the 2020 Seoul Urban Plan has five objectives: 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 planning document. First, the rapid growth has caused urban problems such as pollution, poor landscape, traffic congestion and uneven development. Second, the lack of identity is another problem as the desire for economic growth has overwhelmed cultural development.
Third, consideration for the disadvantaged is lacking, and public participation in decision making is absent. Finally, poor competitiveness is acknowledged as a problem at the global level. As such, the five planned objectives provide solutions to the four problems.
Seoul’s goal of being more competitive faces great challenges in implementation because the control measures proposed in the
CRRP reject the provision of additional space for such a development. Even though Seoul plays a pivotal role in Korean economic development, the CRRP prohibits further growth of global city functions such as command-and-control and producer services in the city. For example, prestigious universities and hospitals pursuing a profit in the world cannot establish their branches in the
Capital Region. Indeed, balanced development over the whole country is a dominant value, thus any further development in
Seoul is in contradiction with the goal of regional equity. This further explains the difficulty in deregulating the land use regulation in the Capital Region. Even in the Free Economic Zone of the
Capital Region, the process of acquiring a development permit is so complicated that inward foreign investment would not be effective (DongA Business Review and Monitor group, 2010).
There has been criticism about the rigidity of the planning system in Korea, in which the Korean government intervenes heavily.

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For example, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Marine Affairs provides the detailed guideline for the basic urban plan. The guideline defines how to survey and predict the future population, and specifies what should be included in sectoral activities. Thus the basic urban plan could easily turn into a comprehensive plan rather than a strategic plan. Despite the fact that the basic urban plan is supposed to be a long-term plan, it happens that the long-term plan has changed to cater for the needs of urban development projects in specific areas (Choi et al., 2009). The Capital Region Plan and the Capital Region Readjustment Plan are other examples to show the heavy hand of government intervention.
The Korean government formulates these plans and the Seoul
Metropolitan Government has to follow them up.
The distribution of activities on a regional scale has led to long distance commuting. There is an increasing number of commuters from both outside and inside Seoul as a result of job concentration in certain business districts. Thus the 2020 Seoul Urban Plan has set up the goal to develop a ‘‘polycentric mega-city”. Since excessive development around Seoul and high car dependency are causing traffic congestion and pollution, the plan puts a focus on the fringe areas to provide new jobs and improve the quality of life.
In addition, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is being discussed. Combined with a distributed compact urban form, TOD is expected to reduce the travelling time in Seoul (Sohn & Shim,
2010; Sung & Oh, 2010). These efforts will hopefully reduce the dependency on the existing urban centres in Seoul.
On a larger scale, Seoul is envisioned to host a number of functions that promote the interaction between South Korea and North
Korea, as well as with other Asian cities. One strategy is to strengthen the role of Incheon international airport so that it has

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

Future development
Seoul’s future development is characterised by its firm progress in the direction of becoming a first-class city in the world, but also by the uncertainties it faces related to its urban functions and land use. The first-class city efforts are reflected in its urban regeneration programme and new projects that host global city functions.
The restoration of Cheonggye stream in 2005 is an excellent instance of CBD regeneration (Fig. 12). This project demolished the multi-dimensional road that covered the Cheonggye stream and created a new streetscape incorporating river side features with modern office and commercial buildings.
Seoul’s vision to develop into a more competitive city in NorthEast Asia leads to several new projects. The Sangam Digital Media
City (DMC) development aims at building Seoul into a gateway city to East Asia and beyond. The DMC utilises the advanced Korean IT sector and tries to integrate urban development with digital technologies (Fig. 13). The DMC project area is 569,925 m2 and the construction 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. Artist’s impression of Sangam Digital Media Centre. Source: Digital Media City website (http://dmc.seoul.go.kr).

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Metropolitan Government, 2006: p. 327). It seems that this trend will continue in the future.
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Dr. Kyoung-Seok Jang and Professor Jong Hwa
Park for reading an early version of this profile, the two anonymous referees for their constructive comments, Irene Canmon Han for her proofreading and editing, and the University of Melbourne and the Australian Research Council (ARC2009-DP1094801) for partial funding. The authors are responsible for any remaining error in this profile.
References

Fig. 14. Artist’s impression of Yongsan development. Source: Seoul Metropolitan
Government website (http://www.seoul.go.kr/info/organ/subhomepage/urban_new/special/business_1_01.html).

ment is another initiative to boost Seoul’s global function (Fig. 14).
Yongsan has the potential to develop because it is located in the middle of three main business districts along the Han River, and it is currently occupied by a large number of old and low-rise buildings. The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to build commercial office skyscrapers, hotels, and residences, totalling
566,000 m2, by the waterfront of the Han River in this area (Seoul
Metropolitan Government website17). By introducing some high level activities in the northern part of the Han River, the Seoul Metropolitan Government intends to even out the developments between the north and the south of the Han River.
The Administration-centred Mixed City poses uncertainties to
Seoul because the major functions that will be relocated to Chungnam Province are from Seoul. They could be administrative institutions, head quarters of big companies or educational institutions currently in Seoul. Land use in the greenbelt presents another uncertainty. The Korean government has recently announced a plan for large residential developments in the greenbelt area in order to provide more decent apartments. At the time of writing this profile, the plan is still being debated.
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17
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Additional resources
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