The City At The Centre of the World

From gray and drab to green and fab, Seoul is on its way to becoming the World Design Capital

In April Nick van der Leek was invited by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to see their city, meet the mayor of Seoul and their Chief of Design. Having lived on the outskirts of Seoul for 4 years, the writer was not prepared for the many surprises in store. He found the city of Seoul is not only changing rapidly, it has been voted World Design Capital for 2010, and now has plenty of mega and micro projects on the menu.
{Below: Seoul is equidistant to Beijing and Tokyo]

I was living near Seoul when the first major development in the ‘greening’ of Seoul started. I was vaguely aware that the city fathers wanted to uproot a major highway and give life again to stream that had effectively been buried alive for 600 years. I didn’t pay much heed then (in 2003), because Seoul’s pollution and urban density problems were chronic, and one green capillary – I thought – wasn’t nearly going to be enough. I had no idea then that Cheong Gye Cheon would inspire the whole nation to embrace Pro-Environmental design to the extent that it has.

Although the $200 million Cheong Gye Cheon project was completed even while I was still living nearby, I only get around to visiting the stream in April this year (5 years later). And it is only whilst walking along the chuckling Cheong Gye Cheon that I realize to what extent my original skepticism and cynicism has been misplaced.

Changing the Old Guard

I see that a lot has changed since I left Seoul. Despite much initial protest and outrage from shopkeepers, commuters and urban developers, Lee Myung-Bak (the man affectionately known as ‘The Bulldozer’), was the man and the mayor who greenlighted the Cheong Gye Cheon project. He has since become the country’s president. He is also the perfect successor to Korea’s first ‘internet’+ president, because while Rho Myoo Hon left office with comparatively modest achievements, Lee Myung-Bak’s unbridled passion and ambition has set the country back into overdrive.

When I meet Seoul’s mayor, I am impressed to learn that he too was an erstwhile environmental activist, and because his predecessor has been so successful at getting the communities enthusiastic buy-in, the ‘greening’ of the city continues to enjoy solid support from Seoul’s taxpayers. I can also see congruency building between the various projects underway as well as a tremendous increase in momentum, especially when one considers Seoul’s ambitious plans for the future.

It’s easy to see why there’s so much momentum for ‘green design’ in this country. With the President of the South Korea and Seoul’s mayor now both strongly focused on ‘green design’, the feel-good baton that came from Cheong Gye Cheon is being frenetically relayed to every other part of the city. It’s hard to imagine anything is being overlooked. Even cables, I am informed, are scheduled to be tucked underground. Yes, it’s not just big urban developments that are being looked at. Everything from litter bins to street signs is getting attention.

The city centre, Gwanghwamun (an 8 lane wide boulevard with the impressive Gyeonbokkung Palace at one end) is enduring the ignominy of having its spine ripped out, along with two lanes on either side. A more comfortable, walkable area with gardens and fountains is being constructed in its place (construction started yesterday as I write this, Saturday 27th April).

The Han River Renaissance Project is another major resuscitation and expansion to the small bicycle paths that worm thinly alongside the cities giant river. The embankments are turning into wider, greener belts, and many of the cement walkways are being ripped up and replaced with wooden, walkable platforms, similar to those currently in place at Ilsan’s Horseshoe Lake Park. Special elevators are constructed on flyover bridges to allow pedestrians easy access to the park-like conditions below. So the renovation of Seoul is not merely the design of fancy buildings, it is reclaiming or redeveloping natural areas for people (at the expense of cars), and thus there is a new interest in developing the ‘attractiveness’ of the city. As it turns out, a ‘Pro-Environment’ approach to design also tends to enhance attractiveness.

Integrated

When I spoke to the cities’ Deputy Mayor and Chief Design Officer, Dr. Young Gull Kwon, he confirmed what was fast becoming apparent. The success at Cheong Gye Cheon has captured the nation’s imagination to such an extent that leaders have been offered what amounts to a blank check to ‘greenify’ the capital as a whole. And to go even further. The modest ambitions for Cheong Gye Cheon have in fact spawned into a comprehensive makeover for Seoul, not a few random, haphazard projects.

The Deputy Mayor nodded vigorously when I used the word ‘integrated’, saying that the greening projects underway, though design-based, were geared towards ‘softening’ the city from head to toe, from the most visible urban spaces (such as the city centre), to the design, rolling out and use of something as arbitrary but ubiquitous as newspaper booths.

More tasteful booths will be sent and setup on subways and dispatched to each and every street vendor. Once again, the idea of using ‘green design’ to make the city more attractive and ‘human friendly’ came across strongly.


The Deputy Mayor showed me a powerpoint presentation featuring their design commandments.
Number 1: Genius Loci. Number 2: Pro Environmental. Number 3: Safety.
Number 4: Hierarchy. Number 5: Human
There are 16 more, including affordability, access, identity, attraction, health (at 19) and the last one, fun, at 21.

To have ‘Pro-Environmental’ as a 2nd priority in terms of a comprehensive, congruent and massive redesign project for Seoul is nothing less than revolutionary. Seoul certainly needs this sort of green focus if it aims to be a ‘Global City’. Seoul and South Korea’s worst quality is the quality of its air. To address this aspect is the most intelligent place to start. To address ‘attractiveness’ is important, and here ‘green design’ is the logical place to start.

Some Things Haven’t Changed

During a drive to the French Quarter in Seoul, I notice – at an estimate – 40x50 floor apartment blocks under construction alongside a 5km highway corridor. This area alone, I’m guessing, represents more urban development than the whole of South Africa, including all of South Africa’s World Cup Stadium Projects. But Seoul’s ubiquitous apartment complexes also give the city the appearances of an endless flotilla of wedding cakes. Are there any grand schemes in place to add some diversity, to especially these endless white monoliths, I wonder?


The Director of Global Marketing for Seoul, Yoon Young Seok, shows us a presentation with historical depictions of Rome and London as ‘the (urban) centres’ of the world, at various times in our common human journey. The idea is stated explicitly here: their intentions are that Seoul becomes first a Global City, and then the undisputed city at the centre of the modern world. Arguably New York is that city today.

To achieve the first goal millions of dollars have been set aside to develop foreign strongholds (such as Itaewon, upmarket Myeong-dong and Umyeon in Yeouido – near the impressive 63 Building amongst several other sites), as well as to provide an integrated level of service. Alan Timblick, OBE at the Seoul Global Center in Jung-Gu has been tasked to provide services that enable and assist foreigners with everything from getting credit cards and mobile phones, to finding a place to stay and helping foreigners start up a business in the city.

The Coming Age of Design

“The 21st century is the age of design. From today on, we are all designers with the task of making Seoul the best city in the world.” – Mayor Oh Se-hoon, July 2006

The Age of Information was essentially an introduction to computers. Now, Design is how not only information, but the environments, machines and people use, and feel about that information. In some ways it is a branding exercise. Finding the value and meaning in informational clutter. Seoul is attempting to do this with its urban environment, and also as a means to address itself as a brand to the wider world. South Korea is one of the world’s most understated, and unknown countries, yet it is the world’s 11th strongest economy, and projected to be at worst, the 2nd wealthiest country per capita by 2050.

Every day, more and more, people around the world use Korean made products. Samsung is a leading innovator in the world, responsible for 20% of Korea’s total GDP. Koreans after all are probably the world’s most dynamic designers and innovators of electronics hardware. They lead the world in this area. Now Korea wants to showcase not only its products, but its identity to a wider audience.

As World Design Capital in 2010, Seoul is about to be introduced internationally once again. The city brings with it all the confidence and enthusiasm it enjoyed during the Olympics (now 30 years ago) and the Soccer World Cup (in 2002). With breathtaking landmark projects such as the D’Plaza Design Project
[see graphic below]

and the massive Dream Hub project in Yongsan* (featuring a complex with a tear-shaped 152 floor central spire** [see topmost graphic] and the most expensive building ever built), and with the pace of every other development I’ve seen in the city, it is easy to imagine Seoul emerging soon as a softer, greener, brand new Global City.
It’s also fair to say that the hard working Koreans have earned all the prestige that goes with having their city at the centre of the world.

+First online President
++ featuring a horizontal, organic Titanium-based design by Zaha Ahid*

The current site of a US military base will become Yongsan International Business District.
**Dream Tower