Seoul Station 7017 blooms into Seoul Arboretum

ICYMI, the results for the Seoul Station 7017 / Seoul Skyway / Seoul Highline competition (among 7 architects invited) were announced yesterday: Dutch architect Winy MAAS (MVRDV*) won with this 'Seoul Arboretum', JOH Sung-yong and CHO Minsuk completing the podium.

And ICYM my previous posts related to this project:

- "Seoul Station Elevated Park (Seoul Station Project 7017? The Seoul Vine?) - An Update" 

- "Diagonal crossings, High Lines, and Business Verticals (how pedestrians and businesses remodel Seoul... and vice-versa)" 

- note that Seoul city dumped its temporary URL (seoul.go.kr/story2015/skyway) for ss7017.org (like in OSS 117 Seoul: nest of magpies?)

twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/598392986897002496

Note that Seoul city had postponed its decision, initially planned for the 8th, to the 13th, and organized in between (the 10th) another event for all citizens to enjoy the overpass without traffic, this time over a picnic:

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* yes, the MVRDV who conceived that 9/11-ish "Cloud" for the Yongsan IBD (reminder: the whole IBD project collapsed, but things are moving again around the garrison):

Songdo, DMC: sequence is of the essence (Part III)

I realize that I've completely forgotten the 3rd part of my series on Songdo and the DMC (see "Songdo, DMC: sequence is of the essence (Part I)" and "Songdo, DMC: sequence is of the essence (Part II)"). I thought I published it last June, and recently found out that it was still stuck in the blog's draft folder. I'll lazily post it almost as it is. The good news is that now I can include a recent development... and spare you, as well as my lazy self, an additional post on the topic.

Reminder: Part I covered sections 0 and 1 of the 'master plan' below, and Part II delivered lot # 2. This Part III wraps it up with bloc 3:

0) City, Interrupted. Puzzle, Ongoing. Landmarks and Landscars
1) Purpose and Identity, Citizens and Citizones, Projects and Projections
2) Connectivity, Continuity and Consistence
3) Longing and Belonging - Sequence is of the Essence

But let me first talk about the piece of news that got me digging into my own junkyard.

Stephane

NB: again, Songdo and the DMC cannot be compared (e.g. scale, timelines, stakes, relative importance for local authorities...), and they don't compete directly. This is not a comparison but a parallel update, with random thoughts about the evolution of ambitious urban projects. See useful links at the end of this post.

UPDATE: download the whole focus in PDF format here.
 

*

(Addendum-Update) A solution to the Great DMC-Susaek Rift?


So what's the above-mentioned 'recent development'? Seoul city announced the other week new ambitions for Northeast Seoul: the campaigning mayor wants to develop a northeast Seoul business hub around the Digital Media City by covering part of the railways between the DMC and Susaek, and - hopefully - by convincing Korail to invest there instead of in the failed Yongsan IBD project* (NB: in a low-rise version of the Seoul Lite aerotropolis dystopia?).

If Korail owns the land, that bruised institution will probably think twice - and ask for more guarantees - before embracing this new embryo of a concept. At least it does address one of the DMC's key issues, one that - again - I highlighted in the previous part of this focus:

"To the North, a disgracious urban separator prevents the DMC from dialoguing with Susaek-dong and Eunpyeong-gu: the Gyeongui Line. Seoul city considers burying it, but it will take time and here, it's as wide as around Seoul Station. And it's doubled with yet another major entry point to Western Seoul: a 6-to-8-lane axis that goes straight from Gwanghwamun to the heart of Goyang and Ilsan, first as Sajik-ro, then as Songsan-ro, here as Susaek-ro, and through Gyeonggi-do as Jungang-ro. Overall, if you include the thin layer of buildings sandwiched between the railways and the road, that's a 300 m - wide band, almost as thick as the bar of the "T". The Digital Media City Station (AREX, Gyeongui Line, Subway Line 6) does connect both sides, but the whole area will boom the day a Gwanghwamun Square-like revolution helps pedestrians claim that bandwidth, critical for seamless communications."

Not very inspiring, the first sketches remind me not only of countless similar projects (of course, this one includes a hotel, a convention center, and a Time Square - style mall), but also of Paris La Defense's "Great Slab", or the initial Beaugrenelle mess - not exactly the epitome of sustainable, seamless urban continuity:

The projected DMC-Susaek hub covering the Gyeongui Line near Susaek / DMC Station

In concrete terms (and obviously in concrete, period), Gyeongui Line shall be covered around Susaek - Digital Media City Station, between Gayang-daero and Jeungsan-ro (East-West, along what I called the bar of the DMC's "T"), and between Susaek-ro and Seongam-ro (North-South). Under the giant slab, the "T"'s vertical axis (Sangamsan-ro / Maebongsan-ro) shall prolong Eunpyeongteoneol-ro: the city will probably have to beef up that street parallel to Jeungsan-ro (it crosses Susaek-dong and Sinsa-dong, and becomes Galhyeon-ro after the Eunpyeong Tunnel, under Bongsan). 

Needless to remind you that:

• at this stage, this is just yet another multi-trillion-won, voter-friendly item on a mayor's fast-growing wish list ahead of next year's elections,
• Seoul needs a global, long term vision that doesn't just sweep Yongsan under the rug, and
• this neighborhood deserves a more sustainable concept
• ...

That said, a vast reflection is needed to help Northwest Seoul fulfill its great potential, and along with the Seobu Line**, the DMC-Susaek connection remains a key missing piece in the puzzle.

Now once more, the Gyeongui Line problem should have been at the core of the reflection in the initial DMC project, and it's not only a matter of urban continuity, but of sequence.

All things considered, this case was the perfect transition between my second and third parts! As if I had waited for that precise moment to hide my laziness behind an apparent stroke of genial foresight.

In blog planning, luck is of the essence.

twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/398286484811182080 (on @theseoulvillage, 20131107)

*

3) Longing and Belonging - Sequence is of the Essence


Even if I'm not a fan of "urban storytelling" and "overscripted cities", I like to read good scenarii and to follow interesting storylines when cities decide to launch big scale projects. So why do I keep returning to Songdo and Seoul Digital Media City, places where, typically, citizens are not given much room to grow the city by themselves, places where, typically, you often feel the "it could have been so much better if only" / "if you're going to invest that much, you might as well" kind of frustrations? Because, precisely, I'm curious to see how humans - citizens and urban planners alike - evolve in this kind of environments, how they fit in and/or try to alter them.

What do Songdo and the DMC belong to, and what will their citizens belong to?

And why did pioneer residents long for these 'new towns' in the first place?

As a 'greenfield' new town, Songdo had few inherited residents to deal with (the first residential blocks do seem to belong to a different era than the rest), and the usual promises of capital gain / premium education did the trick, with a heady international flavor. The concept required elites to move in to feed the buzz, and Songdo First World set the tone at the residential level, with its 60 floor totems and vast penthouses: leave Seoul for true space and status at a - relatively - reasonable price. But the business and education ecosystems needing more time to move in, some decided to wait a bit.

For the DMC as well, business was the main focus. But at the residential level, the equation was different, and the terra not completely incognita for many first movers, who furthermore and unlike Songdoans, enjoyed subway stations from day one. Overall, less a migration, more a transition between two generations of urban hardware and software. It required less "pioneer spirit" than Songdo where, as we saw, people were more longing to join a success story and a sure capital gain than an innovative community. If Seoulites have been used to move in unfinished new towns, they're less and less ready to sacrifice quality of life, and the real estate crisis made them more cautious: they want to join tested neighborhoods, otherwise promoters have to multiply incentives and freebies - and even that is not enough nowadays.

In Korea, master plans tend to stop at the new town borders, and projects tend to be treated as "stand alone"objects. Fundamentally, impact assessment remains optional, and you seldom see all stakeholders taken into account. Here, go/no-go for major projects seem to follow vaudeville rules instead of urban planning standards. Elements of human integration seem to be limited to functional check lists: do we have schools? check. a mall? check. sports center? check. a cultural center? check. contents to fill it? nature abhors a vacuum, build it and they will come. No wonder residents tend to belong to a 'grand ensemble' before belonging to a city continuum, when it should be the other way round.

Do Songdo and Digital Media City really belong to Incheon and Seoul? We've already partly answered the question, for instance when we raised urban continuity issues. The fact that IFEZ doesn't have the lead on Songdo may explain the limited synergies between Songdo and Cheongna or Yeongjongdo, let alone (literally!) downtown Incheon. Seoul Metropolitan Government manages directly the DMC project, but may be tempted to grant Korail as much autonomy as they wish in order to have them develop the DMC-Susaek connection I mentioned earlier, which may lead hinder the integration into both neighborhoods, an integration that - again - should have been a priority from the start.

And again, no green light should be given to any new town project lacking mass public transit solutions from day one, and adding more roads simply isn't sustainable, you need dynamic connectors, a vision for the future. Songdo should have been articulated around a subway backbone from day one, ideally connecting both ends of line 1 in a loop that would have included the old city: the stations could have been inaugurated step by step, as the city unfolds, and still the urban fabric would have stretched more efficiently, both pulled and pushed by new lots and organic growth. It would have both boosted the new district and revitalized Incheon downtown as well as such landmarks as the fish market, preventing urban decay (see "From urban mirages to urban decay") between the center and Songdo. On the other extreme, even if a big hole had to be dug in Seoul map to make room for Magok District, at least transit was ready there even before construction started (see January focus).

The only "alleywayish" element in the masterplan, Canal Walk, was delivered before neighborhoods were developed to the west: instead of a central, lively street, it started in the suburbs as a one legged bridge, and unsurprisingly struggles to reach its full potential. A similar diagonal project has been conceived towards the Art Center, but this time promoters seem to have understood that a sounder timing was required. It's not just having the right bricks at the right time, but the right combinations, the right dynamics.

I'm curious to see how the Songdo and DMC 'brands' will reach across their natural borders. We're already seeing new towns such as Gajaeul New Town marketed as extensions of the DMC, and let's not forget that the historic Songdo Resort was not located in today's IBD.

Earlier, I came up with the "Songdoan" denomyn. I guess it would be interesting to invent a specific one for the DMC - to develop a sense of belonging for projects where humans came after functionalities; why not "DMCitizen"? More pleasant and creative suggestions are welcome.

*

The End... And of course, to be continued

 
See Part I
See Part II
Download the whole focus in PDF format here. 
 

*

See also posts related to Songdo and the DMC, in particular:

- "Songdo on the world map (Green Climate Fund)" (December 2012)

- "Wet eyes for wetlands and urban mirages" (January 2012)

- "DMC at full throttle - Songdo from Sim City to Sin City ?" (April 2011)

- "DMC aims at Tinseltown - welcome to Hallyuwood!" (February 2011)

- "Seoul Digital Media City Tour" (July 2010)

- ...

See also posts related to urbanism and new towns, including:

- "Sudogwon New Town Blues" (March 2013)

- "Magok District: SIM City as in "Seoul Intra Muros"? Alleyways as in "Seoul Inter Muros"?" (January 2013)

- "From urban mirages to urban decay" (November 2011)

- ...

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* see for instance "수색역 일대 복합상업시설 들어선다" (Seoul Business 20131107), "서울 수색∼상암 연결..서북 부도심 개발 '시동'" (Yonhap via Daum, 20131107)
** see "Seobu Line confirmed as Seoul's LRT top priority"

Songdo, DMC: sequence is of the essence (Part I)

A couple of weeks ago, I came back to Songdo, a first since last December's Global Climate Fund announcement. The sunny yet chicagoesquely windy weather made the views from 60+ floor penthouses and the walks between steel and glass giants even more impressive, and after that, I felt ready for another round of the old Songdo - DMC update (see at the end of this article the links to previous posts about Songdo, the DMC, urbanism and new towns).

As it turns out, this eminent Songdologist - DMCoholic started a novel, and after a couple of tens of thousands of words, decided to deliver it in slices. Or in lots, like the said projects. Let's hope this one will take less time to complete.

Here's the "master" plan:

0) City, Interrupted. Puzzle, Ongoing. Landmarks and Landscars
1) Purpose and Identity, Citizens and Citizones, Projects and Projections
2) Connectivity, Continuity and Consistence
3) Longing and Belonging - Sequence is of the Essence

Today, lots 0 and 1 are up for grabs. Feel free to add your own critics. Again, Songdo and the DMC cannot be compared (e.g. scale, timelines, stakes, relative importance for local authorities...), and they don't compete directly. This is not a comparison but a parallel update, with random thoughts about the evolution of ambitious urban projects.

Stephane

UPDATE: Part II (Connectivity, Continuity and Consistence)
UPDATE: Part III (Longing and Belonging - Sequence is of the Essence)
UPDATE: download the whole focus in PDF format here.

*

0) City, Interrupted. Puzzle, Ongoing. Landmarks and Landscars.

Before starting, a minute of silence for Dream Hub, the consortium that was supposed to deliver Yongsan IBD, a KRW 31 tn monster conceived at the peak of the bubble, plagued with a fatal accident, and unplugged by minority shareholders who abandoned the ship before it was even built. If lead investor KORAIL must foot a bill that may derail its own development, Samsung remains relatively unharmed in the race for potential Plan Bs. Future projects will probably not be carried 100% through private financing... unless, of course, Qatar decides to purchase Yongsan Saint Germain Football Club.



"Archipelago 21" (above), Daniel Libeskind's take at Yongsan IBD for Dream Hub (note the Triple One tower at the center, and to the right MVRDV's highly controversial "Cloud" (below), a sick tribute to 9/11 and the WTC's Twin Towers.

If the DMC and Songdo were conceived earlier than Yongsan IBD, both were also hit by the collapse of the bubble. Timelines were adapted, delaying the completion of these complex jigsaw puzzles.

At least it helped tune down Korea's insane race for the skies: with Yongsan IBD went the not ironically dubbed Dream Tower (620 m, 111 floor). The DMC's Seoul Lite (640 m, 133 floors) had already been canceled last year, and Songdo's Incheon Tower shrunk by 114 m and 39 floors (initially 601 m and 151 floors, now 487 and 102). Note that Lotte World Tower (555 m, 123 floors) goes on, in spite of cracks noticed on core mega-columns earlier this year...

Betting on one iconic tower amounts to totemizing an absence of imagination, and far from negating its urban and natural environments, the ideal "Landmark" should reconcile and sublimate them. Seoul can be proud to have recovered its most original and defining landmark, the Sejongno-Gwanhwamun-Gyeongbokgung-Bugaksan-Bukhansan perspective: a wide pedestrian way, an open gate, a low rise historic palace, a glorious mountain range.

If I define cities as the scars humans leave on the surface of earth to prove that they once roamed it, some scars are certainly more gracious than others*...

*

1) Purpose and Identity, Citizens and Citizones, Projects and Projections


Songdo and Digital Media City are by no means classic "new towns": they share a business focus, and international ambitions. Here, permanent residents are not the main "endusers":

• Songdo International City - Songdo International Business District belongs to the newly formed Sondgo-dong (mostly claimed over the sea, partly over Dongchun-dong), in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, but also to IFEZ (Incheon Free Economic Zone). As the names suggest, Songdo is business and internationally-minded, and rules differ from the rest of the city. The epitome of aerotropolis, Songdo must confirm Incheon as a world class hub. For its promoters Gale International and Posco, as well as for such partners as Cisco, the project must also become a proof of concept, and help them clinch similar deals with other cities in the region, particularly in China. By 2017, Songdo is supposed to host 70,000 permanent residents and 300,000 commuters or business travelers.
  
• The Digital Media City is a digital media and entertainment cluster in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, managed by SBA (Seoul Business Agency). The business focus and international ambitions are also evident, but the DMC, as a city sub-center and "a gateway to the northwestern region of Seoul", must first contribute to the geographic and economic balance of the capital. The proof of concept would be not only a world class media and entertainment cluster, but also a sound ecosystem where major media and entertainment companies would "coopete" with thriving SMEs and start-ups. By 2015, the DMC is supposed to host 30,000 permanent residents and to provide 68,000 jobs.

For the promoters, the first "customers" are not the endusers, but the tenant companies who will fill the lots / pieces of the puzzle they operate directly, and investors that will purchase whole blocks according to the master plan. Only part of these "citizones" are meant for actual citizens: residential block whose operators contribute to the overall promotion as they market their apartments. Cities play more or less their part, but basically the meta-promoters (Gale, Seoul/SBA) focus on business targets, with result-oriented sales pitches. Songdo appears to be at the same time more institutional and more extroverted in terms of communication and marketing:


• If both logos echo smart-tech cities, Songdo opts for black and elegant/institutional/corporate codes, the DMC for white and more graphic/design/enduser codes:
  
  
  
• Marketing and communication are paramount for Songdo, a privately financed project with a sense of emergency; considering the scale of the project and the stakes, investors must be constantly reassured and updated. PR is highly proactive, and in the extensive picture gallery easily accessible from the main menu, buildings are usually shown in context, preferably with elements of nature consistent with the message of sustainability. But the speech always remains resolutely "pro", fact-based, technology driven (i.e. LEED-ND / Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development), the "bucolic" storytelling being left to Incheon city or POSCO (see further below). A giant showcase for smart cities, sustainable development, and pervasive computing utopia/dystopia, Songdo generates a lot of literature and case studies... not to mention my recurrent babble.
  





From Songdo.com: a corporate look from the homepage on, and an iconography that puts each landmark into perspective (here, Songdo Central Park Canal)





On its own dedicated website songdothesharp.co.kr, POSCO communicates along similar lines ("It's Real, Global Songdo), but using warmer codes, consistent with the proximity of an established local brand.

• The DMC doesn't need Songdo's institutional - corporate tone and look: investors know that Seoul city is in charge, and the DMC targets business tenants of all sizes in a rather "fun" sector. Its homepage is hosted by Seoul city's portal, and SBA operates a commercial site in a classic and sober BtoB blue. Significantly, Korean is the home language, and there is no URL in .com: the marketing and the international drive seems less intense than a few years ago, and now that the bulk of the land is covered, priorities seem set on business as usual (making sure all big names move in on schedule, prospecting new tenants already in Korea, maintaining the DMC Gallery showroom...). Most updates are about new batches of lots for sale, and they don't even appear in the English version of the site (not much updated since 2010, as we'll see below). There's a lot of storytelling about how the various zones function and interact, but unlike in Songdo, the iconography focuses on the micro (buildings) and macro (masterplan) levels, and except for a movie on bike touring in the DMC, we're not told many stories about what's happening now. And in such a competitive and depressed commercial real estate market**, the DMC could tell of stories to differenciate itself, but the communication doesn't leverage on the key environmental assets in the surrounding, or on the recurrent good news each time a new tenant signs or reaches a milestone in the construction (e.g. few press excerpts with visuals).
  



The DMC's website is hosted by Seoul Metropolitan Government portal (dmc.seoul.go.kr)...



... and SBA operates a distinct BtoB site: dmcseoul.kr



Iconography focuses either on finished buildings or on master plan maps: we're not given the chance to see the city in real life

As a result, the Incheon-Songdo couple projects a much clearer picture than Seoul-DMC for the world to see:

• In spite of its struggles, Songdo is starting to emerge as a stand-alone brand that feeds and is fed by the Incheon umbrella. An asset consistent with Incheon Bridge or Incheon Airport, and all three form a continuum that goes beyond the obvious geographic evidences. As expected, the Green Climate Fund signing put Songdo on the world map. At the national level, it also changed positively the image of a project that generated disappointment for many real estate speculators. Incheon city communicates efficiently about Songdo, even when it doesn't mention it:

The day after the GCF announcement, Incheon city celebrated on its website (incheon.go.kr)

The bridge, the airport, Incheon - Songdo skyline. Songdo's communication contributes to Incheon's sales pitch and vice-versa.

• The DMC's notoriety is growing rapidly, and in a positive direction. But this has more to do with its internal dynamics and relative performances in a morose real estate market, than with intense "top-down" promotion. Of course, Seoul has many other ongoing projects that require considerable efforts, but the DMC brand is so under-marketed that the area is often referred to as "Sangam DMC" or "Sangam-dong DMC" instead of "Seoul DMC"... as if the notoriety shouldn't reach beyond the dong/neighborhood! Unlike his predecessor, Mayor PARK Won-soon is not a fan of big business and new towns in general***, but he does care for Seoul's competitivity, and he did promote the Seoul DMC during his recent visit to Seoul for the Beijing-Seoul Friendly Exchange Year. Now the English side of the DMC's website could be a bit updated: two years after his electoral defeat, OH Se-hoon is still the mayor welcoming foreign visitors and investors!
  

  

  2 years after his defeat, former Mayor OH Se-hoon is still welcoming foreign visitors to the DMC's website (the English version hasn't been updated in a while)

Anyway, cities always speak by themselves, and citizens and visitors will progressively become the main storytellers.

*

End of Part I
See Part II
 See Part III

*

See also posts related to Songdo and the DMC, in particular:
- "Songdo on the world map (Green Climate Fund)" (December 2012)
- "Wet eyes for wetlands and urban mirages" (January 2012)
- "DMC at full throttle - Songdo from Sim City to Sin City ?" (April 2011)
-"DMC aims at Tinseltown - welcome to Hallyuwood!" (February 2011)
- "Seoul Digital Media City Tour" (July 2010)
- ...
See also posts related to urbanism and new towns, including:
- "Sudogwon New Town Blues" (March 2013)
- "Magok District: SIM City as in "Seoul Intra Muros"? Alleyways as in "Seoul Inter Muros"?" (January 2013)
- "From urban mirages to urban decay" (November 2011)
- ...



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* and once again, all urban wrinkles shouldn't be botoxed; Seoul needs its vital alleyways!
** see for instance "Office buildings vie for tenants" (Korea JoongAng Daily 20130418)
*** Mayor PARK renewed his critics in this recent interview: "Seoul mayor warns that city planning has lacked insight" (Korea JoongAng Daily 20130417

Guro-gu boom, a bang for the (renmin)buck

I recently mentioned Seoul's most expensive neighborhoods for opening shop (see "Six lanes of traffic"), but a recent article in Chosun Ilbo delivered a full picture at the district level for premium spaces, exposing a spectacular boom for Guro-gu and Geumcheon-gu (respectively +39.9% and +36.1% between 2011 and 2010 in the value per square pyeong)*. All districts posted gains (up to 12-15% for Gangbuk-gu, Jung-gu, Gangseo-gu, and Gwanak-gu), except Gangnam-gu (-1.8%), Dobong-gu (-2.2%), and Yongsan-gu (-11.2%).

As a result, the central and traditional office space strongholds Jung-gu and Jongno-gu moved to the top of the rankings, and Guro-gu jumped from the lower tier to third place. Gangnam-gu, the 2010 leader, was downgraded to 4th, and Seocho-gu (an anemic +0.2%) from 3rd to a distant 5th, threatened by Mapo-gu (+4.2%), and even Yeongdeungpo-gu (+8.1%).

The relative pause for the southern stars (Gangnam-Seocho) doesn't come as a surprise, following the bubble years. Yongsan's bad year is probably a side-effect of massive redevelopments: they're making room for the IDB and various new towns, particularly around Seoul Station (I'm really afraid the atmosphere around Malli-dong market** will not be the same after the evacuation).

Southwest Seoul is catching up nicely: Gangseo-gu certainly benefits from the new Line 9, and Geumcheon-gu from the Gasan Digital Complex, but as they develop their own infrastructures, Gyeonggi-do neighbors (e.g. Gimpo or Gwangmyeong) also contribute. On the other hand, they bring fresh competition: see how the new Lotte Mall Gimpo Airport is taking aim at such hotspots as Yeongdeungpo's Seoul Times Square.

So last year, it was Guro's time to shine. A nice reward for a district that discovers glamour after the transformation of Guro Industrial Complex into Guro Digital Complex (from factories to venture / IT startups), or the inauguration of D-Cube City***. Note that Garibong-dong, Seoul's center for Chinese communities, is naturally attracting Chinese money. Of course, along came the Chinese triads, and the fight for premium commercial space is raging at that level too, more than often involving North Korean / ethnic Chinese gangs. But that's an epiphenomenon, and don't picture yourself in the South Central L.A. of yore: you're in Seoul, and in Guro-gu, a vibrant district for families. Just enjoy the city!

Overall, another year of inflation: prime commercial estate surpasses KRW 100 M per pyeong* in 16 of the 25 districts, compared to 9 in 2010. But as expected, the gap between the 'richest' and the 'poorest' is decreasing: from 63% in 2010 (Gangnam-gu 126.6 M, Gangbuk-gu 77.590 M) to 58% in 2011 (Jung-gu 134.92 M, Dobong-gu 85.44 M).


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*see "구로구 점포 권리금, 강남구 앞질렀다는데" (20120208 Chosun Ilbo). NB: 1 pyeong = 3.3 square meter.
** see "Sungwoo Barbershop, Malli-dong Market"
*** about the latter, see "D-Cube City and Korean Food Street (Byeokgyesu)"

3 subway lines projects revived ?

Private developers keep lobbying in favor of three subway projects that could be delivered by 2017.

POSCO Engineering & Construction wants to revive the old project of backbone between the capital's Northern and Southern centers : this 11.47 km line between Gyeongbokgung Station (Line 3) and Gangnam Station (Line 2) would pass by Gwanghwamun Station (Line 5), City Hall (Lines 1 and 2), Sinhannam Station, Nonhyeon Station (Line 7), and Sinbanpo Station (Line 9). The line would not connect with Line 6 even if, judging by the map, I would pass not far from Hangangjin Station. I guess they plan to dig much deeper under Namsan : the Sinhannam Station is down the valley, closer to Hannam Bridge and Hannam New Town. It doesn't look connected with Hannam Station (Jungang Line).

We've already mentioned* the second project. Led by Doosan Construction, it would link Yongsan with Gangnam (7.49 km), and ultimately the new Bundang Line (Sinbundang line, 18.5 km : Gangnam, Yangjae, Poi, Cheonggye, Pangyo, Jeongja). The stations would be Yongsan (Lines 1 and 4), Ichon / National Museum, Dongbingo, Sinsa (Line 3), Nonhyeon (Line 7), Sinnonhyeon (line 9), and Gangnam. But should the other project fly, a connection could be made at Sinhannam, and the connection at Sinsa could be dropped.

The third project ? Posco's Plan B would combine the Gangnam-Sinhannam section of the first project with a Gwanghwamun - Yongsan line (8 stations overall).

All projects have in common a relatively low number of new stations. The idea is more to connect major existing hubs. A Gyeongbokgung-Gangnam-Bundang axis would probably become Seoul's biggest vertical backbone, saving time but also sucking traffic from other lines, which are not operated by the same companies : Korail manages lines 1 to 4, Seoul Metro lines 5 to 8, Veolia Transport line 9. Neeless to say, promoters of the Sinbundang line, Bundang, Pangyo, or Hannam landowners, not to mention Samsung, headquartered at Gangnam Station, would love to prolong it towards the other side of Han river and the city center, mirroring the Bundang Line prolongation from Seollung towards Seongdong-gu, further to the East.

I hope these projects are not in the balance with actual priorities : all the Seoul neighborhoods that remain out of the grid. But should this Gyeongbokgung-Gangnam be built, I'd rather go for a fourth project :
- The Gyeongbokgung-Gwanghwamun-City hall axis is very relevant and actually follows the country's most defining line : Sejongdaero. Furthermore, downtown's grid lacks a vertical line West of Line 3 (which also connects lines 1 to 5 within 3 consecutive stations : Jongno-3-ga, Uljiro-3-ga, Chungmuro). So I'd keep this vital section.
- From City Hall, I would not try to reach Yongsan Station. I know the Yongsan IBD project needs to be better interfaced with the rest of the city, but if a new subway line were to cross the river, it'd better fill some gaps in the network rather than double existing lines.
- A new vertical line South of Namsan between Lines 3 and 4 makes perfect sense. But if you want to reach Gangnam, connections must be made with all the lines you cross on the way : Jungang Line (at Hannam / Sinhannam), Line 3 (at Sinsa), and Line 6.
- Preferably, new stations should be added in the process. But promoters are selling shorter connections between Gangnam and Downtown, and each stop adds an average 2 mn (not to mention significant increases in CAPEX and OPEX). My minimum scenario (straight line) : City Hall/Hangangjin/Hannam. My maximum scenario (curve) : City Hall / Huam-dong / Noksapyeong / Yongsan Park (now Yongsan Army Base, which is bound to move after 2017) / Dongbingo-dong or Bogwang-dong / Hannam.

Seoul Village 2011
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* see "Yongsan-Gangnam-Bundang subway completed in 2017"

Yongsan park - fake forests and real estates

Korea's Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs unveiled yesterday* its master plan for the future Yongsan Park (to replace Yongsan US Army Base).

Base case scenario used to be 2017 but now, the first temporary parks are announced for as early as 2015... and completion for as late as 2025.


The shape didn't change : as scheduled, the park is connected to Namsan at the Northeastern end, the National Museum of Korea cuts a big rectangle at the Southern end, and the Western side is bitten by existing para-military infrastructures (the War Memorial of Korea and the Korean army's buddhist temple near Sinyongsan). The park is split into 6 thematic areas using the usual catch phrases : "U-Eco", "International Culture"...

Obviously, a quick and dirty draft to be updated later. Because the park itself is only a detail, an environmental joke, a mere alibi for what basically represent one of the biggest real estate operations of this young millenium : clearly, what all homeowners around and all developpers nationwide were waiting for were construction guidelines around Seoul's next Central Park.

And the answer came quite clearly : more than 40 stories on average, with up to 50-storey buildings in the Western enclave. The poorly designed Park Towers already overlooking the National Museum will not feel alone anymore... Definitely good news for Yongsan promoters after series of unfortunate events : Yongsan IBD was delayed by stops and go's, one person died resisting to a nearby redevelopment, and further afield costs exploded after the discovery of pollutants in the soil. Note that a similar gift was recently awarded to Apgujeong tenants : whatever the real estate macro-scenario, 50 storey giants will ensure fat profits in that very expensive area - nevermind touching environmental speeches about the Hangang Renaissance...

Frankly, I didn't expect less from a buldozer-friendly government that already authorized universities to build higher on Seoul's last protected mountains, and agressively sacrificed big chunks of the capital's last greenbelt areas.

At least, let's hope the park itself will be an environmental success.

Seoul Village 2011

* see for instance "남산과 한강 사이… 여의도 크기 서울 용산공원 청사진" (Chosun Ilbo 20110211)