From Yeoksam to Jongsam, Citius, Altius, Infirmius

In case you were out of this shapeshifting town over the past few months, a few bits to catch up. The usual mixed bag about urbanism and business, art and culture, life and death..

The good news is that the city has taken seriously the issue of nightlife economy. For those of you who used to know Seoul before the 2018 labor reforms* and struggle to explain to newbies how restaurants took orders after 9 pm and all neighborhoods were alive after 10 pm, help could be on the way. 

The approach is holistic with a transversal pilot across 7 administrations: the Planning and Administration Office, the Economic Office, the Culture Headquarters, the City Transportation Office, the Public Relations Bureau, the Tourism and Sports Bureau, and the Citizens’ Livelihood and Labor Bureau  Regulatory reforms and incentive shall boost 'Night Economy Coexistence Zones' (e.g. around the DDP, Hangang riverside, Namsan), and 25 'Seoul Moonlight Yajang' spots shall enjoy late hour cultural and public transportation. I don't know if the policies are optimal, but I like the intention to help Seoul get some of its mojo back.

Likewise, I'm all for a more balanced urbanism, where people can live, work, and play without long commutes, and on paper, that's what the 'Lifestyle Hub Revitalization Strategy' pledges to do so by allowing mixed-use urban development with - even better - a focus on non-Gangnam areas (e,g. 70 'lifestyle hubs' by 2030 starting with Chang-dong, Seongnae-dong, Junggok-dong to the East, Doksan-dong to the West). Over the past 5 years, Seoul has revitalized 92 station areas, adding over 6.6k public rental housing units, 16k units for young adults and newlyweds. The idea is to further boost affordable jeonse, extend to all 325 stations, and to stimulate activity along key connecting axes (Growth Potential Zone Revitalization Project). But Seoul pushes particularly hard, extending the radius from 250 to 350m around stations (500m for transfer stations), and unleashing verticality (35-floor limit abolished, FAR up to 1300% in areas like Yeoksam-dong or Jayang-dong). 

Seoul's new tripod

I can't help but think of these 1990s-2000s 'new town' ads featuring supersized 'apateu' blocks and gigantic subway station totems towering over undersized cityscapes. Again, this is not a zero sum game, Korea's population is not exactly booming. Besides, supertall towers actually disconnect inhabitants from their neighborhoods. This is potent medicine, and not necessarily good medicine, so drink responsibly.

At least OH Se-hoon is not pushing for claiming bits of Seoul's evershrinking greenbelt or even Yongsan Park for new housing projects (LEE Jae-myung playing it LEE Myung-bak-style on that one).

Left and right, Korea remains addicted to 'budongsan', obsessed with obsolete visions of urbanism born from postwar urgency. BTW fun to roam that Seoul Museum of History expo about 60 years of urban planning:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Stephane MOT (@stephanemot)

At least some old Seoul villages survive and even thrive. TimeOut  even decided that Jongno-3-ga was the coolest neighborhood in the world:

TimeOut crowning Jongno-3-ga

But of course this place is just the disneyfied shell of  'Jongsam' s old self. Yes, outdoor barbecues feel almost like the good old times, yes, some Ikeson dong hanok survived, but no one actually lives in them anymore, and tourists can't experience the real thing.

'#TimeOut dubs #Jongno3ga the world's coolest neighborhood. #Ikseondong disneylandization paid off. Significantly one of the last spots where #Seoul nightlife survived 2018 labor-reforms.' (@theseoulvillage - 20260917) 

Jongno remains a most special place. And between October 1 and 14, just hectometers from Jongno-3-ga, don't forget to pass by KOTE for Nuances' 'Archaeology of the Present'' exhibition featuring 15 artists (Célia BRISOT, Elodie CATHERINE, Zoé CONSTANS, Salomé DUBOIS-HAN, Kämy DOBI, Tim FRANCO, Sébastien SIMON, Alaric HAMACHER, Stéphane MOT, Romain TENOT, Emmanuel L. M. WOLFS, Jung Ran KIM, Pascal BELMAS, Nils BOUVYER, L’ATELIER PIEPRZOV). ICYMI the occasion to see my 'spacetime capsule' or Tim Franco's tribute to Bogwang-dong. 

Seoul Village 2026
Welcome to our Korean Errlines! Follow Seoul Village on Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, Substack, and X/Twitter, follow me on Instagram.
Download 'Seoul VillageS', the free ebook.

* reminder: the measures, theoretically meant to help the little guy, were so radical and sped up that the opposite happened and hundreds of thousands of jobs disappeared even before COVID hit the fan. 

Take a walk on the Seoul side

More good news for pedestrians in Seoul: 10 streets will undergo a "road diet" this year, and twice more shall follow every year.

By "road diet", the metropolitan government means slimmer, curvier, healthier streets, like in this example where one traffic lane is turned into sidewalks:

Now if you look at the first 10 streets, some have already great assets as neighborhood connectors, short yet scenic and / or gastronomic walkways, often already lined with trees. But many have little to tell, like the 'apateu' blocks surrounding them. 

Here's the list, starting with my favorite:

• Saemunan-ro-5-gil (Jongno-gu): between Gwanghwamun and Gyeongbokgung stations, the first parallel to the left of Sejong-daero, backstage for the governmental buildings or the Sejong Cultural Center, but centerstage for such great eateries as my beloved Gwanghwamun-jip (yummy gimchi jjigae below). Redefined by the Four Seasons Seoul, it also signals the beginning of the Baekundongcheon diagonal (see "Baekundongcheon / Gwanghwamun-gil - A River Runs Through It"), and I wouldn't be surprised if that diagonal became car-free in the future...

 

• Noksapyeong-daero-26-gil, Yongsan-gu: known for its antique shops, this elbow connects Noksapyeong-daero and Bogwang-ro.
• Seongsuil-ro-10-gil, Seongdong-gu: a treeless diagonal between Seongsuil-ro and Achasan-ro, and one of the old royal hunting trails - you can tell them because they radiate from where the old stone bridge used to cross Cheonggyecheon / Jungnangcheon.
• Dongil-ro, Gwangjin-gu: further to the West, Northeast Seoul's backbone follows Jungnangcheon from Yeongdong Bridge. Seoul starts with the Southern section, more interesting around Jayang-dong, but very challenging because of that ugly bridge landing.
• Gwanak-ro-30-gil, Gwanak-gu: a stretch lined with trees between Gwanak-ro and Kkachisan Park
• Opaesan-ro-3-gil, Seongbuk-gu: not much to see either between Naebu Expressway and Wolgye-ro, but you already have sidewalks and trees.
• Nowon-ro-1ga-gil, Nowon-gu: a lower section of Gongneung-dong around the school
• Guil-ro-10-gil, Guro-gu: between Anyangcheon and the pack of railways south of Guro Station (Line 1), in Guro-dong.
• Yeouidaebang-ro-44-gil, Dongjak-gu: a scenic walk around Daebang-dong Community Center, and along Noryangjin Neighborhood Park
• Nonhyeon-ro, Gangnam-gu: maybe the city wants to improve the shopping experience of Gangnamites along the vertical axis between Maebong, Yeoksam, Eonju, Hak-dong, and Apgujeong stations. Or to remind them that they have feet, and that they could, for a change, spare the driver and spoil the Jimmy Choos.

This announcement followed series of updates by the city of its urban plans for 2025 issued last Autumn, including this list of zones preserved from demolition and reconstruction within Sadaemun / the fortress walls (Ikseon-dong also included):

Of course, you first notice the spots that WILL be redeveloped, like the Sajikistan I mentioned recently ("The Yongsan itch and the Sajik balm"). And the extension of semi-protected zones around Seun Sangga (Jugyo-dong, Ojang-dong, and Chungmuro 5-ga prolonging the direct neighborhoods listed in the regeneration project), or along Jong-ro near Jongmyo (e.g. Inui-dong)...

... not to mention the irony of seeing the DDP in an area 'preserved from large-scale redevelopment'.

Seoul Village 2016
Welcome to our Korean Errlines! Follow Seoul Village on Facebook and Twitter

Add this page to your favorites

Here comes the sun

Seoul city just published* a Request For Proposals for small solar power plants across the city.

Seoul Citizen's Solar Power Coop will operate the following sites:
- the Gangseo Agricultural and Fishery Wholesale Market in Balsan-dong, Gangseo-gu (16,635 sqm, 1,600 KW)
- the treatment station in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu (3024 sqm, 270 KW)
- the Mangu youth center in Mangu-dong, Jungnang-gu (1,094 sqm, 100 KW)
- the Gangdong Bus Garage in Gangil-dong, Gangdong-gu (895 sqm, 90 KW)
- Dongbu Women's Center (Seoul Women's Foundation) in Jayang-dong, Gwangjin-gu (800 sqm, 80 KW)

The remaining three projects shall be handled by consortia:
- Amsa Water Purification Center in Amsa-dong, Gangdong-gu (10,130 sqm, 1,000 KW)
- Yeongdeungpo Arisu Water Purification Center in Yanghwa-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu (9,177 sqm, 910 KW)
- Gangnam Resource Recovery Facility in Suseo-dong, Gangnam-gu (3,800 sqm, 380 KW)

Overall: 4.43 MW for 45,555 square meters, a classic ratio of 10 sqm for 1 KW.

Nice, but far from the 230 MW announced last may in Seoul's ambitious plan for hydrogen fuel cell power: by 2014, Seoul will boast power plants, plus 102 cells in buildings. Enough to serve 400,000 households.

Well the economics of solar energy are well known, and you have to start somewhere. And anyway, it's good to see Seoul make good use of its roofs, which are also getting greener by the day. I already mentioned a big boost more than two years ago (see incentives and projects in "Seoul Rooftops Go Green"), and this summer, the above pictured Dongdaemun Design Plaza alone has added 20,330 sqm: 55.3% on the tail, 29.7% on the Convention Hall, 14.9% on the Exhibition Hall. Five different species of sedums have been selected: less demanding than grass or other plants for maintenance, sebum is an interesting CO2 trap that also reduces dust concentration in the air.

Now how to fill the 80,000 sqm inside Zaha Hadid's dramatic empty shell? That's yet another challenge for Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Seoul Village 2012
Welcome to our Korean Errlines! Follow Seoul Village on Facebook and Twitter

* "서울시 햇빛발전소 시범사업 제안서 공모 추가 공고" (seoul.go.kr 20120910)

Six lanes of traffic

If you want to open a shop in Seoul, the three most expensive places per square meter are Myeongdong, Hongdae, and Daehangno. And if you consider neighborhoods with the highest total value for commercial space, you get the same trio, followed by Gangnam Station (Cheongdam-dong / Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu), Sillim-dong (Gwanak-gu), and Geondae (Konkuk University, Gwangjin-gu).

Perennial leader Myeong-dong became a shopping mecca under the Japanese occupation, leveraging massive foot traffic between old and new commercial or financial centers (Namdaemun, Chungmuro, Uljiro...), at the feet of the cathedral. That's where the first neon signs were displayed in Korea, where the National Theater was inaugurated in the mid thirties (it reopened a couple of years ago as Myeongdong Theater), and where students have met for generations, now joined by tourists from all horizons.

Gangnam Station is of course a much more recent hotspot. But not the 'hot' kind of hotspot, even if it is close to key neighborhoods. To start with, the name is some kind of a drag: many images come to you when you hear Apgujeong-dong, Cheongdam-dong, Nonhyeon-dong, or Sinsa-dong,but when you hear Gangnam Station, you don't even see an old-style train stationon - just a subway entrance by a highway intersection. This busy business hub has yet to develop its own soul, an identity beyond a crossroads that happen to be where the Hannam Bridge axis meets Line 2. Yes, that's also where buildings grew taller before the rest of Teheran-ro (except for the COEX), and where the first major netcos gave birth to Teheran Valley. But the first real landmark (Kukkiwon doesn't count) is very recent... and I don't know if the new Samsung headquarters can give more purpose to the area: architecturally, the place could have used more "roundness" and openness. In a nutshell: Gangnam Yeok? a good place for business.

All other members of this Top 6 are university areas, with Hongdae leading the pack, stronger than ever. The brand has gained international recognition, but commercial space is becoming prohibitive for smaller fishes, and they're sometimes driven away to nearby dongs by big franchises. Those guys tend to make all popular areas look the same, and that's not what you want for a trendsetting hotspot boasting the ultimate indie spirit. But as long as Hongik University stays here, the fabled Hongdae spirit shall survive. And traffic is not bound to slow down: Hongdae Ipgu is now connected to both airports via the AREX, new infrastructures will bring Sinchon even closer, and the whole area will get a boost from the downtown-Yongsan-Yeouido-DMC business ring.

Daehangno survived even after Seoul National University moved to the other side of the Han river. Better: the move triggered a revolution that turned the historic birthplace of Korean university* into a cultural hotspot, aspiring venues from yet another university neighborhood, Sinchon. From Sinchon to Daehangno to Hongdae...

... Next stop: Geondae? Probably not. The place probably went up in the rankings following the construction of the Star City complex, just south of the university (not in Mojin-dong but in Jayang-dong). A major real estate operation... and the perfect occasion to fill a void for shoppers in Eastern Seoul.

I'd like to finish with Sillim-dong. Neither for its prestige (as the gateway to Seoul National University, with a strong major in law studies), nor for its less glamour, night birds side of the coin (Nokdu-geori): I have a special affection for the place because of its natural landscape, or rather what's left of it. Take out all those ugly constructions and just keep Dorimcheon serpenting peacefully between the small hills at the foot of Gwanaksan, and potentially you've got one of the city's most charming sceneries. Of course, it's probably too late to save this gem: the stream is already covered with concrete, and the future Shillim New Town already destroyed Wonsi-gil... OK time for me to get off my high horse.

Seoul Village 2011
NEW : follow Seoul Village on Facebook and Twitter

* That was long before SNU - a relative newcomer -, Sungkyunkwan a.k.a. Taehak (a charming place to visit).