Seoul summerscapes: death, taxes, and budongsan

I'd like to look back to a few urbanistic topics that animated this hot Summer in the city, but let me start with this most recent trip en province.

*

During that lovely Chuseok break in Chungcheongnam-do, we crossed a 'silver neighborhood'. I'd never seen the sign, but the very existence of the label tells a lot. That non-descript suburb felt neither like the kind of ghost towns you see in rural areas, nor like a retirement community, but like a city where people under 70 happen to be absent. At least, in the countryside, you could notice younger generations visiting their gramps for the holidays to help them at what was left of their farms:

Many families farming for Chuseok in Korea countryside: young guns visiting old timers who can barely walk (20160915 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/776275471017218048)

In aging Japan, localities are merging, and to fill millions of empty buildings, signs advertise free rentals, where owners will even pay your utility bills. Korea is also feeling the demographic pinch: many schools are closing, and a few universities shall follow... but still, you can see a lot of apartment blocks under construction in non-booming second to third tier cities, and often in their most rural settings, where land is cheaper. Even if developers manage to sell them today, buyers will have a tougher time doing so in the future.

Yet nowhere is the real estate oversupply more evident than in the capital region: Sudogwon is overshooting by 34.6% with 226,000 apartments too many by 2019, or 46.8% of the nationwide excess*. Significantly, SH changed its name from Seoul Housing Corporation to Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation, confirming a shift from constructing to animating:

SH (Seoul Housing) to be rebranded 서울주택도시공사 from Sept. 1, as focus shifts to urban regeneration (20160830 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/770514127366127616)

But the building phase is not over yet, and in this less than zero game, places like Yongin struggle more and sooner than others:

As expected, Yongin among the losers in Korea's real estate oversupply (20160829 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/770110604992536577) - "After building boom, South Korea girds for housing glut" (Reuters)

At the same time, and as usual, key demographics are protected by local authorities. The only way to help Apgujeong elites sell their overly expensive flats with a profit is to make exceptions to construction rules (e.g. allow very high rise redevelopments and / or reduce the land to be offered for public use), and that's exactly the gifts Seoul mayors made. Both OH Se-hoon and PARK Won-soon, in spite of their pledges to rebalance Seoul's rich and poor neighborhoods, and to stop this urban nonsense...

Seoul mayors Oh and Park both secured Apgujeong elite votes - "Apgujeong real estate hot once again" KJD (20160723 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/756651911223259136)

Of course, the city prefers to communicate about its urban regeneration projects (see "Urban Regeneration: 27 Projects For Seoul"), and the mayor is still going full throttle with his signature Seoul Station 7017. This Summer, the concept has been showcased on Seoul Plaza (as announced by Winy Maas last Spring in Seoul), and featured in CNN's Sustainable Cities special. Judging by how fast the site evolves each time I pass by the neighborhood, 'SS7017' seems on path for a delivery on time for the elections. But its success will also be measured by the positive impacts on all affected neighborhoods - more tasks ahead for the 'grassroot' activists who worked on defusing tensions ahead of the project!

Blue sky over Seoul Square and yes, Seoul Station 7017 #ss7017 #seoul (20160827 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/769446349276262400)

Seoul mayors love to boast about their legacies, and I already drew parallels between the last three,  LEE Myung-bak, OH Se-hoon, and PARK Won-soon (most recently in "Pour ré-enfanter Séoul : trois maires et quelques impairs"). But none had as big an impact as KIM Hyeon-ok (1966-1970), and the best exhibition in Seoul this Summer was arguably** the one devoted to the city's first 'bulldozer mayor' at the Seoul Museum of History:

Seoul's first 'bulldozer mayor' Kim Hyeon-ok (previously Busan mayor) resigned after the collapse of the Changjeon-dong apt (20160810 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/763295834112831488)

Note that the SMH also added Inhyeon-dong to its fantastic collection of Seoul neighborhood monographies, which is not far from KIM Swoo-geun's Seun Sangga, one of KIM Hyeon-ok's iconic projects.

Following Pil-dong's Yesultong festival in May, Jung-gu was definitely an underlying theme for me this Summer. And I enjoyed walking through what was left of KIM Ki-chan's Jungnim-dong with fellow urbanist Valerie Gelezeau, finishing in Yeomcheon Bridge's shoe alley.

I love this house in Jungnim-dong. Too bad it is bound for destruction (20160720 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/755704708577103872)

Speaking of KIM Ki-chan: I learned only last month that two great Seoul photographers had passed away in May: HONG Soon-tai and KIM Han-yong (who donated his collections to the Seoul Museum of History in 2013, leading to a nice exhibition soon afterwards).

Cheonggyecheon alleyways, Seoul 1971. Sad to learn that Hong Soon-tai passed away this year (20160820 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/766890115922735104)

... and so did Kim Han-yong. Here, Daeheung-dong alleyways, Mapo-gu, Seoul (20160820 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/766892185912389632)

Sorry for the tone of this post, but such is predictable Seoul: death, taxes, and 'budongsan'...

We've reached the point when seeing a few old trees spared makes our day. So bravo to Seongbuk-dong residents for stopping the massacre halfway along Seongbuk-ro:

Seongbuk-dong residents protest the removal of old platanus trees along Seongbuk-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul (20160816 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/765452146443558912)

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I couldn't finish these moody lines about vanishing neighborhoods without yet another Gyonam-dong update. As I explained recently to students surveying the area, this was not my favorite Seoul village, and not even a full village at that, but Gyonam-dong didn't deserve that death. And this shouldn't have happened in 2014 Seoul.

I will spare you the heavy slides, and just post one picture and two videos.

The picture is from a tweet (like most illustrations in this piece) about the end of the 'Sinmunno Triangle' between Pyeong-dong and Gyeonghuigung:

The curtain falls for Pyeong-dong, where Seoul dumped its urban recreation museum project - Gyonam-dong (20160810 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/763340100361039872)

The first video is a selection of tweets (timelinelapse?) from 2012 to 2016, about the destruction of Gyonam-dong and the rise of Donuimun New Town (Gyeonghuigung Xii apartments):



The second video is a view from the new staircase built at the top of the new town. You can only see a tiny bit of Seodaemun across Tongil-ro, and of Inwangsan in the distance:




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* see this tweet related to "Real estate market braces for oversupply" (KJD 20160815)
** after LEE Jung-seob at MMCA Deoksugung of course!

Captivating Lee Jung-seob exhibition in MMCA Deoksugung, Seoul (20160806 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/761763045584404480)

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

More about Park Won-soon's pet project, the Seoul Station Elevated Park also known as the Seoul High Line ("Diagonal crossings, High Lines, and Business Verticals (how pedestrians and businesses remodel Seoul... and vice-versa)").

It seems that marketing came up with suggestions for branding, and the good news is that we may not stick to the 'me-too' "High Line". The result could be a 'Seoul Station Project 7017'* reminiscent of the 'Culture Station Seoul 284' it steps across.

7017 echoes the dates of its inaugurations as a motorway (1970) and as a pedestrian park (2017), as well as its height (17 m), and its number of accesses (17)... 

Come on. 7017? I'm sure you could find something more exciting than this. 

As a tribute to the vinos at the origin of the project (those who occupied the walkway that will be replaced by this elevated park), I suggest "The Seoul Vine". After all, doesn't it look like a grape?

Note that exit #1 is Namdaemun Market: the recent demonstration of merchants against the project obviously paid off! It is followed by Hoehyeon-dong (#2, on the other side of Toegyero), Namsan and Hilton Hotel (#3 and #4, which will require an extension), Namdaemun (#5, with another extension), three buildings (GS Building #6, Yonsei Building #7, Seoul Square #8), Seoul Station subway (#9, it seems around the subway exit 9 too), the bus transfer zone (#10), the Culture Station Seoul 284 (#11), the future International Conference Centre (#12), the Airport Terminal (#13), Cheongpa-dong, Malli-dong, and Jungnim-dong (#14, #15, #16), Seosomun Park (#17).

Adding accesses for pedestrians makes perfect sense, but it also means adding many staircases or elevators to the cityscape, and making the main structure look more massive, less aerial than it is - not to mention of course the biomass. Furthermore, nets are considered, maybe to prevent people from jumping or throwing things at the traffic below.

And what about these new extensions towards Namsan and Namdaemun? What's the point of removing Cheonggyecheon overpass or aiming at a spot on the Unesco World Heritage List for the Seoul Fortress if you add more elevated structures next to a landmark like Sungnyemun? 

And what about the new bridge considered to accommodate the 50,000+ cars taking this elevated road every day? How far and how high will it fly?

At this stage, I'm not saying a big NO to this project, which has the potential to be both a lovely ride and an urban nonsense, but in less biblical dimensions than the elevated heresy envisioned a couple of years ago for Seochon (see "No cablecars in Bukhansan, please"). I'm simply saying this: be cautious, think about the long term impacts for the city and its citizens, and don't think you can fix a mess at ground level** by just rolling out a nice rug on top of it.

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* e.g. "박원순 "서울역고가 공원화는 서울역 재생 위한 것"(종합)" (Maeil Business Newspaper - 20150129)
** e.g. see previous episode.

A Retrospective : Kim Ki-chan and the World of Alleys

My two favorite photographers are Korean. CHOI Min-sik, the Master of Busan, catches the soul of Korea and tracks humanity across the globe. His message is social and universal. KIM Gi-chan catches the soul of Seoul and tracks humanity across the alleyways of Jung-gu, Mapo-gu, or Jongno-gu (Junglim-dong, Gongdeok-dong, Dohwa-dong, Haengchon-dong...) His message remains local but also reaches for the universal. Both produced the most vivid and moving portraits of Korea.

I never had the privilege to meet KIM Gi-chan in person, but I clearly remember my first encounter with his pictures, during the winter 1991-92. I was visiting the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Gwacheon for the first time. Enjoying it, but feeling kind of strange in this modern architecture. The cover of his book jumped at me in the museum shop : this is Seoul. This is the Seoul I love but never see in the media nor in the galleries. This is the Seoul many want to hide, to forget, to obliterate, to destroy. Not only the old constructions, but the life that blooms in them and around them, the blood that circulates in those alleyways. At long last, vernacular Seoul. I was so glad that someone not only kept an historical record of it but managed to spread so much joy, empathy, and love around with it.

Kim Gi-chan roamed these mazes for over 30 years, and this retrospective doubled by a series of conferences by experts in photography, urbanism, and sociology provides a very interesting sample : essentially black and white pictures from the anthology "골목안 풍경 30년" / "Thirty Years of Back Alley View 1968-2001", and a few notebooks and manuscripts. For pedagogical purpose, the Museum focused on Jungnim-dong, a hilly neighborhood at the frontier between Jung-gu and Mapo-gu, West of Seoul Station, and most central in the late photographer's work.

Kim Gi-chan died in 2005. Most Junglim-dong hanoks had already died of another kind of cancer, replaced by "apateus" and "villas"*. Seoul ? The city somehow managed to survive, undergoing more mutations and mutilations in the process.

Once again, Seoulites should thank the Seoul Museum of History for its most vital work.

"A Retrospective : Kim Ki-Chan and the World of Alleys" / "골목 안, 넓은 세상 : 김기찬 사진전" (photo exhibition)
Seoul Museum of History - 20100427 ~ 20100530
50 Saemunan-gil / 2-1 Sinmunro-2-ga, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea 110-062
Phone : 120 (Dasan hotline)

Seoul Village 2010

* spectacular change on the before / after aerial pictures : the part that was spared by Samsung Cyber Village Apartments was overwhelmingly transformed, from the U-shaped traditional roofs to the rectangular top of one-room factories.