Appointment ceremony of Seoul City Architect / Image courtesy of SMG
The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) announced that Kang Byoung-Keun (emeritus professor, Konkuk University) is appointed as the fourth Seoul City Architect. On June 28, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon presented a letter of appointment to the new Seoul City Architect at the mayor’s office. Seoul General Architect, a private expert introduced by Seoul first in Korea in 2014, is in charge of general planning and coordination of urban architecture policy and spatial environment projects of Seoul. The architect will deal with urban architecture and space projects closely connected with the lives of its citizens from public buildings such as daycare centres and welfare facilities to parks, streets and landscaping.
He graduated in architectural engineering from Konkuk University and completed his doctorate in architectural engineering at the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany. His masterpieces include Hallyeohaesang National Park Oedo Island, Jeju Ecoland, and Gapyeong Petite France. Serving as Seoul Architecture Committee, Urban Planning Committee, and Parks Committee for years, he has a high understanding of Seoul’s municipal administration. In particular, the new Seoul City Architect, a pioneer in research on barrier-free design for the disabled and the elderly, he led the enactment of the Act On The Guarantee Of Convenience Promotion Of Persons With Disabilities, Senior Citizens, Pregnant Women And Nursing Mothers (Convenience Act for Persons with Disabilities) in 1997. The Seoul Metropolitan Government explained that he was regarded as ‘the most well-qualified person to help improve the standard of public architecture and urban space that is directly connected to the lives of its citizens as an expert in urban architecture with both academic and practical skills’. The Seoul City Architect, a part- time employee under the Seoul mayor, will conduct preliminary reviews of general planning and advice on major spatial and environmental projects in Seoul, the cooperation and coordination between divisions of spatial and environmental projects, and information exchange and establishment of a cooperative
system with other cities both at home and abroad over a term of two years from July 2021 to June 2023.