"Where and How will We Live in the Future?"
Urban Architecture Strategy for the Future Transformation of National Space of Korea
Chun Eui Young, architect and director of many urban and architectural events, and former president of the Korean Institute of Architects (KIA), has imagined and explored the future of Korean urban architecture its direction. Looking ahead to a rapidly changing future society, he has been exploring and experimenting with new models of urban space for Seoul and other cities for many years. Summarizing his reflections in concise text, information-intensive diagrams, and concrete case studies, Megacity Nation Korea invites both those who are involved in urban planning and policy discussions, and city dwellers to imagine a better tomorrow for urban architecture.
Over the past centuries of human history, globalization and urbanization which are outcomes of the Industrial Revolution and development of physical transportation have blurred the boundaries between nations, and cities have increasingly become centers of economic activity and social and cultural exchange. Now, closely-connected major cities form megacities and they rather than countries are driving economic flow, Furthermore, the rapid development of digital technologies including artificial intelligence will soon provide another major turning point to global civilization. So what and how should we prepare to create an urban spatial system that can respond to this? In order to transform and innovate into sustainable and democratic future cities, Chun argues that we need to identify the problems and possibilities of our cities and develop research and discourse. His vision of Korea's future cities, ‘Megacity Nation’ strategy that operates the entire national space as a single megacity, will provide a clue and a starting point for Korea to secure its competitiveness against the world's megacities amidst serious social problems such as declining and aging population, and polarization.
Three Questions that Spread Wings to
Imagining the Future of Urban Architecture
This book is based on three questions: Chapter 1, "What transforms cities?", Chapter 2, "How big can cities get?", and Chapter 3, "Where will we live in the future?". Ranging over past, present, and future, the most essential three questions of the emerging transformation of our world provide a detailed pathway for imagining the future of our urban spaces.
"What transforms cities?"
Change has begun, and we need innovation
Chapter 1 introduces the keywords of future urban architecture derived from data mining technology. Focusing on four keywords, Transportation and Logistics, Digital Transformation, Carbon Neutrality, and Population Change, the chapter explains the changes that our cities will face, forecasts the possibilities, and examines examples of future city plans such as NEOM and Telosa.
"How Big Can Cities Get?"
The rise of megaregions in the world and the potentials of the Korean Peninsula
Chapter 2 focuses on the emergence of megaregions as an important theme in the transformation of future urban architecture. Megaregions are a spatial agglomeration which promote economic growth and innovation through economies of scale and the benefits of integration, and gain global competitiveness by sharing diverse cultures and resources. Out of 29 megaregions around the world, the book selected 10 which are in major industrialized countries or in China and Japan which have direct effect on Korea, and named them as ‘the Global 10 Megaregions’, whose size and characteristics are examined. Then their relative competitiveness and capabilities are analyzed by indicators such as population, GDP, business, universities, culture and transportation. Reviewing Korea's national territory by this analysis can draw a conclusion that given the size of the Global 10 Megaregions and the lineal distance between Seoul and Busan, Korea has the basis that can form a megaregion in itself. In other words, he affirms that to view Korea as a single megaregion called Seoul-San is a valid strategy.
"Where will we live in the future?"
Korea's current state and tactics for change
Chapter 3 begins with facing the current state of Korea's national space. Chun's research and mapping of nighttime satellite imagery, regional GDP, economy, university, and transportation infrastructure for Seoul Capital Area, Daejeon-Chungcheong, Daegu-Gyeongbuk, Gwangju-Honam, Buulgyeong (Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam), reveal the polarization between the metropolitan areas and beyond and the issue of local extinction. To deal with this issue, he argues the necessity of a Compact Center that not only offers employment and amusement in major areas of the nation but also makes it easy to connect the country, and where future trends of low carbonization, automation, and servitization are realized, and he also advocates for a reorganized approach to development, where the revenues from the development of the compact center can be shared with the participants. The core strategy of Megacity Nation Korea is to transform the country into a ‘city-state’ system by concentrating central infrastructure in the compact centers and connecting them efficiently.
Case studies beyond imagination
'D-BOT CITY', a Compact Center City Model
How can a Compact Center city model be realized in Korea? For Daejeon-Chungcheong of Korea, Chun presents a feasible Compact Center city model based on analysis of current conditions such as transportation and industry, as well as multidisciplinary model experiments. In the case study of D-BOT CITY, readers will find clues to a sustainable Compact Center city and future city where local and regional areas are connected by future transportation, where housing, education, economy, and culture are accommodated in one place with high floor area ratio, and where natural environment and urban space coexist.
CONTENTS
Prologue: One City, One Nation
What Transforms Cities?
1. Keywords
2. Transportation and Logistics
Future Transportation
Future City Example: NEOM
3. Digital Transformation
Future Digital Transformation
Future City Example: Innovation Park, Telosa
4. Carbon Neutrality
Eco-City
Future City Example: Smart Forest City
5. Population Change
Global Population Trends
Korea Population Trends
How Big Can Cities Get?
1. Global Metropolitanisation
2. Global Megaregions
Megaregions in the United States
Megaregions in Europe
Megaregions in China
Megaregions in Japan
3. Global Megaregions and Korea
Physical Scale Comparison
Global Megaregions Index
Where Will We Live in the Future?
1. Imagining Korea in 2100
2. The Situation in Korea
LBR and Living Infrastructure
City Competitiveness Indicators
Megacity Index of Korea
Measures to Resolve Polarisation
3. Compact Center City Model: D-BOT CITY
Daejeon-Chungcheong Region’s Megaregion and D-BOT CITY
Operating System in Compact Center
Analysis of City Models
Floor Area Ratio Experiments
Compact Center Model Experiments
AI Aided Design Study
4. Megacity Nation Korea
Epilogue: A City in Which We Want to Live
Bibliography
Source
AUTHOR
Chun Euiyoung is the president of the Korean Institute of Architects (KIA) and a professor in the department of architecture at Kyonggi University. In the past, Chun held the positions of director general for Seoul Architecture Festival in 2019, the 3rd Gwangju Foly in 2016 for Gwangju Biennale Foundation, and the Seoul Design Olympiad in 2009. He also served as vice president of the Architectural Institute of Korea (AIK) and chairman of Planning and Public Relations for the organizing committee of the UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress.