Seoul's approach to urban planning.
Seoul experienced a tremendous rapid growth and change over the time of the twentieth century. Though it is impressive, the abrupt and phenomenal growth has resulted in today's intractable problems virtually in front of the city administration such as transportation, environment, housing, infrastructure, social welfare and other public services.Since they are so intense in an unusual compact, seoul embodies one of the most acute contemporary urban challenges.
Most cities surrounding seoul is beautifully dense maze of high-rise apartments shooting up in and around Seoul. The MOD (Ministry Of Defense) allegedly has intervened quite a lot in the design of the urban space and the apartment design itself. The urban planning in Seoul is mainly for the defense of the city itself. All the national infrastructure are connected to seoul and vice versa which gives them substantial advantages in conducing war.
Since the Second World War, South Korea (hereinafter Korea) has achieved remarkable success in reducing poverty parallels. But behind average growth and progress, Korean housing has experienced serious problems. The disparity is great between housing need and supply. This imbalance particularly affects the poor, since they have the fewest resources to compete in the market for affordable housing. Due to this severe housing shortage, owner-occupation has declined, renting has become more common, and overcrowding is endemic. Most important is that there has been an increasing polarization in housing conditions between the well-off and the worse-off. The issue of housing most has rose to problems like in the case of squatter towns. Other than that, other problems such as traffic congestion, increase in pollution, overcrowded and etc. In contrast, the goverment has provided more taxis, buses, and subway stations to help reduce the problems and to make it more convenient for people travel from on place to another.
Figure 1. Increases in Car Ownership Paralleling Growth in Real Per-Capita Income in South Korea, 1970–2002
(in constant, inflation-adjusted 2004 US dollars)
Most cities surrounding seoul is beautifully dense maze of high-rise apartments shooting up in and around Seoul. The MOD (Ministry Of Defense) allegedly has intervened quite a lot in the design of the urban space and the apartment design itself. The urban planning in Seoul is mainly for the defense of the city itself. All the national infrastructure are connected to seoul and vice versa which gives them substantial advantages in conducing war.
Since the Second World War, South Korea (hereinafter Korea) has achieved remarkable success in reducing poverty parallels. But behind average growth and progress, Korean housing has experienced serious problems. The disparity is great between housing need and supply. This imbalance particularly affects the poor, since they have the fewest resources to compete in the market for affordable housing. Due to this severe housing shortage, owner-occupation has declined, renting has become more common, and overcrowding is endemic. Most important is that there has been an increasing polarization in housing conditions between the well-off and the worse-off. The issue of housing most has rose to problems like in the case of squatter towns. Other than that, other problems such as traffic congestion, increase in pollution, overcrowded and etc. In contrast, the goverment has provided more taxis, buses, and subway stations to help reduce the problems and to make it more convenient for people travel from on place to another.
Figure 1. Increases in Car Ownership Paralleling Growth in Real Per-Capita Income in South Korea, 1970–2002
(in constant, inflation-adjusted 2004 US dollars)