Seoul’s morphology as ‘Apartment Complex City’ shaped by housing development methods

Seoul has materialized a unique built form on its urban terrain through aggressively constructing apartment complexes, a large-scale, single-parcel private territory, over the last half-a-century. The historical formation of apartment complexes differs significantly based on elements such as the development policies in each period, development mechanisms, the degree of public control, and the extent of private engagement. The research will examine the consequences of the entire ‘apartment complexes’ in Seoul and their morphological characteristics, particularly affected by development methods over time. The analysis is composed of (1) basic historical overview on planning policies and development methods that principally encouraged the apartment complex construction in the context of Seoul’s urban expansion since the 1970s and (2) morphological attribute of Seoul’s entire apartment complexes (2,172). The formal characteristics of apartment complexes are analysed in term of such morphological elements as plot (apartment complex as single parcel), building, street and density among others. The morphological characteristic in relation to development method provides insights related to genesis aspects of apartment complex emergence regarding its morphological characteristics. By focusing on morphological aspect, the study intends to examine the spatial manifestation of massive apartment complex building that has formed and transformed Seoul over the modernization year

Intensifying Gated Exclusiveness of Apartment Complex Boundary Design in Seoul, Korea

The proliferation of private residential development is evident worldwide. In Seoul, these developments have distinctive spatial and morphological characteristics. Originally, government housing policies drove the construction of apartment complexes to ensure massive housing supply. Over time, development shifted, becoming more market-driven, aimed at the middle class, and built by the private sector. During the late 1990s, an increase in luxury high-rise apartment complexes increased, reflecting a tendency to live in a socioeconomically homogeneous community and propelling the proliferation of self-contained gated communities. To understand the continually increasing exclusive nature of apartment complexes in Seoul, we examine two areas with apartment complexes of different periods and development methods: Mok-dong, where the 1980s ‘Housing Site Development’ resulted in the simultaneous construction of multiple apartment complexes according to a single master-plan, and Geumho-dong, a neighbourhood transforming by apartment complexes under ‘Housing Redevelopment’ from the 1980s to the present. The research focused on 28 complexes, and measured the surrounding vertical borders, pedestrian paths, and roadways, and access control. Tracing these features over time, we investigated the increasingly exclusive nature and decreasing public nature of apartment complexes, consequences of development for physical and social space during different periods, and degree of public or private intervention

Urban Entertainment Center (UEC) as a Redevelopment Strategy for Large-Scale Post-Industrial Sites in Seoul: Between Public Policy and Privatization of Planning

The decline of inner-city manufacturing industries is a global phenomenon, leaving behind vacant land and brownfield sites in cities. These post-industrial areas with their negative images of dereliction and obsolete urban environments have prompted many cities to implement various redevelopment strategies, among which is the concept of the Urban Entertainment Center (UEC), which combines shopping, recreation, and entertainment, with various public spaces. This study attempts to understand the changes that have been triggered by the revitalization strategy of UEC development in large-scale post-industrial sites in Seoul. Here, Special Planning District (SPD) regulation has been adopted to induce creative and long-term urban developments; however, this has been limited to private high-rise residential buildings. This paper examines two UEC development cases applied along with the SPD in semi-industrial areas for their achievements that differ from former implementations. Our analysis reveals several positive aspects: it provides a sustainable urban infrastructure for the region, overcomes the limitations of the SPD regulation practice, and establishes improved urban environment and design quality oriented toward public interest. The “privatization of planning” has become an issue in redevelopment projects. However, the two UEC precedents that are discussed imply that building cooperative public–private partnerships through a reciprocal process will secure more public benefit overall