HYPER HYPO SEOUL / REPUBLIC OF COSMETIC SURGERY
REPUBLIC OF COSMETIC SURGERY Urban Ecology of the Cosmetic Surgery Tourism in Gangnam
According to the 2017 International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery(ISAPS) global statistics report, South Korea had the highest per capita plastic surgery nation in the world with 13.5 out of 1,000 people having had plastic surgery and is responsible for 25% of the global plastic surgery market. The Gallup Poll states that nine out of ten Koreans think “how we look is important in our life” and the Korean government has identified cosmetic surgery and dermatology as a key industry to fund and support. Gangnam district’s Apgujung-dong and Sinsa-dong is the global center of cosmetic surgery market where building after building are filled with breast augmentation, liposuction, eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty, rhinoplasty, botulinum toxin, hyaluronic acid, hair removal, nonsurgical fat reduction, and photo rejuvenation service providers. Korean’s obsession with how we look has become a powerful economic market force that has reshaped the urban fabric of one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Seoul. We plan to investigate the urban ecology of the cosmetic industry to identify the urban market structure of cosmetic tourism. Not only the clinics but also the tour agencies who organize the packages for foreign tourists from China, Japan and the various South East Asian countries, and the network of hotels, restaurants, hair salons, facial clinics, and shopping routes establish an urban system that has become an important national export industry. The urban network is highly calibrated to allow plastic surgery to become a vacation package that is constantly diversifying to promote a continuous flow of international currency into Gangnam, no matter the international politics. We hope to identify the spatial ramifications of such a global yet local industry.
sources: https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20170930033300017 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/korea-plastic-surgery_l_5d72afb0e4b07521022c00e1 https://www.economist.com/banyan/2013/09/06/a-popular-look https://www.gallup.co.kr/gallupdb/reportContent.asp?seqNo=1097
Seoul National University Graduate School of Environmental Studies Dept. of Landscape Architecture + Graduate Program for Urban Design URBAN TERRAINS LAB / Program Director, Yehre Suh / Investigator, Seung-Ae Han
3