HYPER HYPO SEOUL / UNDERGROUND URBANISM
UNDERGROUND URBANISM Urban Ecology of the Underground
Seoul has one of the highest population density in the world and with almost half the population living within the metropolitan boundary of Seoul, buildable land is scarce. To address this problem, in 2016 the City of Seoul announced plans to expand on major underground developments in key areas of Seoul. The city already boosts 308.8km of underground subway lines which are constantly expanding, and 2,551,365 m2 of subway station area and 25 underground shopping areas totaling 156,934m2. By 2026, the city intends to have a total of 3.3 km2 of underground area developed, which is the almost the size of Central Park in New York City at 3.41 km2. We investigate Seoul’s existing underground urban system to identify the subsurface ecology that exists in parallel to the surface of the city. Transportation infrastructure and shopping malls, public infrastructure and private spaces merges and blurs the public thoroughfares and plazas and enclaves of local communities. The underground spaces no longer depend on the surface programs for its livelihood but instead has become its own eco-system that weaves through the city providing much needed public spaces for shopping, meetings, galleries, events, libraries, playgrounds, and senior rest areas. We hope to identify the formal and informal capitalization of the underground space as a way to strategize on how to expand diversity and urbanism in the new territories yet to be unearthed. sources: https://m.hani.co.kr/arti/area/area_general/774855.html https://www.econovill.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=247140
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, Jihye Park
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