Symmetrical Aspects of Urban Regeneration in Seoul

Korea has developed very rapidly since 1980s highlighted with Seoul olympic, and urbanization necessarily incurred. Population grew with increasing housing demands, but old towns could not provide enough land. The old town was already congested, and living conditions fell off. Therefore, new towns outside the old town were planned and built through three sequential phases. This suburbanization brought about heavy load on commuter transportation and air pollution. At the same time, improper infrastructure and amenities turned new towns into bedtowns. To escape from bedtowns, people returned to the old town, and urban remodeling was needed to accommodate adequate living conditions. In doing so, local characteristics were lost. Urban regeneration aroused as a countermeasure to this mishap. In this study, urban regeneration reinforced with smart technologies is suggested to revive lost placeness, communal connectivity, and urban orientation. Gentrification is another important issue to be resolved for the sustainable urbanization. This study focused on symmetrical aspects of the successful urban regeneration.