Staging the Development of Seoul for the Future

Abstract

This is an attempt to delineate the developmental stages of the Seoul Metropolitan Region in the next 20 to 30 years and to propose feasible planning strategies according to the different development stages. The time length of forecasts here is not determined by any technical necessity. It is merely to signify the next generation in which we expect to see a new pattern of urbanized community. The developmental stages of Seoul in this paper are described in terms of different patterns of spatial configuration of population prompted by different stages of economic growth. This approach is based on the assumption that urbanization in the developing countries is necessitated primarily by economic development process and that the two problems are interrelated. It is submitted specifically that, until the time when the individual's personal income reaches a certain level, the one decisive factor affecting the location behaviors of the population will be mainly economic motivations and that this level is the line of demarcation of two different sets of urban patterns in these countries. The reason for choosing Seoul, the Capital and the primate city of Korea, is to see the focal point of the problems of urbanization in Korea. In some aspects Seoul may not be a typical case. Yet, in order to do a study of urbanization in Korea in reference to the nation's general socio-economic development process, one must examine Seoul, the center of change and action. In addition, information and statistics about Seoul are in relatively better condition for study purposes.