GK:2.3.3 Urban features
Geography of Korea: II. Population and Living Space > 3. Urban Spaces > 3)Urban features
3)Urban features
Korea’s cities have by and large evolved into administrative centers, providing a variety of services to the surrounding areas. The majority of cities have developed into consumer or commercial cities with very developed administrative and business infrastructures, while since the 1970s the importance of their industrial capabilities have also grown. With industrial development came rapid population growth as people migrated from the countryside to the cities, creating large metropolises, centralized service-providers with specialized functions.
Looking at a breakdown of cities by major industry (determined by calculating the number of residents employed in it; see Table 2-3), one notes that major manufacturing are Gumi, Changwon, and Gimhae in the country’s southeast industrial region as well as cities located in the capital region of Seoul. Hwaseong is a particularly important manufacturing center with chemical, machinery, and automobile factories. Cities with a high concentration of commercial activities, to include producer services, include Seoul Special City, Gwacheon, Suwon, and Daejeon, due in large part to Gwacheon’s and Daejeon’s connection with Seoul and Suwon, respectively, as administrative centers. Though in terms of specialization the financial and insurance industry does not stand out relative to other industries, Seoul Special City, as a regional center, employs a relatively large number in the sector, testament to its role as a regional service provider.
| Industry Type | 1 < Z < 2 | 2 < Z < 3 | 3 < Z |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | Asan, Siheung, Gimpo, Gumi, Yangju, Yangsan, Pocheon, Geoje, Ansan, Gimhae, Changwon, Anseong, Pyeongtaek, Paju, Icheon, Gwangju | Hwaseong | |
| Commercial | Seongnam, Anyang, Pohang, Cheongju | Suwon, Daejeon Metropolitan City | Gwacheon, Seoul Special City |
| Finance and Insurance | Suncheon, Seoul Special City, Jeju City, Tongyeong, Guri, Mungyeong, Mokpo, Masan, Gangneung, Andong, Jeonju, Chungju, Seogwipo, Jinju | ||
| Wholesale and Retail Distribution | Mokpo, Guri, Sokcho, Seogwipo, Suncheon, Seoul Special City, Yeongju, Jecheon, Andong, Jeonju | Hanam | |
| Food and Logding (Tourism) | Jeju City, Gyeryong, Boryeong, Chuncheon, Gangneung, Donghae, Mokpo, Taebaek, Jinhae, Gyeongju | Seogwipo,Sokcho |
Cities with important consumer and wholesale and retail trade industries include Seoul and neighboring Hanam as well as regional urban centers, with Seoul serving as a retail center not only for its immediate environs but for more distant hinterland. The food and lodging industry are very important in the tourist spots of Seogwipo (on Jeju Island) and the eastern coastal city of Sokcho, while it also plays a key role in cities with tourist attractions, such as Jeju City, Chuncheon, Donghae, Jinhae, and Gyeongju. Rather than a classification system based on a city’s key industries, looking at a ternary plotting of cities according to major industries we find that about 48 percent of cities are primarily manufacturing-based, 35 percent wholesale and retail distribution, and 17 percent falling into other categories, such as commercial or finance/insurance (Figure 2-15). However, the service industries are also important in major cities where producer service functions are significant.
However, with the exception of Seoul and Busan, the various functional characteristics of the country’s major cities are fairly on par. This is because as a city grows, its various functions tend towards a balance. From this sense, large cities typically develop into multi-functional urban centers while those cities that tend to be more specialized in their functions are medium or small-sized cities, such as Hwaseong with manufacturing, Jeju’s Seogwipo with retail and wholesale, or Gwacheon with producer services. Korea’s system of centralized urban centers emerged out of the rural to urban population shift and urbanization that came with the country’s industrialization. However, more recently, with the globalization of the national economy, the lowering of foreign production costs, and the expansion of international markets, Korean manufacturing has been moving overseas, and the reduction of domestic manufacturing has also slackened the pace of urban growth. With more recent advancements in transportation and communication along with job specialization, and the tendency towards industries that require face-to-face contact, we have seen the rise in importance of producer services at the expense of manufacturing, with jobs in the latter dropping off severely. With the movement of manufacturing overseas or to the peripheries of major cities domestically, the country’s large cities are moving from production-based industries to consumer cities focused on retail, education and training, and residential apartments. Thus, the salient characteristic of Korea’s urbanization today is the increasing concentration of producer services in major cities or the primate city and the transformation of manufacturing cities into cities based on consumer services.
