Seoul - 4.5 Megalopolitanization of Seoul Metropolitan Area: Megacity Seoul
| Understanding Korea Series No.4 | ||
| ← Previous | Seoul | Next → |
| 4) Differentiation of the Urban Space, the Way to a Polycentric City | 5) Megalopolitanization of Seoul Metropolitan Area: Megacity Seoul | 1) The Miracle on the Han River: Accomplishments and Shortcomings |
Development of New Towns in the Seoul Metropolitan Area
Seoul was already at an overcrowded state in the beginning of 1970s. Dispersing the population concentrated in Seoul emerged as the most urgent national task. First, the government developed Banwol New Town (Ansan) as a new industrial city in order to disperse the population and relocate and accommodate pollution creating industries. It moreover built Gwacheon New Town to disperse government’s core administrative functions. No large piece of land for possible development remained in the downtown area of Seoul and the shortage of housing became a serious issue in the 1980’s. Four new towns (Pyeongchon of Anyang, Sanbon of Gunpo, Jungdong of Bucheon, Bundang of Suwon and Ilsan of Goyang) were developed to resolve this population issue. Pyeongchon, Sanbon and Jungdong districts were new towns in existing towns because the development process involved reorganization of existing towns and new residential land development. On the other hand, Bundang and Ilsan were built as independent new towns. However, their dreams of becoming independent towns, Bundang as information and technology center and Ilsan as cultural and international administration center, never came to fruition. The new towns built in the first phase became ‘bed towns’ since more than 40% of their residents commuted to Seoul.
| Specification | Bundang | Ilsan | Pyeongchon | Sanbon | Jungdong |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area (10,000 Pyeong: 1 Pyeong = 3.3058 Square Meters) | 595.4 | 475.7 | 154.5 | 126.7 | 164.5 |
| Number of Houses Built (1,000 Units) | 97.5 | 79.0 | 42.5 | 42.0 | 41.4 |
| Target Population (10,000 People) | 39 | 27.6 | 17 | 17 | 17 |
| Seongnam Pangyo | Hwaseong Dongtan | Gimpo Hangang | Gwanggyo | Paju Wunjeong | Yangju Okjeong | Wirye | Godeok | Incheon Geomdan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area (10,000 Pyeong) | 8.9 | 9.0 | 11.7 | 11.3 | 16.5 | 11.4 | 6.8 | 13.4 | 18.1 |
| Number of Houses Built (1,000 Units) | 29.3 | 40.9 | 60.3 | 31.1 | 87.3 | 60.2 | 42.2 | 54.5 | 92.0 |
| Target Population (1,000 People) | 88 | 124 | 167 | 78 | 215 | 168 | 106 | 135 | 230 |
In 2003, 10 sites of Gimpo Hangang, Incheon Geomdan, Hwaseong Dongtan 1, Pyeongtaek Godeok, Hwaseong Dongtan 2, Suwon Gwanggyo, Seongnam Pangyo, Songpa Wirye, Yangju Okjeong, and Paju Gyoha District were designated as the Second Phase New Towns in order to control the realty price hike in Seoul. The Second Phase New Towns has less accessibility than the First Phase New Towns. Nevertheless, they are designed for sustainable development considering environmental capacity such as avoiding massive scale residential constructions and providing enough green area ratio, strengthening self-sufficiency, and specialization of each new towns.
Concentration of Population in the Seoul Metropolitan Area
‘Gyeonggido’ was one of the very top tier provinces even during the Joseon Dynasty because it surrounded Gyeongdo. About 10% of the nation’s total population lived in the capital area in the late Joseon Dynasty when the country was still a feudalistic agricultural society. This trend continued until the Japanese Occupation; however, after the Liberation the concentration of population in Seoul Metropolitan Area intensified. For instance in 1970 the percentage of people living in Seoul Metropolitan Area increased to 20 % of the total population, to 30% in 1975, to more than 40% in 1990, and it reached almost 50% in 2010 (refer to Tables 3 and 5).
| Specification | 1980 | 1985 | 1990 | 1995 | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Population (A) | 37,436 | 40,448 | 43,411 | 45,982 | 47,977 | 47,279 | 48,580 |
| Population of Seoul Metropolitan Area (B) | 13,298 | 15,820 | 18,586 | 21,204 | 22,216 | 22,767 | 23,836 |
| Population of City of Seoul (C) | 8,364 | 9,639 | 10,613 | 10,596 | 10,373 | 9,820 | 9,794 |
| C/A (%) | 22.34 | 23.83 | 24.45 | 23.04 | 21.62 | 20.77 | 20.16 |
| C/B (%) | 62.90 | 60.93 | 57.10 | 49.97 | 46.69 | 43.13 | 41.09 |
| B/A (%) | 35.34 | 39.01 | 42.74 | 46.11 | 46.30 | 48.15 | 49.07 |
The population of City of Seoul began to show a declining trend after hitting 8 million people in the 1980s and peaking at 10 million in 1990, while the percentage of Seoul City’s population remained constant at around 20% of the total population since the 1980s. On the other hand, the proportion of the Seoul Metropolitan Area’s population increased steadily, and in 2010 one half of the total population is now densely concentrated in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (11.8% of the total territory). The percentage of people living in the City of Seoul has been decreasing since the 1990s, and the percentage of people who live in the Seoul Metropolitan Area has been increasing. Now, the table is turned.
The reason behind this phenomenon is the moving out of the population of Seoul to Gyeonggido province after the 1970s. On average, more than 100,000 people moved to Gyeonggido province every year between 1970 and 1986. In 1994 out of 810,000 people who moved outside of Seoul, 540,000 relocated to Gyeonggido province. Most notably, out of 428,000 incomers of the 5 New Towns 327,000, or 76.4%, moved from Seoul. This means a housing filtering process had been in place: Seoul’s population had moved to the New Cities of Gyeonggido province as the result of the New Town Development, and new comers from other places replaced them.
Despite the low population growth rate of the nation at 1.5% between 1970 and 1995, the population growth rate of Gyeonggi province was extremely high. The growth rates were especially high in the First Phase New Towns and industrial cities: Seongnam (15.0%), Bucheon (10.4%), Ansan (10.9%), Gwacheon (8.2%), Gwangmyeong (10.1%), Gunpo (12.1%), and Uiwang (10.5%). Recently (2005 - 2010), the population growth rates of the Second Phase New Towns situated within a commutable distance of 30 kilometers from Seoul such as Hwaseong, Yongin, Namyangju, Suwon and Paju also showed high rate of increase.
Figure 16 Urbanization of Seoul and the Seoul Metropolitan Area (1985)
Figure 17 Urbanization of Seoul and the Seoul Metropolitan Area (1995)
Figure 18 Urbanization of Seoul and the Seoul Metropolitan Area (2000)
Figure 19 Urbanization of Seoul and the Seoul Metropolitan Area (2009)
In terms of population scale, out of 20 small cities with more than 500,000 people, 9 of them are in Gyeonggido with Suwon that has a population of more than a million (1,104,681). The 8 other cities with more than 500,000 people are as follows: Seongnam (996,524), Goyang (962,297), Yongin (891,708), Bucheon (890,875), Ansan (753,862), Anyang (628,831), Namyangju (569,756), and Hwaseong (532,326). There are also five cities with more than 300,000 residents: Uijeongbu (435,873), Pyeongtaek (431,827), Siheung (421,105), Gwangmyeong (348,214) and Paju (364,223).
The improvement in the transportation system that connects the outer area and Seoul contributed to the Seoul Metropolitan Area’s population growth trend. Other contributors to this trend include the development control policy within the City of Seoul and the Seoul Metropolitan Area development policies such as the New Town Development project that prevented a population explosion in Seoul as well as the building urban industrial facilities that created jobs in Gyeonggido.
Concentration of Industrial and Economic Functions in the Seoul Metropolitan Area
The overpopulation of Seoul Metropolitan Area that began with the Liberation and continues to affect the city today clearly testifies to the existence of serious regional gap. This is not a simple population issue but it also implicates more general issues of imbalanced concentration of all industrial facilities, capital management and administrative institutions. In 1960 24.4% of the national wealth was located in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, but in 1988 the percentage increased to 53.3% passing the half of the total wealth of the nation. The concentration of public institutions in the Seoul Metropolitan Area surpasses 85%, more than 91% of the top 100 companies are headquartered in this area, and 57% of manufacturers are situated in this area. The educational and cultural institutions and living convenience facilities are also highly concentrated in the area. For instance 57.9% of all business entities, 60.6% of all loans and 81.7% of public institutions are found in the Seoul Metropolitan Area.
Of the national gross product of 2,068.8 trillion in 2005, 43.8% or 906.8 trillion was from the Seoul Metropolitan Area. Gyeonggido province’s total (416.7 trillion) was more than that of Seoul (376.5 trillion). The next highest was Gyeongbuk province (8.4%) followed by Gyeongnam province (7.3%) and Ulsan (7.1%). The Seoul Metropolitan Area and the southeast area anchored around Busan and Ulsan comprise the two main economic axis of Korea. The service industry is more important in large cities including Seoul, and manufacturing is more important in other cities. Of Seoul’s total production revenue 79.0% is from service industry and the situation is similar in other large cities: Daejeon (58.9%), Daegu (54.3%) and Busan (53.6%).
