Korean suburbs – a great place to live?

Written by Reurbanist // September 24, 2012 // Posts // 7 Comments

The American suburban development model has suffered fierce criticism over the years as it has been blamed for a wide range of problems such as damaging the environment, crippling the economy, and most of all, ruining our personal health [1]. On the other side of the globe, Korea has managed to come back from a war-torn nation to one whose development story has been benchmarked by the United Nations Development Programme as one for third world countries to follow.

Unlike the crafters of the first American Dream, the architects and city planners behind Korea’s growing suburbs were sure to design them in a dense, sustainable, transit-oriented approach where residents, tourists, and newly arrived foreigners do not need to rely on a car to get around. However, there are a number of cases where the physical design of these suburbs are not designed to be human-centric and often make it a less than a comfortable experience to walk in.

How different are these densely packed suburbs compared to America’s suburbs?

How do millions of residents, tourists, and foreigners live day-to-day in them without having to own a car?

What can western city planners learn from them?

The American Suburb vs The Korean Suburb

Firstly, Korean suburbs are about 4 times more dense than their American counterparts. When compared, New York City’s borough of Queens has a similar gross density to Seoul’s suburbs.

However, when comparing the net densities of Korean suburbs versus those of the U.S., they can range anywhere from 10 to 15 times more dense than the typical U.S. suburb. For example, there are as many as 61,500 people living within one square kilometer, or 157,450 people per square mile in Bundang, one of Seoul’s first planned suburbs. That’s almost 13 times as many people as New York’s Levittown of 4,900 people per square kilometer, or 12,500 people per square mile.

Secondly, Seoul’s suburbs have grown at a rate quadruple that of New York’s.

Even though New York’s metropolitan area added 3.5 million people from 1980 – 2010, Seoul’s metro grew by 10 million.

Because of Seoul’s rapid population growth during the 1980s and ‘90s, city planners sought the creation of new suburban towns that would relieve the city of its housing shortage problem. Unlike American suburban town developers such as William Levitt, Korean suburban new towns were designed much differently.

Bundang – Seoul’s First Planned Suburb

Built in the 1990s, Bundang was one of Seoul’s first master planned suburbs that was built as a response to a severe housing shortage and has generally been considered a success.

Similar to the post-World War II housing boom in the United States and Levittown’s single family home “cookie-cutter” style, there are a number of standardized high-rise apartment complexes that define the skyline of Bundang. One of these major complexes is located in proximity to Bundang’s Jeongja subway station and will be discussed later (referred to herein as the Residential Study Area).

Like other Korean suburbs, Bundang is dense (net population density of 61,500 people per square kilometer, or 157,450 people per square mile), features lifeless boulevards devoid of pedestrian activity, and is home to vibrant third places that are extremely pedestrian-centric in their design.

However, unlike American suburbs, the retail and entertainment amenities found in Bundang and other Korean suburbs often take on a different form from the traditional American town center, Main Street U.S.A. model that caters to the automobile.

Bundang – Retail / Entertainment Amenities

Bundang is home to a diverse range of amenities that feature retail, entertainment, sports, and cultural venues that are responsible for making it a “suburban center.” A 2005 study found that because of the proximity of these amenities, Bundang (and Seoul’s other suburbs) has a decreased dependence on Seoul for commercial and entertainment related trips [2]. In other words, suburban residents who live in Bundang tend to stay in the suburb to spend their money in the local economy instead of travelling to Seoul.

Bundang’s AK Plaza Entertainment District is one of the suburb’s primary retail and entertainment areas and acts as a town center. At the heart of this town center is AK Plaza, a Korean style department store.

Korean department stores often serve as a suburb’s town center and act as another third place where community members can meet their friends to grab a drink, go shopping, or just hang out. They are not like the big box Macy’s or JC Penney’s that we are familiar with in the U.S. Instead of integrating seas of parking and being horizontally orientated, Korean department stores are vertically laid out across 6-10 floors and often integrate entertainment (like movie theaters or small theme parks), food and beverage options, and cultural amenities.

Another Reurbanist post on Shinsegae’s Centum City, a 14 floor department store that features a rooftop park and driving range. Most Korean department stores follow a similar merchandising layout, but are now trying to differentiate themselves by integrating unique retailers, entertainment, and design concepts.

The pedestrian districts surrounding these department stores are unique because car access is restricted and space is solely dedicated to pedestrians. Buildings range in height from 4-7 stories and are home to a number of restaurants, bars, lounges, karaokes, DVD / PC / and cafe rooms, cafes, convenience stores, hotels / motels, and more [check out the street view corresponding to view number 2 in the map above]. Some suburban centers even feature late night entertainment including (but not limited to) Korean and western style nightclubs.

To give you a better sense of what it feels like to walk in one of these retail / entertainment town centers, the short video below provides a walkthrough with narration in English. You can see the number of attractions, the density, and most importantly, the sheer volume of people enjoying the space.

The Adobe Flash Player is required for video playback.

Get the latest Flash Player or Watch this video on YouTube.

Another common sight in Korean retail environments are chic cafe streets that are defined by street trees and popular cafes and restaurants.

These streets are becoming popular meeting places that integrate both boutique retailer shops that cater to women aged 20-39, as well as a diverse assortment of the newest restaurants, bars, and cafes.

Similar to Seoul’s Garosugil, Bundang’s Jeongja Cafe Street is home to high rise mixed use buildings that feature retail, restaurants, banks, and other related services on floors 1-3. Higher floors are home to a number of private education institutions like English, music, dance, and golf academies. Since Koreans are obsessed with sending their children to some type of “hagwon” ( private after-school academy), these types of institutions are littered throughout the Korean built environment.

Between these very accessible pedestrian only entertainment districts, cafe streets, and other amenities, those living in the suburbs have a place to go for their shopping and entertainment needs without having to rely on the city (Seoul) for these kinds of trips.

As these Korean suburban retail and entertainment concepts are somewhat unique for American city planners and developers, the method in which the suburbs obtained their high densities should also be a new concept for American suburban developers to consider.

Bundang Residential Study Area – Aerial Views

As can be seen in Bundang’s Residential Study Area below, residential development in Korea’s suburbs and inner city takes the shape of high rise standardized apartment buildings that are at least 20 – 30 floors in height.

From the aerial view, it is easy to see that there is plenty of space dedicated to the automobile as there are large swaths of parking lots that separate each of the apartment complexes within the Residential Study Area. An analysis of the street view of this area clearly illustrates that a high percentage of public space was designed solely for vehicle traffic rather than pedestrians.

Bundang Residential Study Area – Street Views

Unlike planning trends in western countries where mixed-use, main street development face the street in order to create walkable, lively street environments, most suburban Korean streets are solely utilitarian in their purpose of transporting people from point A to point B without any acknowledgment of sidewalk or pedestrian activity. This is mostly caused by residential apartment developers who choose to face their groups of single-use buildings inward towards tenant parking lots, while surrounding their private property by rows of greenery that create a clear delineation between the public realm, the street, and the residential areas themselves (as seen in image 3 above) – ultimately, the developers are allowed to build high-rise gated communities with no respect to the public realm, similar to the vertically oriented Mega Mansions in Japan.

Key Lessons

While there may be no clear answer to as whether the Korean suburbs may thrive in the future compared to the current state of American suburbs, there are certainly a number of key takeaways that western developers and city planners can learn from their example.

1. Newly planned suburbs with a high enough density can be livable to support an efficient transit system where cars are not necessary…BUT, they must be planned for people.



Typical subdivisions outside of central cities in the U.S. were planned for low density and were solely created for single family homes.



Seoul’s suburbs are one of many examples how higher density suburban communities can be designed by creating larger subdivisions.



Despite the Korean suburbs’ ability to support an efficient subway system that extends well beyond the city’s borders and a frequent bus system, they were not designed to be pedestrian-oriented. Future planning of suburbs that wish to be livable should be designed with human-scale as one of their first priorities.



As Jan Gehl discusses in his interview when designing cities, “You have to start with the people.” He goes on to elaborate how cities like Venice are great places because they can be enjoyed while moving at a speed of only 3 miles per hour. On the other hand, places like Korea’s suburbs embrace a “50 mile per hour architecture scale” and are terrible for biking and walking since they are not places where one would want to move at 3 miles per hour. Take for example, this street corridor where few would enjoy a leisurely stroll or waiting for the bus.



2. Density needs good urban form in order to have an impact

As noted by the Atlantic Cities article that discusses a fairly recent study on Seoul about smart growth, suburban densification alone may not discourage automobile usage. However, I agree with the Atlantic Cities author when he states:

What’s important to remember about smart growth is that density is only one of several elements for its success. Organizing space in a way that encourages alternative transportation, particularly by placing origins near destinations, is critical too.

This leads me to my next point…



3. Density should be achieved without creating dead / lifeless urban environments that are not pleasant to walk or ride a bicycle.

Walkability has become the new trend as it has proven to yield many benefits.



A number of Seoul’s suburban main streets can best be described by a number of lifeless boulevards that are unwelcoming for anyone but automobile traffic [i.e: 1 [1a], 2 [2a], 3 [3a]]. They are unappealing and make people driving by in cars feel sorry for those waiting at sparse bus stops. Pedestrians and transit riders are forced to walk along dead and undesirable streets that can be susceptible to crime since there are no store owners in close proximity that can watch the street.



Seoul’s suburban high rise apartment complexes are necessary to create density, but they should have been regulated by urban planners to ensure they are not developed like gated communities. Instead, they should have been integrated with nearby main streets by including retail ground floor uses to activate areas where transit / bus stops are located.



4. Pedestrian-only town centers allow for a denser and livelier environment of multi-floor, mixed-use buildings since pedestrians do not have to worry about getting hit by moving vehicles.

Despite the growing trend to retrofit American suburbs into walkable main street style town centers, Korean suburban centers based around vertically laid out department stores may offer an alternative that could provide for denser and livelier retail and entertainment hubs. However, for retail to survive in pedestrian only environments, population density and foot traffic counts would need to approach the levels seen in Asian & European cities.

APPENDIX

**efficient transit system: the subway/LRT and bus system runs on a frequent enough schedule where customers do not have to check transit schedules when making plans or appointments. If living in a neighborhood with an efficient transit system, customers should not be upset if they miss their subway/LRT or bus since waiting for the next one is not a hassle.

In contrast to the transit system that serves the Korean suburbs, Long Island’s Suffolk County Transit authority services most routes, they run on a one bus per hour policy for a number of their schedules that makes planning and scheduling things slightly inconvenient.

ENDNOTES

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Cul-Sac-Syndrome-Unsustainable-Bloomberg/dp/1576603202 & http://americancity.org/daily/entry/sympathy-for-the-suburbs

[2] http://www.arch.columbia.edu/files/gsapp/imceshared/sy2065/sdarticle.pdf