The Marmot’s Hole

There is an ongoing movement in Tokyo to stop a large road and the lifting of building heights in Shimokitazawa, a suburb of Tokyo that escaped the bombing of the Second World War. This is relevant to those in Seoul in that have been fighting to save the Hanok and other little parts of Seoul that are historic.To quote the Times:

In cities from New York to Bucharest, the practice of plowing large roads through urban communities has been widely discredited but Tokyo is only just beginning to consider the social costs, after decades of covering its medieval moats and rivers with highways, and replacing tile-roofed dwellings with featureless concrete buildings. “Until now, nobody cared if we destroyed the culture and environment of Tokyo,” said Mikiko Ishikawa, a professor at Keio University here who specializes in urban planning. “People are gradually coming to understand that these things matter, too.”

Many neighborhoods in Seoul have fallen to small developers and owners that simply want to turn their property and green-space into money — often at the expense of what unique character a neighborhood has and air quality, since most trees and grass are paved over. Additionally, as mentioned in the Times Article:

. . . Supporters and opponents alike agree the project is the work of the so-called road tribe. These are politicians who use public works to win votes, and lard their campaign chests with construction-related donations.

This begs comparison to what happens in many places in Korea as well.

Regarding Seoul’s past, it seems almost impossible to recapture how it was, in the past. One current attempt at such is in Insa-dong and the city’s plans to build a five-story shopping mall there, as a means of retaining Insa-dong’s authentic past (believe it or not). This is an excellent example of development masquerading as preservation. The comments to this article at Korea.net are telling:

A five story building with traditional athmosphere..?? Please do not build any multi-story buildings in Insa-dong, you should do the opposite. The area should look traditional with hanok style houses etc. Small is beutiful!!

or:

Another five-story building in Insadong?? Are they crazy? They are ruining the aura of Insadong. Insadong should be about the traditional Korean architecture, and now they are building a mall?? In your article above, the city authorities did not detail their program, because I think they don’t have any program. They don’t seem to know what they are doing. And the bumpy pavements you say? They are part of the scene. Don’t tell me they’re building a highway in there. The city government does not know how to preserve the Korean culture.

or

My family visited Seoul in July. we truly enjoyed shopping and looking around in the tradional markets. please tell the city officials not to destroy the “real Korea” to build just another tourist attraction.

Another interesting twist in Seoul City’s quest to boost “culture” in “concrete-ville” is to build “street galleries”. Naturally, if a private company donates money towards this “development” project, “The city government will also allow advertising copy or company logos on the art works as long as the advertisements do not damage the work’s artistic integrity or detract from public interest.”

Considering such, the message from Seoul City Government seems simple: Money = Korean culture.