OUTH KOREA

Sustainable city seol

CREATED BY: SAURABH BAUNTHIYAL (2015-2019) S.D.G.I

 Seol
The city is located just 35
miles south of the Korean
Border and has a
population of around 25
million people- about half
of the national
population. The South
Korean economy is the
13th largest in the world
by GDP, meaning it is well
positioned to consider
becoming much more
sustainable.

Despite the threat of

missile and nuclear
attacks from the North,
resuming a war that has
never technically finished
(just like india & pak),
Seoul is an incredibly
technologically advanced
city. The home of
Samsung and LG is using
some of that technology to So what has Seoul been doing to become a more sustainable city,
make it the most
sustainable city in Asia on
and what does it plan to do in the future?
the 2015 Sustainable
Cities Index.
Seoul’s History
To look at Seoul’s potential to be
sustainable, looking through their
past is a good place to start.
Seoul has developed extremely
quickly since the Korean War
armistice in 1953 and the
environment has suffered because
of it. City sprawl and rapidly
increasing emissions since the 1990s
has created a lot of air and water
pollution that the city is only now
dealing with.
In South Korea, urbanization grew
from 35.8% in 1960 to 85% in 1995
with a huge amount of the
population heading towards the
country’s capital, so it’s perhaps not
much of a surprise that the city
expanded almost uncontrollably.
Predictably, emissions also rose to
match levels seen in many of the
larger industrial Western European
cities. In recent years, however, that
has changed, and Seoul has taken a
much more environmentally-friendly
and more sustainable path as it
moves towards the future.
Technology
South Korea aims to make its
Capital reliant on technology. It
aims to make public transport
more accessible and
convenient, make electric cars
more attractive with charge
points all over the city, and be
able to control many aspects of
the home all through the use of
a Smartphone.
The first concept,
an Aerotropolis, can be characterized as a city that is defined by the
This is based on the concept of
centrality of its airport infrastructure. Historically, airports were constructed
the ‘Ubiquitous City’ सव ापी at a considerable distance to city centre's, and seen as somewhat of a
nuisance, with land values declining significantly in proximity to the airport.
शहर. Information that can However, the Aerotropolis model lays a new emphasis on the airport, due
shape the mindset of residents to its importance in the transit and transport of people between cities and
the consequent connectivity of the urban entity to a broader geography
to one that is more
environmentally conscious and
form their lifestyles to become The second concept,
eco-friendly is available to The Ubiquitous City (U-City), can be defined as a city that applies a
substructure of "ubiquitous computing" to the functionality of its urban
everyone anywhere and at systems, and can be contextualized as the integration of information
anytime. For a city that is home systems with social systems: every device, component, and service within
to technological giants, it makes the city is linked to an information network, largely through wireless
sense to look towards networking channels. This coordination between the various components
allows for greater efficiencies and synchronization to be realized. The term
technology to help the city "Ubiquitous City" is broadly recognized as a distinctly Korean concept, and
become more sustainable! Songdo is to be most emblematic of this phenomenon.
Songdo
Songdo is a brand new city that Seoul is building near Seoul airport. It is designed to be a ‘smart city’ that will use
technology to become sustainable that includes a state-of-the-art waste management system and green buildings. 40%
of the area of Songdo has been designated as green public space with much of the Songdo lifestyle built around its park
space.

Waste is perhaps the most unique aspect of Songdo. Waste is taken directly from kitchens of residents to a waste
treatment plant through a series of underground pipes where it automatically sorts, deodorises and treated to reduce
its environmental impact, completely cutting out the need for waste collectors and helping to keep waste off the streets.

The ‘Greenbelt’
Reducing the urban sprawl that was
so common and almost out of control
in the last few decades of the 20th
century was a major priority for Seoul
and the South Korean Government.
Which is where the ‘Greenbelt’
surrounding the city comes into play.
By placing a large area of greenery
around the city, development can be
halted and city planners have to look
up for solutions to the growing
population. The greenbelt currently
covers 13.3% of the Seoul
metropolitan area and comes with a
lot of environmental and health
positives.
The ‘Greenbelt’
Land use surveys are basic
steps in the management and
planning of the city. According
to 2010 Biotope Maps, land
use in Seoul consists of 31.9%
forest and open space, 18.9%
residential area, 13.0% mixed
residential and business area,
10.5% transportation facilities
area, 8.1% river, stream, or
wetland, 5.9% commercial and
business area, and 5.1% public
facilities area, etc. The spatial
distribution of land use shows
the how the built-up areas
have developed in accordance
to the city's key
natural features. In particular,
the hilly areas around the
mountains and the long
stretch of waterfront have
always been important issues
for city planners with regards
to the scenery and the
population density of Seoul.
Public Parks
As of 2012, the total surface
area of public parks within
Seoul's administrative area is
about 170㎢, amounting to
about 16.2㎡ per resident.
The number of parks in Seoul
increased dramatically from
393 to 2,045 in the years
between 1974 and 1983.
Today, there are a total of
2,643 parks in Seoul. Park
area per person generally
decreased, because the
growth in population greatly
outmatched the growth in
park area. The recent years
been seen exceptions to this
general trend, due to the
city's population decline.
Urban natural parks are the
most common type of parks in
Seoul, making up 38.56%
followed by
neighborhood parks at
25.45%, natural parks at
23.20% and other types of
parks at 9.31%.

China
is the reason behinds South
Korea’s air pollution.
To the untrained eye, it seems like a foggy
day in Seoul. The air is thick enough to
taste and the visibility is just meters. Out
of the haze emerge businessmen hurrying
to work, women heading to the shops,
mothers and children on the school run.
Even in this fashion conscious city, they
are all wearing the same thing:
surgical style masks,
as if scared to show their faces.

On the streets, fear is indeed in the air, but

killer dust
this is no fog. It is the same
that has helped make South
Korea one of the world’s most
polluted countries and has
caused up to 18,000 deaths in
just one year, according to the
World Health Organization.

A 2018 study by the Ministry of

Environment found 97 per cent
There are signs Seoul is listening. On Wednesday, the national assembly passed of Korean adults felt physical or
several bills that paved the way for a 3 trillion won (US$2.65 billion)
psychological pain due to dust.
emergency fund to tackle the problem and designated fine dust as a social
Sixty per cent thought the problem
disaster.
was “serious” while another 30 per
Last month, the Special Act on the Reduction and Management of Fine cent thought it was “extremely
Dust was passed, granting the government the ability to limit the use of serious”.
vehicles, coal-fired power stations and building sites.
Scientists say that prevailing “It’s crucial that both
countries come to the table
winds carry dust and together to solve this
problem cohesively,” said
air pollutants from Jang. “South Korea has
made it its goal to decrease
the deserts of pollutant emissions by 30
per cent by 2022, and China
Mongolia through has committed to lowering
its PM2.5 to the standard
China and on to South level of 35g per cubic meter
by 2020.”
Korea.
They say an increase in industrial
pollutants and intensified
desertification in China in recent
years has made the problem
worse for South Korea.
“Our country has a correlative
relationship with China in terms
of PM levels, meaning that dust
formulates simultaneously or in a
similar range of time to one
another,” said Jang Im-suk, the
director of the Korea
Environment Corporation’s
atmospheric measurement team.
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