The reason Placemaking has only recently caught on as a concept and a planning tool in Korea is that traditionally public space – at least in the Western sense of the concept – is not really indigenous  but then again, neither is coffee (which evidently was introduced by a German woman about  100 years ago who took hers with  lots of sugar.   The barristas working in cafes in Samcheong-dong  are a decided improvement).  Shops fronted the street; houses were arranged around a central courtyard and were very much private space. 

 

Many of the public spaces that one encounters in Seoul today are monumental, formal, expensive and not meant to have any fun in whatsoever.

Fun is decidedly not part of the Korean government's  numerous interventions undertaken under its mantle of the World  Design Capital 2010.  They are places to move through , look and marvel at, but not to use, linger in or gather.

The world famous Cheonggyecheon stream (a highway converted to a man-made stream) and the new Sejongro Boulevard which leads to Gyeongbokgung Palace are testimony to that.

Piloting PPS' Place Performance Evaluation Game in Korean

Marronnier Park, (named for the large Chestnut tree at its center) and the streets around it used to be closed for concerts, celebrations and events programmed by and for university students.

But it could perform a lot better as a public space: the street that abuts it, Hyehwa-dong, is 8 lanes wide and cuts the park off from the rest of the University District.

During my visit I spent a half a day with about 40 Seoul National University students and colleagues from the Hope Institute piloting the Korean version of our Place Performance Evaluation Game in Marronnier Park.  We have SNU student and former PPS intern Yunjung Yun to thank for her translation).

Within the space of 4 hours, the SNU graduate students came up with fantastic ideas for how to redesign, program, activate and open up this square so that it served the neighborhood, the hospital staff and patients located across the street,  and provided a venue for the cultural institutions that ringed the park to strut their stuff.

The Asia Creative Academy also is engaged in evaluating, appreciating, preserve and designing enhanced elements of the public realm that still define  and shape urban life in Korea's cities.

I spent the weekend in Seong Buk Dong  with a half dozen designers from the ACA working with them to apply the Power of 10 to revitalizing  the gateway area of a small village within this borough located on the edge Seoul (photos here called Seong Buk Dong) and spoke at a Community Design Forum sponsored by the Borough about the large impact making many improvements at a small scale can have. As it turned out, Mayor Kim is a huge fan of PPS.

Placemaking principles and ideas seem to be resonating with Koreans at this point in time.

Not only with  University Students and their professors (Dr. Zoh Kyung-Jin and Dr. Lee Insung rock the house) but even government funded  institutes like the Architecture and Urban Research Institute, the Asia Creative Academy and the Korean Research Institute for Human Settlements all seem to respect and value  the place based, people driven philosophy of public design  even as provincial, city and federal governments completely eschew it and choose to focus instead of delivering big budget, high profile projects in a top-down completely autocratic manner (like these developments in Anyang).