| Title |
The New Seoul Plan and Development of the Han River and Yeouido Under Kim Hyun-ok’s Mayoralty, 1966-1970 |
| Authors |
성나연(Sung, Nayon) ; 전봉희(Jeon, BongHee) |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5659/JAIK.2023.39.1.145 |
| Keywords |
New Seoul; Seoul Masterplan; The Han River; Yeouido; Linear City; Kyoung-In District Development; Kim Hyun-ok; Cha Il-suk; Korea Engineering Consultants Company; Kim Tai Soo |
| Abstract |
This study aims to comprehend the significance of the New Seoul Plan and the Han River development under Kim Hyun-ok's mayoralty in the late 1960s. As
a result of reconstructing the Han River development process in detail, focusing on the interaction between related parties, some notable meanings were found.
The Han River development was the fruit of transferring the exploitation system of national land and resources in the Japanese colonial period into the
American one. As the full flood control of the Han River became possible through technical aid from America, the Seoul Metropolitan Government(SMG)
began to dream of changing its riverside into an urban space. With the fast development of New Seoul, the development authority of the Han River was
transferred from the ROK's Ministry of Construction to the SMG, and then the Han River began to be 'Seoulized'. As president Park Chung-hee and the
administrative officers of the SMG imagined Seoul's new figure modeled after American cities, the areas around the Han River were reinterpreted as the
proper environment to develop a modern riverside city such as Manhattan, New York. The planners proposed the new city center around the Han River in
order to overturn the old Seoul's mono-centric structures, and tried to realize their ideal linear city model between Seoul and Incheon. Their challenge failed,
however, because the Kyoung-In axis developed from the Japanese colonial period began to decline and the previous geographic cognition on the center and
periphery was so strong. The fundamental change the Han River development brought was the emergence of the new city axis along the Han River. It was
handled as a minor part of the river development plan, but fully implemented because of its compatibility with reality. That axis became the most important
component of new Seoul's space structure. Finally, the Han River development was an attempt to transfer the defense space during wartime to the living space
during peacetime, though the special status of the Han River as a militarily strategic location left its traces in the new city. |