Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Shaping suburbia: A comparison of state-led and market-led suburbs in Seoul Metropolitan Area, South Korea

  • Original Article
  • Published:
URBAN DESIGN International Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA), South Korea, is a region where two distinct types of suburbs exist today, new towns developed by the public sector and suburban communities by the private. This article comparatively analyzes Bundang, a state-led new town, and Suji, a market-led community, in the SMA in terms of two key foci. The first is urban form characteristics, which include land use pattern, street pattern and circulation, public open space, built form pattern, and control. The other is residents’ livability and satisfaction, which include public transit service and use and neighborhood satisfaction. Findings suggest that Bundang outperforms Suji in all aspects, demonstrating the benefits and effectiveness of planning in shaping suburbia, while Suji shows many negative signs of sprawl.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12
Figure 13
Figure 14

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The Korea Land Corporation was previously known as the Korean Land Depository and Korea Land Development Corporation. In 2009, the Korea Land Corporation merged with the Korea National Housing Corporation and became the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH Corporation).

  2. These population sizes may not have been the typical case for suburbs in some parts of the world. However, they are quite frequently observed in many Asian countries such as Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and China, those that have gone or are currently going through rapid economic development and urbanization.

  3. As a result of rapid population increase, Suji, originally a township of Yongin County, was promoted to a town while Yongin County became Yongin City in 1996. In 2005, Suji was promoted to a district of Yongin City. Administratively in South Korea, city and county are independent subdivisions of a province. A city refers to an urban area that can be subdivided into districts if the population reaches more than 500 000. A county, more rural than urban, is subdivided into either towns or townships, towns being small urbanized areas and townships rural. As of 2013, Bundang District is a subdivision of Seongnam City. Suji District is a subdivision of Yongin City.

  4. In the 1990s, the Korea Land Corporation executed three Housing Site Development Projects on 550 Ha of land in Suji, which corresponds to 13 per cent of the total area. The projects were an ex post facto measure to the uneven suburban development led by private developers and targeted on supplying residential lands in a more planned manner. Less attention was paid to providing commercial/office and civic uses for self-containment in these projects, which differed from the state-led new towns (Hwang, 2000).

  5. For example, developing a residential community of 500 households required at least 12-m wide entry roads and was not obliged to provide childcare and recreational facilities. On the other hand, a community of 1000 households mandated at least 15-m wide entry roads and supply of the two facilities (Korea Land Corporation, 2000).

  6. According to Chung and Kim (2003), Yongin’s Sprawl Index, defined as the rate of population growth divided by the rate of road area growth, between 1995 and 2000 was the second highest among 206 jurisdictions of South Korea.

  7. We also found that Bundang is a major employment center for Suji’s residents. A total of 12.9 per cent of Suji’s commuters work in Bundang.

  8. Southworth (1997) analyzed form and pattern, character, land use patterns, public open space, street design and circulation patterns, pedestrian access, transit, suitability for children, teens, and elderly, and market success. Lee and Ahn (2003), elaborating Southworth’s (1997) approach, examined form and pattern, land use pattern, public open space, housing, street pattern and circulation design, pedestrian and vehicle access, and unit and block plan.

  9. Lynch’s (1981) performance dimensions included vitality, sense, fit, access, and control; and two meta-criteria which are efficiency and justice. Southworth (2003) suggested the following as measurable attributes of livable urban environment: access, street and path systems, built form, public spaces, activity, natural factors, views, control and others (p. 346).

  10. B1 corresponds to Sunae neighborhood, and B2 to Geumgok and Gumi neighborhoods in Bundang. S1 relate to Poongdeokcheon neighborhood, and S2 to Sanghyeon neighborhood in Suji.

  11. The South Korean Population Census or any other type of social survey carried out by the public sector does not collect any information about housing price.

  12. Another possible interpretation of the lower housing price in Suji may be that the market-led suburban development can lead to more affordable housing options. However, in the long term, it imposes increased financial burden on the public sector, as demonstrated in Suji, especially on infrastructure supply, as well as higher commuting costs and congestion.

References

  • Alterman, R. (eds.) (2001) National-Level Spatial Planning in Democratic Countries: An International Comparison of City and Regional Policy-Making. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • American Planning Association. (2006) Planning and Urban Design Standards. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  • Bae, Y. and Sellers, J.M. (2007) Globalization, the developmental state and the politics of urban growth in Korea: A multilevel analysis. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 31 (3): 543–560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldassare, M. (1986) Trouble in Paradise: The Suburban Transformation in America. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banerjee, T. (1993a) Antiplanning undercurrents in US planning education: Antithesis or ideology? Environment and Planning B 20 (5): 519–536.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banerjee, T. (1993b) Market planning, market planners, and planned markets. Journal of the American Planning Association 59 (3): 353–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, J. (1995) The Fractured Metropolis: Improving the New City, Restoring the Old City, Reshaping the Region. New York: Icon Editions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruegmann, R. (2005) Sprawl: A Compact History. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Chapin, T.S. (2012) Introduction: From growth controls, to comprehensive planning, to smart growth: Planning’s emerging fourth wave. Journal of the American Planning Association 78 (1): 5–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chung, H. and Kim, J. (2003) The spatial distribution of urban sprawl in metropolitan regions. Journal of Korea Planners Association 38 (5): 7–20, [in Korean].

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox, W. (2002) Smart Growth and Housing Affordability. Washington DC: Millennial Housing Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • Demographia. (2015) Demographia world urban areas (Built-Up urban areas or world agglomerations) 11th annual edition, http://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf, accessed 13 July 2015.

  • Ellin, N. (1996) Postmodern Urbanism. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewing, R. (1994) Characteristics, causes, and effects of sprawl: A literature review. Environmental and Urban Studies 21 (2): 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewing, R. (1997) Is Los Angeles-style sprawl desirable? Journal of the American Planning Association 63 (1): 107–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fishman, R. (1987) Bourgeois Utopias: The Rise and Fall of Suburbia. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forsyth, A. (2005) Reforming Suburbia: The Planned Communities of Irvine, Columbia, and the Woodlands. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forsyth, A. (2012) Defining suburbs. Journal of Planning Literature 27 (3): 270–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forsyth, A. (2014) Global suburbia and the transition century: Physical suburbs in the long term. Urban Design International 19 (4): 259–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frank, L. and Engelke, P. (2005) Multiple impacts of the built environment on public health: Walkable places and the exposure to air pollution. International Regional Science Review 28 (2): 193–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frumkin, H., Frank, L. and Jackson, R. (2004) Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities. Washington DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garreau, J. (1991) Edge City: Life on the New Frontier. New York: Anchor Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibberd, F., Harvey, B.H. and White, L. (1980) Harlow: The Story of a New Town. Stevenage, UK: Publications for Companies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillham, O. (2002) The Limitless City: A Primer on the Urban Sprawl Debate. Washington DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, P. and Richardson, H.W. (1989) Gasoline consumption and cities: A reply. Journal of the American Planning Association 55 (3): 342–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, P. and Richardson, H.W. (1997) Are compact cities a desirable planning goal? Journal of the American Planning Association 63 (1): 95–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, P. and Richardson, H.W. (2001) The sprawl debate: Let markets plan. Publius 31 (3): 131–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gyeonggi Research Institute. (2003) Study on Yongin Region. (No. 15) Suwon, South Korea: Gyeonggi Research Institute, [in Korean].

  • Hall, P. (2002) Cities of Tomorrow: An Intellectual History of Urban Planning and Design in the Twentieth Century, 3rd edn. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Handy, S.L., Paterson, R.G. and Butler, K. (2003) Planning For Street Connectivity: Getting from Here to There. Chicago, IL: American Planning Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannscott, L. (forthcoming) Individual and contextual socioeconomic status and community satisfaction. Urban Studies, in press, doi: 10.1177/0042098015574811.

  • Harris, R. (2010) Meaningful types in a world of suburbs. In: M. Clapson and R. Hutchinson (eds.) Suburbanization in Global Society. Bingley, UK: Emerald, pp. 15–50.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hayden, D. (2004) Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820–2000. New York: Pantheon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heid, J. (2004) Greenfield Development without Sprawl: The Role of Planned Communities. Washington DC: Urban Land Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, R.C. and Kim, J. (2000) Global cities and developmental states: New York, Tokyo and Seoul. Urban Studies 37 (12): 2167–2195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hwang, K. (2000) Causes and solutions of sprawl in yongin region. Land Research 11 (3): 115–132, [in Korean].

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, K.T. (1985) Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, A. and Appleyard, D. (1987) Toward an urban design manifesto. Journal of the American Planning Association 53 (1): 112–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jun, M.J., Kim, J.I., Kwon, J.H. and Jeong, J.E. (2013) The effects of high-density suburban development on commuter mode choices in Seoul, Korea. Cities 31: 230–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelbaugh, D. (2002) Repairing the American Metropolis: Common Place Revisited. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, H. and Han, S. (2012) Seoul. Cities 29 (2): 142–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klosterman, R.E. (1985) Arguments for and against planning. The Town Planning Review 56 (1): 5–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knox, P.L. (2008) Metroburbia, USA. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korea Land Corporation. (1997) Development History of Bundang New Town. Seoul, South Korea: Sung In, [in Korean].

  • Korea Land Corporation. (2000) Study on the Sprawling Conditions of Seoul Metropolitan Area and Schemes to Rationalize Land Policy. Seongnam, South Korea: Korea Land Corporation, [in Korean].

  • Korea Railroad Corporation, Korea Airport Railroad, Korea Rail Network Authority. (2012) Statistical Yearbook of Railroad. Daejeon, South Korea: Korea Railroad Corporation, [in Korean].

  • Kunstler, J.H. (1993) The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-Made Landscape. New York: Touchstone.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kwon, Y. (2003) Solving the problems of the Seoul metropolitan region and the construction of the new administration capital city. Journal of the Korean Geographical Society 38 (2): 324–334, [in Korean].

    Google Scholar 

  • Lang, R.E. and LeFurgy, J.B. (2007) Boomburbs: The Rise of America’s Accidental Cities. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, C. and Ahn, K. (2003) Is Kentlands better than Radburn?: The American garden city and new urbanist paradigms. Journal of the American Planning Association 69 (1): 50–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, C. and Ahn, K. (2005) Five new towns in the Seoul metropolitan area and their attractions in non-working trips: Implications on self-containment of new towns. Habitat International 29 (4): 647–666.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J. and Oh, D. (2012) Housing quality evaluation and housing choice using PIF: A case of the Bundang new town housing market in Korea. International Journal of Urban Sciences 16 (1): 63–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Y. and Shin, H. (2012) Negotiating the polycentric city-region: Developmental state politics of new town development in the Seoul capital region. Urban Studies 49 (6): 1333–1355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu, M. (1999) Determinants of residential satisfaction: Ordered logit vs. regression models. Growth and Change 30 (2): 264–897.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, K. (1981) Good City Form. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Madanipour, A. (2004) Marginal public spaces in European cities. Journal of Urban Design 9 (3): 267–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meier, R.L. (1970) Exploring development in great Asian cities: Seoul. Journal of the American Institute of Planners 36 (6): 378–392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohan, J. and Twigg, L. (2007) Sense of place, quality of life and local socioeconomic context: Evidence from the survey of English housing, 2002/03. Urban Studies 44 (10): 2029–2045.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman, P. and Kenworthy, J. (1999) Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence. Washington DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Toole, R. (2000) The Vanishing Automobile and Other Urban Myths: How Smart Growth Will Harm American Cities. Bandon OR: Thoreau Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oxford Brookes University. (2006) Transferable Lessons from the New Towns. London: Department of Communities and Local Government.

  • Parkes, A., Kearns, A. and Atkinson, R. (2002) What makes people dissatisfied with their neighborhoods? Urban Studies 39 (13): 2413–2438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peiser, R. (1984) Does it pay to plan suburban growth? Journal of the American Planning Association 50 (4): 419–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phelps, N.A. and Wu, F. (eds.) (2011) International Perspectives on Suburbanization: A Post-Suburban World? New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, R.D. (2000) Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, H.W. and Gordon, P. (1993) Market planning oxymoron or common sense? Journal of the American Planning Association 59 (3): 347–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roh, T. (2000) Sprawl and Yongin. Yongin Region Research 1: 45–65, [in Korean].

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheer, B.C. and Petkov, M. (1998) Edge city morphology: A comparison of commercial centers. Journal of the American Planning Association 64 (3): 298–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seongnam City. (2013) The Fourth Social Survey in Seongnam City. Seongnam, South Korea: Seongnam City, [in Korean].

  • Southworth, M. (1997) Walkable suburbs?: An evaluation of neotraditional communities at the urban edge. Journal of the American Planning Association 63 (1): 28–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Southworth, M. (2003) Measuring the liveable city. Built Environment 29 (4): 343–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Southworth, M. and Owens, P.M. (1993) The evolving metropolis: Studies of community, neighborhood, and street form at the urban edge. Journal of the American Planning Association 59 (3): 271–287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Southworth, M. and Parthasarathy, B. (1996) The suburban public realm I: Its emergence, growth and transformation in the American metropolis. Journal of Urban Design 1 (3): 245–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, G.L. (1993) Planning beats the market: The case of pacific greyhound lines in the 1930s. Journal of Planning Education and Research 13 (1): 33–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urban Design Institute of Korea. (2012) Urban Design in Korea. Seoul, South Korea: Bosunggak, [in Korean].

  • Wheeler, S.M. (2008) The evolution of built landscapes in metropolitan regions. Journal of Planning Education and Research 27 (4): 400–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yongin City. (2013) The Seventh Social Survey in Yongin City. Yongin, South Korea: Yongin City, [in Korean].

  • Zacharias, J. (2005) Generating urban lifestyle: The case of Hong Kong new-town design and local travel behaviour. Journal of Urban Design 10 (3): 371–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was partially funded by the Pedestrian Environment Evaluation Project of the Architecture and Urban Research Institute, South Korea. We thank Suji District Office for sharing their data with us and colleagues at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities, Singapore University of Technology and Design for their generosity. We are also grateful to Dominic Nishantha Cooray, Susan Kinloch, Wee Kiat Lim, Michael Southworth and the anonymous reviewers for their excellent suggestions for improving the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urban Design and Planning, Hongik University, 94 Wausan-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, 121-791, South Korea

    Hyungkyoo Kim

  2. Architecture and Urban Research Institute, B-301 Acrotower Office, 230 Simin-daero, Dongan-gu, Anyang-si, 431-908, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

    Seung-Nam Kim

Authors
  1. Hyungkyoo Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Seung-Nam Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Seung-Nam Kim.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kim, H., Kim, SN. Shaping suburbia: A comparison of state-led and market-led suburbs in Seoul Metropolitan Area, South Korea. Urban Des Int 21, 131–150 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/udi.2015.19

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/udi.2015.19

Keywords

Search

Navigation