[Choi Jun-young's Urban Pilgrimage] Expansion and Development of the Seoul Metropolitan Area

Increased Accessibility with Highway and Railway Openings: Most Cities in Gangwon Province Becoming Part of the Seoul Metropolitan Area
Expansion Southward to Chungnam and Sejong City... Changes Beyond Transportation and Housing to Industry
Limitations of Unconditional Suppression and Regulation... Need for Significant Policy Changes
Comprehensive Management Beyond Local Administrative Systems... Consideration of Establishing Central Government-Level Organization

We have become familiar with the term ‘regional extinction’ at some point, but some areas have recently shown signs of change due to an influx of tourists and external investments. Representative examples are Gangneung and Sokcho on the East Coast. Although the overall population size and structure have not changed significantly compared to the past, the changes felt within the cities themselves are substantial. With more visitors coming from Seoul and the metropolitan area, these cities show vibrant activity, especially on weekends.

The Yeongdong region, which once felt distant from Seoul, has gradually taken on the role of a nearby leisure space for day trips or overnight stays, a function that Chuncheon used to serve. With the opening of highways and high-speed railways, accessibility has greatly improved, making it easier for people from the metropolitan area to visit. In line with this trend, capital and people are gathering again, turning these places into areas where vitality and change can be experienced.

Improvements in transportation networks will further strengthen this trend. Once the ongoing construction project of the double-track railway between Yeoju and Wonju is completed soon, Wonju will also become a bona fide metropolitan city. Following Chuncheon, which is connected to the metropolitan subway through the double-track electrification of the Gyeongchun Line, most cities in Gangwon Province will effectively become part of the metropolitan area. While it is natural that metropolitan expansion brings about urban change and development, it also raises the question of where the metropolitan area actually ends.

The metropolitan area continues to expand. To the south, it already includes Cheonan, Asan, and Dangjin in Chungnam as part of the metropolitan living zone. Further south, Sejong City can be considered the practical southern boundary of the metropolitan area in terms of connectivity. Improvements in transportation conditions and changes in industrial locations are driving this metropolitan expansion.

Following the recent high-speed upgrades of the Jungang Line, Jecheon City in Chungbuk, and with the planned partial integration of the Jungbu Inland Line this year, Chungju City in Chungbuk will also be included in the metropolitan transportation network, further expanding the metropolitan area beyond the administrative boundaries of Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province. The term ‘metropolitan area’ first appeared in the 1960s when national land planning was established. At that time, there was discussion about defining the metropolitan area based on the Han River watershed rather than administrative districts, which included places like Chungju and Wonju. After 50 years, these areas are once again becoming regions directly influenced by the metropolitan area.

The metropolitan expansion is ongoing not only in transportation and housing but also in the industrial sector. A notable feature is that this is more about qualitative change than physical or quantitative expansion. For a long time, various regulations strictly controlled the establishment and expansion of manufacturing facilities in the metropolitan area. Even if headquarters handling planning and finance were located in Seoul and the metropolitan area, production facilities were generally situated in regional industrial complexes. The barriers of distance and time served as a support for local areas.

However, since 2010, with the advancement of industrial structure, the demand for highly skilled personnel has increased, causing this segmented structure to begin collapsing. Companies, realizing the difficulty of securing or attracting skilled workers in regional areas, have started to enter the metropolitan area. Functional separation is underway as design and research and development (R&D) departments, previously located near business sites, relocate to Seoul and the metropolitan area. Improvements in transportation networks, represented by high-speed rail, and changes in communication networks have made this possible.

In step with changes in large corporations, partner companies are following a similar path. For companies that have long operated global value chains (GVC), overcoming such domestic spatial barriers is not difficult at all.

Discussions on how to handle Seoul and the metropolitan area, which have developed despite various constraints, have so far focused on relocating public institutions and expanding various projects for regional development, based on maintaining or strengthening metropolitan regulations. However, these efforts over the past 50 years have shown their limits. It seems more accurate to say that the flow of the times has led to this outcome rather than a lack of effort or wrong direction.

It is necessary to shift the focus to how to properly manage the metropolitan area, which is continuously growing while acknowledging reality. We must recognize that rather than development being suppressed by regulations, indiscriminate development is actually occurring. A drastic policy change is needed?not unconditional suppression and regulation, but systematic measures that can maximize effectiveness. Supporting metropolitan growth to lead Korea’s overall growth and creating a system where the fruits of growth are shared nationwide would be reasonable.

Additionally, it is worth considering the establishment of a central government-level organization that can comprehensively manage the metropolitan area, moving away from the local administrative system based on administrative districts. It is becoming increasingly clear that the metropolitan area, which is integrating into a single living zone, cannot be effectively managed and operated by past administrative boundaries. There may be resistance arguing that this goes against local autonomy. However, local autonomy is not an untouchable sanctuary that must be upheld unconditionally.

It is time to consider what is more efficient and beneficial to residents. Although terms like megacity and super-regional economic zone are being discussed, without thoughtful consideration and implementation of a system to manage and operate the already formed vast living and economic zone of the metropolitan area, such attempts will struggle to achieve meaningful results.

It is time to move away from the perception that metropolitan expansion is something to fear and block. We need to shift from spatial distinctions and distances of the agrarian era to regional policies befitting one of the world’s top 10 economies.

Specialist, Yulchon LLC