[Walking Through Seoul]Where Is the Business Center of Seoul?

Importance of Central Business Districts as the "Face of the City"
Seoul’s Historic Center Mirrors London and Paris,
With Yeouido and Gangnam Emerging as New CBDs
Gangnam Ranks 8th Globally
Seoul Poised to Join Cities with Two Global CBDs

It is December 2024. Five years have passed since the outbreak of COVID-19. Time always flies, and while there are many images that remind us of the past, there are especially unforgettable images when recalling early 2020. Among them, the sight of the usually bustling streets of Manhattan, New York, lying empty stands out particularly. As we approach 2025, many cities have largely recovered their former appearances, but the effects of the pandemic have not completely disappeared. In Central Business Districts (CBDs) like Manhattan, vacant offices have increased, while the number of tourists has returned to pre-2019 levels, leading to a shortage of hotels in the city center. This phenomenon raises questions about how CBDs in cities around the world will change and adapt in the future. These questions are posed not only to Manhattan but also to nearly every city worldwide that includes a CBD, including Seoul.

Before seeking answers to these questions, it is necessary to reflect on the importance of the CBD in a city. The answer is surprisingly simple. The CBD is the face of the city. It reflects the city’s economic and social vitality. The density of talent, business efficiency, and immediate connectivity are advantages of the CBD. A stable and robust CBD generates employment and tax revenue, which benefits the entire city.

The history of a city’s CBD is closely linked to the process of urbanization. At its root lies the market. Most major cities around the world had markets during their formation stages. However, the image of the CBD as we think of it today is quite different. We first think of clusters of high-rise buildings. This originated in 19th-century American cities, especially influenced by Manhattan and Chicago. Manhattan is an island, so land is limited. Under these conditions, instead of expanding horizontally, the city grew vertically, building upwards toward the sky. Chicago’s CBD, known as the ‘Loop,’ was located between a lake and a river and was almost destroyed by fire in 1877. During its recovery, new technologies such as steel and elevators were used to construct many high-rise buildings.

Meanwhile, historic city centers like London and Paris feature a coexistence of various functions. These cities built new, planned CBDs in the 20th century. London developed the ‘Canary Wharf’ CBD in its old port area, and Paris developed ‘La D?fense’ outside its historic district. Seoul is similar to London and Paris. The historic city center within the Four Great Gates serves as a CBD, and with economic growth and rapid population increase in the 1980s, new CBDs were built in Yeouido and later in Gangnam.

A dense area of office buildings in downtown Seoul.

So how does Seoul’s situation compare to the CBDs of other major cities worldwide? In 2020, the American accounting firm Ernst & Young collaborated with the urban real estate research organization ULI to publish a report titled “The Attractiveness of Central Business Districts in Major Cities Worldwide,” comparing the CBDs of 21 cities. Although the data used was from 2019, before the pandemic, and specific conditions may have changed somewhat, the overall framework is unlikely to be very different (no new reports have been issued since 2020).

The analysis was based on data from 46 statistical indicators and surveys and interviews with 349 professionals working in each CBD, combining objective and subjective perspectives.

The results showed that London’s historic financial center, the City of London, ranked first, followed by Manhattan’s Midtown, Tokyo’s Marunouchi, and Paris’s La D?fense. This reflected the dominance of London, New York, Paris, and Tokyo. Among Seoul’s CBDs, only Gangnam was included in the analysis, ranking 8th. Beijing’s CBD ranked 7th, placing Gangnam 3rd in Asia. Looking at various subcategories, Gangnam ranked 13th in ‘Talent Attraction and Retention,’ 2nd in ‘Market and Customer Proximity,’ 12th in ‘Quality of Urban Environment,’ 15th in ‘Local and Global Influence,’ and 11th in ‘Tailored Innovative Real Estate Supply.’

The highest-ranking subcategory for Gangnam, ‘Market and Customer Proximity,’ reflects the high population density of the Seoul metropolitan area and Gangnam’s convenient location. The lowest-ranking subcategory, ‘Local and Global Influence,’ reflects the international standing of the Korean financial market. Korea’s stock market capitalization ranks 18th among global stock exchanges. This is more related to national policies than internal factors of Gangnam.

Among the cities surveyed, only London and New York have two CBDs. These cities consistently rank first and second in many global city indices. Most of these cities are in developed countries, and London, in particular, functions as a capital city while also holding a truly global status beyond national borders. This characteristic is a point of reference for Seoul.

Seoul has three major CBD areas: the historic city center, Gangnam, and Yeouido. Among these, Gangnam has international recognition. Gangnam has always projected an image of being new and ahead of its time, while the historic city center is widely perceived as trying to keep up to maintain ‘competitiveness.’ Because of this mindset, places like Pimakgol in Jongno disappeared, and recently, the Euljiro area is following a similar path. However, fossilizing the historic city center is not the answer. Rather, it is important to recognize that this area has more layers of history and a greater share of commerce, tourism, and culture than Gangnam and Yeouido, which rose from the 1980s onward. Updating the historic city center in a way that fits its identity is more important than ‘Gangnam-izing’ it. This approach might be the ideal third way between a ‘historical theme park’ and ‘overdevelopment.’

Gangnam and Yeouido were developed as CBDs. It is desirable to nurture these areas as globally competitive CBDs that pursue newness. However, the historic city center should be approached differently as a special district full of diversity. If this happens, perhaps one day Seoul will rise as the third city after London and New York to have two ‘global central business districts.’ That is the hope.

Robert Fauzer, Former Professor at Seoul National University