Seoul’s urbanism and collective city-making

Taking place across five locations in Seoul, ‘Collective City’ is a biennially-held platform which is specifically designed to enable engaging discussion concerning the links between architecture, city and governance. This year, focus is placed on how these can work together towards implementing novel urban solutions as to create more humane cities and communities.

The platform, which partly consists in exhibitions, documents innovative projects which rediscover local resources and make them more accessible. Aiming to address issues related to the formation of cities across the globe, the platform invites participants to engage in discussion and debate, exploring the relationship between architecture, city and governance, and what it can mean to create a ‘collective city’, with an emphasis placed on urbanism. Co-director of the event, Francisco Sanin, has said ‘it’s about the logic that makes the city more humane’, adding that the event may be perceived as ‘a call for cities to think about the people that will live in them rather than the top-down modernist designing of the city as an aesthetic’.

The inaugural 2017 edition of the event previously discussed urbanism with a focus on ecological issues such as environment, resources and food. This year, the event specifically considers socio-urban dynamics and public engagement for devising collective strategies. Rather than merely being a one-time event, the directors of the event suggest that ‘it is meant to be a prototype for government, professionals, and citizens to act together to make the city better’.

Students planning to apply for HSPS, as well as applicants for Architecture can delve further into research surrounding the topics of urban architecture and urban planning, particularly with regard to dealing with social dynamics currently at play.