Part 1 of 4: 2020 ACLA-APELA Online Lecture Series

This Online Lecture of ACLA-APELA collaboration with SPA (School of Planning and Architecture) Bhopal, India was the first part of 2020 Online ACLA-APELA Lecture Series with Zoom. This lecture was moderated by Prof. Sonal Pandey Tiwari, and was hosted by Prof. Sung-Kyun Kim who gave the lecture from his office at CALS, SNU, Seoul at 2 pm local time.

In accordance with the background and objectives of the 2020 Online ACLA-APELA Lecture Series with Zoom, 2020 ACLA-APELA Online Lecture Series, this first lecture promoted sustainable public landscape, natural environment and social environment friendly. Completely, Prof. Kim had written his paper: Regeneration of Historic Urban Landscape with Pedestrian-oriented Streetscape Design in Seoul: The Case of Deoksugung-gil in Seoul, Korea, published on: Kapila D. Silva (ed.) The Routledge Handbook on Historic Urban Landscapes of the Asia -Pacific. London & New York: Routledge. ISBN ISBN: 9781138598256. eBk ISBN: 9780429486470. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429486470_20 <Chap. 20> pp. 377-391.

The abstract is as follows:

In Seoul today, along with the expansion of vehicular traffic, the streets for automobiles are getting wider, while the number and space of pedestrian passages are gradually shrinking, and the vegetation that made the walking space more comfortable is decreasing. The historic street network that once served pedestrians for hundreds of years has lost its traditional role due to policies that prioritize vehicular traffic. Western-style grid streets have been introduced for smooth traffic flow, and the historic street structure has been transformed into a lattice structure, resulting in increased vehicular traffic on main streets, and more through-traffic, which attempt to avoid traffic jams on main streets, on the network of narrow historic streets. Residents in historic urban areas now suffer from traffic accidents, smoke, noise and parking problems. Recent statistics show that 220,000 traffic accidents have occurred, 4,200 people have died, and 330,000 people were injured in Korea in 2016. Of these, nearly one-half of the deaths recorded during walking. Out of the deaths occurred while walking, half occurred while crossing streets (NPA 2017).

This phenomenon is, in fact, pervasive in historic streets of many old cities. Traditionally, streets have been used for a variety of purposes other than for the primary means of passage, such as meeting, talking, sitting, resting, and playing with children. Street was the central space of social life of the local community. As traffic engineering approaches in modern urban planning aimed primarily at the traffic flow, the diverse functions of these streets are ignored, and they are transformed into desolate roads for the sole purpose of movement (Appleyard 1981; Hass-Klau 1990). In the conservation of historic urban areas, specific attention should then be given to the regeneration of the traditional role of streets as the primary socio-cultural space of the community life. While it is necessary to accommodate automobile use, solve traffic problems, and make roads safer, it is also necessary to make use of the advantages of the traditional functions of streets for more vigorous communities, rather than converting all roads into spaces of the automobile. In this regard, this lecture presents the urban conservation project of ‘Deoksugung-gil Pedestrian Oriented Green Streetscape Design’ in Seoul, which applied the concept of a pedestrian-centred or a sharedstreet, as part of the regeneration of Seoul’s historic urban landscape.

Sung-Kyun KIM is a Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Seoul National University, Korea.

He received his PhD in City and Regional Planning and Master’s degrees in Landscape Architecture and Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, USA. He has been on the Chair of Cultural Landscape Committee, IFLA. He is the Founding President and Patron of Asian Cultural Landscape Association, and was President of Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture and Korean Society of Rural Planning. His research focuses on cultural landscape and landscape design. His recent publications include, a monograph - Winding River Village: Poetics of a Korean Landscape (ACLA Press, 2016), and an appraisal paper on the topic of the lecture in a volume, The Routledge Handbook on Historic Urban Landscapes in the Asia-Pacific, ed. Kapila D. Silva (Routledge, London, 2020: pp. 377-391). CP: +82-10-6700-2121. E-mail: sung@snu.ac.kr or jsolnam@naver.com.

The first part of the Online 2020 Online ACLA-APELA Lecture Series with Zoom was attended by 96 participants (PMI zoom), which lasted for 2 hours 20 minutes, one-half hour lecture and fifty minutes in the question and answer session.

The next lecture, “Indian Cultural Landscape: Locality-Globality-Cosmality” will be held on July 15, lectured by Prof. Dr. Rana P.B. Singh, PhD.

By Admin, June 14, 2020