Seoul National University Graduate School of Environmental Studies said on the 4th that it will hold the "Megacity Korea" conference on Mar. 4. The event, to be held at the Graduate School's Glocal Hall, will examine Korea's urban strategy from the perspective of spatial reorganization into a Megacity. A megacity refers to a massive city with a population of more than 10 million and, beyond simple population size, means a spatial and functional unit that operates like one giant city by sharing transportation, economy, and living spheres between a core city and its surrounding cities.

At the event, domestic and international experts will explore whether, amid intensifying global megacity competition, Korea can shift from developing individual new towns to a nationwide strategy of spatial reorganization. The Seoul metropolitan area is presented as a super-regional megacity called "Greater Seoul," while Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province are presented as having potential to develop into a southeastern megacity called "NEW BUK," an acronym of Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam in Korean.

On February 27, 2022, Lee Jae-myung, then the Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate, speaks at a campaign rally in front of the E-MART Yangsan branch in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, titled The start of entering the five major powers, completing the core of the Southern Capital Region, the BPK Megacity! /Courtesy of News1

The keynote speech, titled "Global new town trends and the future," will be delivered by Richard Peiser, a professor at Harvard University. A real estate finance expert and also a developer, Peiser, during his tenure as a professor at the University of Southern California (USC) in 1987, led a project in which graduate students invested $10,000 to design, build, lease, manage, and sell a 0.5-acre (about 2,000㎡) property in Desert Hot Springs in Riverside County, California. In the late 1980s, the area saw active real estate development, and the attempt allowed students to gain real-world development experience at a relatively low cost.

Peiser also served as a founding partner of China Real Estate Investment Company (CREI) and its Shanghai subsidiary "KaiLong REI Project Investment," investing institutional capital in real estate projects in major Chinese cities.

Richard Peiser, Harvard University professor

The thematic presentations will be divided into three sections. In the first presentation, the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) will present "The present and future of new towns in the Seoul metropolitan area: achievements, limits, and transition strategies." The second presentation, titled "Global G2, the dream of Greater Seoul: vision and strategy for a Greater Seoul metropolitan megacity," will be delivered by Kim Kyung-min, a professor in the Department of Urban Planning at Seoul National University, and Kang-rae Ma, a professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Real Estate at Chung-Ang University, will give the final presentation, "NEW BUK embraces Kyushu: the southeastern megaregion and East Asia linkages."

The Seoul National University Graduate School of Environmental Studies said, "This conference is expected to serve as a forum to spur a policy paradigm shift from 'new town-centered development' to a 'megacity·megaregion (Megacity·Megaregion) strategy' and to concretize Korea's global urban competitiveness strategy through the dual pillars of Greater Seoul and NEW BUK."

Flyer for the Megacity Korea conference hosted by the Seoul National University Graduate School of Environmental Studies /Courtesy of Seoul National University Graduate School of Environmental Studies

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