Downtown office location dynamics and transformation of central Seoul, Korea |
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| Authors: | Kee-Bom Nahm |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Urban Sociology, The University of Seoul, 90 Cheonnong- dong, Tongdaemun-gu, Seoul , 130-743 , Korea, e-mail |
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| Abstract: | In recent years, central Seoul has been experiencing a dynamic transformation. In the process of reorganization of the urban
industrial structure including tertiarization and quaternarization of the economic base of Seoul, business services are growing
very rapidly and large scale urban renewal projects are quickly implemented. Downtown office activities become a nucleus for
economic performance of Seoul and high-rise office buildings steer the landscape transformation of central Seoul. Even though
there appears to exist some evidence that office districts have dispersed to several subcenters, major office activities are
still concentrated in central Seoul. This paper redefines office industry in a narrow sense comprising only relevant economic
sectors and office buildings as office activity-functioning units. It then explores the industrial networking and territorial
specialization of office activities focusing on the dual process of concentration and dispersion in Seoul. The changing characteristics
of the downtown linkages of office activities in this post-industrial era transforms the spatial economy of central Seoul
into a more flexible and volatile system, while territorial concentration of power and control functions are fortified at
the same time. Finally, the paper addresses the development of manufacturing- tertiary-quaternary industrial complexes, which
can be regarded as emerging industrial clusters, producing the cultural economy of urban space and images for clients and
customers, in relation to urban competitiveness and territorial specialization of large metropolitan areas.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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| Keywords: | central Seoul concentration and dispersion emerging industrial clusters office location |
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