Seoul Mini-Mountains

Abstract

<p>What lessons can be derived from a careful reading of residual urban voids, and how can such a reading influence the way we construct a narrative of “the city”? In 'Seoul Mini-Mountains: Reading the City from its Voids', I am analyzing a repetitive pattern of unexamined urban thresholds: a dozen urban mini-mountains homogeneously spread within the dense city fabric. In flat cities, like Paris or Beijing, suburbs are usually found at the city’s periphery. The specific geography of Seoul, however, sees undeveloped mountains interrupt the urban fabric, offering a respite for inhabitants. Not considered major cultural landmarks, these residual buffer zones are under threat of being gradually consumed by urban sprawl. This sole-authored book of the same name will provide specialists with a better understanding of the role mini-mountains play in the daily life of inhabitants, highlighting the advantages of including this system in discussions about the future development of Seoul. The long-term objective of this book is to provide tools to a younger generation of Asian architects and urbanists, who have to deal with heterogeneous, fragmented and overbuilt contexts, and who may be trying to define a new territory for their spatial practice.</p>