[Session2] Design Connecting People, Cities, and the Future: Focusing on Seoul’s Design Policies
Session2
“Design Connecting People, Cities, and the Future: Focusing on Seoul’s Design Policies”
Inkyu CHOI / Director-General, Design Policy Bureau, Seoul Metropolitan Government
Introduction
Hello. I am Inkyu Choi, Director-General of Design Policy Bureau of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. I am truly pleased to be here with so many of you at this major gathering today. I also feel very honored to have the opportunity to present. Today, under the theme “Design Connecting People, Cities and Future,” I will speak focusing on Seoul’s design policy. As Mayor Oh Se-hoon mentioned earlier with the theme of “sincerity in design,” I’d like to focus not on listing many cases, but on highlighting the key projects he truly valued.
The presentation outline organizes the history and concept of Design Seoul, followed by design for citizens, city competitiveness, investment toward the future, and design and safety.
Design Seoul
Design Seoul is a policy that the Mayor Oh has emphasized greatly while leading the city administration from 2006 to 2011 and again from 2021 to the present. In his 2006 inaugural address, he set out culture city, culture and economy, and a unique brand, and in 2007 established an organization called the “Design Seoul Headquarters”, through which we have pursued design policy to this day. At that time, the biggest awareness of the problem was that Seoul was a construction/architecture-centered “hard city” and a car-centered city. To overcome this, the key was how to make a human-centered city, how to create a city in which culture and art flow, and how to realize a city where people can enjoy cycling.
This table is something I made in 2007 and still carry with me, reminding me “we were thinking this way then”. Every time I read it line by line, I feel it is still valid. At that time we created several keywords, and the biggest keyword was “soft”. We approached this with the theme of “Soft Seoul”, and after listening to Helle Søholt’s keynote today, I felt a strong sense of alignment. I’m truly pleased.
In 2022, we came to promote “Design Seoul 2.0”, into which we put five ideas. The street is important; we walk joyfully, access easily, and dwell meaningfully. The outdoor space of the city—that is, exterior/open space—is very important and is wholly the citizens’ space, so we believed that everyone should walk joyfully, access easily, and dwell with emotion. Also, until now, Seoul has placed great emphasis on historicity. However, since design is also about creating new things, the task was how to secure not only historicity but also modernity and futurity. In the 21st century, when K-pop, K-drama, and K-movie—K-culture—are popular, how to embody these in the city was also our assignment.
Therefore, we established five strategies, of which the first was “Empathy Design”. We believed that design without empathy for citizens has no meaning. The second is “Inclusive Design”, which embraces multiple generations and diverse cultures. As Mayor Oh set a vision for Seoul to become one of the global Top 5 cities, we introduced the third concept: “Contribution Design”—a design philosophy rooted in sharing and giving. We believed that sharing design and offering the designs we had developed free of charge to developing countries is the very process by which a city earns respect and reaches the global Top 5. We also emphasized “Recovery Design” and “Sustainable Design” as we went through COVID-19. We felt proud to have coined the terms “Empathy Design” and “Contribution Design” as the first and third concepts, and we believe they represent Seoul’s identity.
Accordingly, when creating the “15 Principles of Design”, we included within empathy such elements as Seoul-scape, Seoul Identity, and Seoul Fun. Simply put, what citizens of Seoul empathize with are Seoul’s nature, its mountains and river, and the city’s character. There is no Seoul citizen who does not know Namsan, and the same goes for the Han River. Drawing on such shared emotions and applying good design to them is important. In Inclusive Design, we recognized intergenerational conflict and considered how to create a city where grandparents and grandchildren can play together. In Contribution Design, we sought to foster cooperation and exchange through design, and by providing pre-developed designs to countries in need, we believed we could become a truly global Top 5 and a respected city. As we refined these principles over several iterations, I remember Mayor Oh appreciating each one of them.
Design for Citizens
As many Seoul citizens these days enjoy running, we created a Runner Station at Yeouinaru Station. If you go out Exit 2, Yeouido has a circumference of exactly 8.4 km. If you run five laps, it becomes the same 42.195 km as a marathon. For Seoul runners, this place is a kind of sacred ground. Here, we also provide programs such as running coaching and course guidance. We think nothing makes citizens healthier than running, so we believe design that encourages running is truly good design.
Another rewarding project was the pump track. In particular, it is a design that wheelchair users can freely use, for the first time in the world. Wheelchair users directly participated in the actual design process and adjusted the angles and circulation one by one. Until now, tracks have been bicycle-centered, but we made it so that both bicycles and wheelchairs can enjoy them together. What made us proud was that people using wheelchairs were not exercising separately, but exercising together. We collaborated with people with disabilities, medical staff, and many others, and it was very rewarding. We think this is a case of practicing companionship with the vulnerable through design.
Next, we wanted citizens to be able to sit on cool benches, and in fact this design also won an iF award. We also wanted to make everyday life fun with “fun benches” where you can lie down comfortably in nature and, as you can see below, even have cats together. We expanded the diversity of benches by reflecting colors and forms that children like. Whereas benches until now focused heavily on function, this time we pursued a new design approach. As these were developed and installed in various places, we designed the diversity of Seoul.
Here’s another interesting case. What the Han River needed most was shade. We asked ourselves how we could make shade more fun—and ended up combining it with chairs and swings. As a result, people naturally began to lie down, swing, and enjoy the space together, almost like camping. It was rewarding to see how a small piece of design could bring people together and help them enjoy the Han River more fully.
Next is Seoul Plaza. Mayor Oh believed that citizens who read become healthier and better citizens, so we developed and installed chairs and tube-shaped structures in Seoul Plaza to create a comfortable reading environment. Compared to constructing a new library architecturally, this eco-friendly approach reduces carbon emissions, and it also won an award. Scenes of citizens lying down and reading became commonplace, and we later proceeded with a Season 2 design.
As another rewarding case, we installed cognitive exercise equipment for dementia prevention for seniors aged 65 and older in senior centers and parks, but recently many in their 40s also use it.
Design Is City Competitiveness.
We often say design is city competitiveness. One of Seoul’s great advantages is its transportation system. Based on this, we introduced the “Climate Companion Card”. With a single card, you can use all modes of transportation, and afterward we announced the integrated brand “GO SEOUL”. It was developed based on the “infinity” symbol to express moving, connecting, and sustainability. With GO BUS, GO METRO, GO RIVER, and GO BIKE, we made a system that allows buses, subways, the Han River bus, and Ttareungi to be used together. With this card, you can take buses, subways, the Han River bus, and bicycles. These things make Seoul’s transportation convenient and easy to recognize. In particular, Seoul’s fares are inexpensive compared to other cities. The Han River bus began full operation yesterday, and we expect that many people will start using it soon. Ttareungi has very many users, and more than 5,000 units are in operation.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government is also strategically promoting the development of color and light. In 2024, we developed “Sky Coral”. This color was announced by the Mayor and was inspired by the pink hue of Seoul’s summer sunsets. We implemented this color at Seoul City Hall, the botanical garden, and the islands on the Han River. Our intention was that, on the premise that people visiting Seoul in 2024 experience the color at the Han River, by designating a different color each year, visitors would remember “the Seoul of that year”. Sky Coral has been applied to landmarks such as World Cup Bridge, Namsan Tower, Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), the Seoul Botanical Garden, the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, and Sebitseom. It is visually stunning—and the color itself carries a powerful impact.
We also collaborated with the private sector to light up Lotte World Tower, the tallest in Korea, and worked with paint companies so citizens can purchase and use it themselves. We also developed and sold a lipstick product.
On Cheonggyecheon, we placed chairs and small tables so citizens could use them naturally. This year we chose “Green Aurora”. This color was extracted from the green sense of tropical trees, and we expanded it by developing it into nail polish as well as applying it in paint works. It is actually being implemented at Cheonggyecheon and Seoul City Hall, etc. This year, you can experience this color in Seoul.
Design Is an Investment for the Future.
As an investment for the future, we have held the “Seoul Light Gwanghwamun” festival three times, and this year is the fourth. Gwanghwamun is a unique place in the world — a stage where global media artists aspire to present their work. In fact, in the Seoul City Council, “media art” is recognized as a “festival”, making it difficult to secure budgets, but recently we have been communicating with the council on the concept of investing in media artist creators and are securing budgets. We think these efforts are important. The Sejong Center and DDP also have environments to support media art work. We implemented the work of the famous Korean painter, Mr. Kim Whanki, as media art and received great love and good evaluations domestically and internationally. Also, works that give an aurora-like feeling received good citizen responses, and we have heard many say that adding art to a safe Seoul at night makes for a happy city.
Through the Hangang Bitseom Festival, we are also trying experimental fields such as laser art, etc., developing a festival that citizens can see on the Han River and operating it. This year as well, it is scheduled to be held on the Han River from October 3 to 12. Media art at Gwanghwamun, DDP, and the Han River develops a sense of place, fosters the media industry, and provides enjoyment to citizens. We also installed artworks on the Han River so people can encounter art without going to a museum, and we have continued to install works that citizens like in parks by consistently discovering emerging artists.
Some of the works created in Seonyudo Park use the cyanotype technique, drawing motifs from the plants and insects that inhabit the park. In addition, a tall water purification tower that had not been used for 20 years was reborn as an artwork through an international competition, transforming from an eyesore into a beloved artwork.
Design Is Safety.
Lastly, safety. During the COVID-19 period, we provided guidance to citizens on distancing, handwashing, and mask wearing. We produced it with pretty design, which citizens liked, and there were many requests from regional cities to use the posters and pictograms.
Next, what we focused on was that the places where design is truly needed are dangerous places like construction sites. We carried out standardization using colors and pictograms. In Seoul, about 350 construction projects are underway simultaneously, and this has been applied to all city construction sites. We used fluorescent colors to mark exits and red to indicate hazardous materials and made it so that high-voltage electricity and so on can be recognized immediately. There are many foreign workers, so we went through standardization so that anyone can easily understand, and at least at Seoul’s construction sites, anyone can secure safety through these pictograms and letters. We also made fire extinguisher locations in underground spaces clear with floor paint and banners, and we developed road construction screens in a stackable structure to save about 50% of space, making construction environments safer and more pleasant.
We believe design can be applied anywhere. In particular, we will continue to focus on the areas of investment for the future, design for citizens, city competitiveness, and among them especially “safety”. We believe that when safe products and environments are well made, both workers and citizens become safer. Through such processes, Design Seoul will continue to move forward and further find our own color.
Thank you.
