아파트 단지의 공간 정치

경향신문 대담에서 박인석 교수는 계획당국이 아파트 단지 개발에 무임승차하여 인프라를 확충해온 것을 지적하고 있으며, 박철수 교수는 이와 같은 무임승차가 어떻게 아파트 단지의 울타리 치기로 이어졌는지 설명하고 있다.

박인석 = 아파트 단지 개발은 한국 자본주의 축적체제가 고도화하는 과정에서 다른 문제를 잠재워준 기제였다. 중산층이 늘고 주거환경 욕구 수준은 높아졌지만 공공투자 없이 방치된 도시 환경은 저열한 상태였다. 이 상황에서 나온 것이 단지화 전략이었다. 공공이 투자해야 마땅한 도로, 녹지, 어린이집, 노인정 같은 인프라를 아파트 단지로 만들어 판매하도록 한 것이다. 온 국민이 평생 저축하며 아파트 마련에 힘쓰고 국가는 공공투자 없이 인프라 공급 문제를 해결했다.

박철수 = 아파트는 한국이 각개약진사회의 한복판에 있음을 잘 보여준다. 한국은 공적 기관, 공적 주체, 공공에 대해 신뢰가 없다. 강준만 교수 말대로 한국인은 공적인 부분은 불신하고, 사적인 부분엔 정열을 갖고 있다. 그게 잘 드러나는 게 아파트 단지다. 아파트 단지는 공공이 제공해야 할 모든 시설을 제 돈 주고 구입하는 것이다. 구입한 다음 바로 담장을 둘러치고 차단기로 막아서 아무도 못 들어오게 하는 것이다. 사적 정열의 표상이다.

[책과 삶]“아파트 단지가 문제… 공공성 아닌 집단이익 추구로 민주·평등화 제약” - 경향신문:

'via Blog this'

Gated community interview

I've had 3 interviews for my gated community research as of yesterday. Interview is stressful to arrange, conduct and record but gives me much satisfaction in knowing more people and discover live knowledge. There were two things to note for yesterday's interviews.

1. Use of new technology

I bought a tablet computer before the interview after much hesitation. I was worried that the expensive device would be only used as a gadget to play with. However, yesterday's interview well proved its utility.

First, I didn't need to print out all the reading materials to read during my way to the interview place. I could read them with the tablet without having to carry heavy printouts. Second, I didn't need to print out plans for the interviewee to explain for me. The interviewee could explain his plan seeing the tablet screen and draw on it using stylus pen. The drawing was instantly saved in the tablet. The only shortcoming was the relatively small size of the screen (8").

2. Impact of the interview

My two previous interviews didn't affect the interviewees a lot because the subject of the interview was either a past event or general strategy. It was different this time. The subject of yesterday was about the reconstruction plan of an apartment complex. I pointed out the possibility of post-construction gating by residents and this had evidently not been considered by any participant of the project. I was worried and excited at the same time by the possibility of the impact of my interview for the course of the project although the chance of impact seemed to be slim. With this reason, interviews with the homeowners shouldn't be conducted because they may react a lot stronger for the possibility of gating.
   

Mathmatical analysis on Haussmannisation of Paris

How could one imagine Haussmannisation of Paris to be analyzed mathmatically?

Can One Man Change the Shape of an Entire City? - Emily Badger - The Atlantic Cities:

'via Blog this'

Rise of Parisian skyline

Interesting article about the change of old Parisian skyline. Personally I don't want to see Paris becomes London: an architctural mayhem.

Could the City of Light Become the City of Height? - Feargus O'Sullivan - The Atlantic Cities:

'via Blog this'

The Threat of Gated Communities

The Retreat at Twin Lakes, where Martin died, is the kind of place where people choose to live when they want to be safe – from crime, from outsiders, from economic uncertainty. Of course, it doesn’t always work that way. By fostering suspicion and societal divisions, the argument goes, gated communities can paradoxically compromise safety rather than increasing it. And because they cut residents off from the larger community, writes Edward Blakely, author ofFortress America, they can “shrink the notion of civic engagement and allow residents to retreat from civic responsibility.”

The Threat of Gated Communities - Sarah Goodyear - The Atlantic Cities:

• JUL 15, 2013

La Défense, Canary Wharf and Zuidas

I visited La Défense in Paris, Canary Wharf in UK and Zuidas in Amsterdam in June and July 2013. All the three districts are new CBDs of European metropolises. A comparative analysis was made out of the trip.

Download the report here.

도시개발, 쇠퇴와 연령의 관계

다음 기사는 쇠퇴 지역의 노인비율이 높아지고 신개발지에 젊은이가 몰리는 현상을 잘 보여준다.

강씨는 “주변 이웃 중에 젊은 사람은 없다”며 늙어버린 을지로동의 분위기를 전했다.

서울서 노인인구 비율 가장 높은 곳은 을지로동, 가장 낮은 곳은?
조선일보 | 2013.05.25

Germany's lack of a dominating city

I've considered Germany's lack of a dominating city as a weakness in global city scene in which no German city can quite compete with London or Paris. In this morning, I found an interesting view of seeing things in a different angle.

...Germany’s economic resilience owes a lot to the diffusion of its strength across a strikingly diverse range of big cities. This is uncommon in the rest of Europe. In addition to well-known economic hubs such as Munich, Stuttgart and many others, Germany has cities like Hamburg -- once written off in the same way many northern English cities have been, it is now a booming economic center, thanks to Germany’s success as an exporter to the big emerging-market economies, China in particular.

Yes, we need to look both sides of a fact.

At Last, Germany Secures Total Dominance of Europe
By Jim O’Neill May 24, 2013

수도권 출입통제 아파트단지(100세대 이상)

정보수정날짜: 2013/07/23

*출입통제는 보행자 출입통제를 뜻함

1. 완전출입통제 아파트: 단지 내로 보행자 출입 완전통제. 건물내 출입통제는 해당하지 않음.

서울 강남구
 - 대치동 롯데캐슬 3동 142세대 / 철문
 - 대치동 포스코더샾 4동 276세대 / 철문
 - 삼성동 아이파크 3동 449세대 / 정문에 철문+경비실, 후문에 경비실 (후문에 문이 설치되어 있지는 않으나 외부인 출입 불가)

서울 서초구
 - 방배동 래미안아트힐 10동 588세대 / 대로인접 4동에 유리문
 - 방배동 래미안타워 4동 344세대 / 2동씩 2개로 나뉜 단지에 유리문
 - 방배동 서리풀이편한세상 / 9동 496세대 / 유리문
 - 잠원동 롯데캐슬갤럭시2차 / 8동 428세대 / 철문


2. 부분출입통제 아파트

서울 강북구
 - 수유2동 래미안 / 어린이집으로 통하는 길에 보안문 설치하여 차단
http://blog.daum.net/edys2030/18

서울 서초구
 - 반포동 자이 44동 2991세대 / 출입구마다 외부인 출입금지를 알리는 표지판 설치


3. 완전개방 아파트: 반면 시공사와 관할관청 간의 협의에 의해 단지 옥외공간을 외부인에게 완전히 개방해야하는 아파트도 존재하나 입주민들은 개방에 반대

고양시
- 일산동 유진스웰 2단지 3동 237세대

Result of internet forum investigation and a thought

It took 4 days for me to scour internet forums dedicated to the gated apartment complex  and to store opinions related to gating. Originally I thought it would be finished within a day but I turned out to be very wrong. There was a surprising amount of exchange on gating in the forum. It would have taken more if I had had access to restricted area of the forum.
The result is a 143 page long word document including images as well as text. There has been extensive talks in the forum on vandalism, measures to protect the apartment complex, execution methods of gating and evaluation of gating.
The main idea that I've got from this extensive information is that Korean planning system of apartment complexes have  problems in harmonizing private and public interests. The apartment complex in question has a central road which can be used as a shortcut for outside residents to use subway and commercial area. Although the public interest of this road could be expected from the design stage, this road was left in the very center of private territory. Unfortunately, the residents couldn't tolerate extra maintenance caused by vandalism of outsiders and increased transit traffic. The result was the first case of gating of a large apartment complex in Korea.
The main culprit of gating in this case seems to be the planning practice of annihilating public roads and to create a super sized private block. No one wants to make detours especially in on foot while the occupiers of super blocks don't want presence of outsiders in their private domain. Allowing super sized private islands can't help creating conflict between the public and private interests.    

Digging deep into internet for research

Today internet is a well recognized research tool. It provides us formal information such as news and journal articles in an instant. What I have overlooked until today was its role as a provider of informal information.

For example, my case study of a gated apartment complex near Seoul was greatly facilitated by the internet. It provided me answers to the initial questions following to my field trip which were not covered by existing formal information. Residents of the gated apartment complex have exchanged voices on gating in internet forums. The forums effectively store remarks of verbal nature by residents and their leaders which would have been soon forgotten in the pre-internet era. The main answers I extracted from the forums are as follows.

Arrival of architecture in Korean cities

South Korea has long been a desert of modern architecture. Most of the buildings have been constructed to maximize space and profit with no regard to aesthetics whatsoever. It was especially true for small scale buildings whose owners have less capital than large building owners.

Things begin to change recently. I start to see more buildings not by a 'house seller' but by an architect on the small streets of Seoul. It will be interesting to know why some landlords finally recognized the need to beautify paying more for construction and sacrificing profitable space to rent.


'트랜스포머' 상가주택 … 동네명물 됐네 (A "Transformer" Building Becomes a Neighborhood Landmark.)
http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=103&oid=025&aid=0002261434

Municipal reaction to the gated apartment complex

Private ownership has been inviolable in Korean planning tradition and Korean land owners have enjoyed more freedom in altering land than in any other developed country. Thus, the Korean government, municipality and court have maintained laissez-faire attitude regarding to gating of private properties. As long as a property belonged to private entities, the public authority didn't do almost anything against gating.

However, complete gating of an apartment complex did alarm the municipality. A local newspaper reported that the city council had decided to cut financial subsidy to gated apartment complexes. Gating of apartment complexes is in infancy in Korea but growing. Will nationwide gating phenomenon provoke similar reactions from the central government?

그들만의 세상, 조례로 막자. (Sanctioning "Their Own World" with City Ordinance)
http://www.kmtimes.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=13372

Observation of a gated apartment complex near Seoul

Date: 2-5 pm, Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Most of the Korean apartment complexes ban non-authorized vehicle access but foot access is usually permitted. However, even the foot access is banned in some apartment complexes, especially smaller ones with less than 5 apartment buildings such as Samseong I-Park in Gangnam District in Seoul.
I went to field trip to observe one of these apartment complexes. The gated apartment complex that I visited is highly unusual because it's quite a big apartment complex having more than 1,000 housing units. Due to its large scale gating, it earned some notoriety from media a couple of years ago. I thought the gating could have been lifted by now but both vehicular and foot accesses are controlled there.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

I loved the amazing collection of old city maps by Mr. Rumsey. These maps will be useful for many people. I thank him for collecting and organizing the maps.

Homepage
http://www.davidrumsey.com/

Google Maps
http://rumsey.geogarage.com/