Seoul - 5.3 Disappearance and Regeneration of the Traditional Urban Residences
Seoul, the Capital of the 600-year Joseon Dynasty, is a city of history and tradition yet it is hard to find residential clusters of traditional hanok (Korean-style house) that show us the lifestyle of people who had once lived in Seoul. Traditional architecture disappeared gradually in the midst of the Japanese Occupation, the Korean War and people’s rising preference for ‘modern’, ‘convenient’ residences instead of maintaining ‘inconvenient’, ‘old’ hanok. The city government designated Bukchon areas where hanoks remain in concentration as the ‘Folk Streetscape Site’ and began to manage it in response to the spreading sense of loss and urgency among the citizens about saving the disappearing traditional architecture that is representative of Seoul.
Bukchon used to be the yangban residential area near the Gyeongbokgung Palace and was untouched, unlike the other areas, by the enemy fire during the war. Bukchon’s Gahoi-dong area was representative of wealthy residential area until the 1970s and TV drama’s rich lady characters were all ‘Gahoi-dong madams.’ However, as most of the rich moved to Mapo, Yeouido and Gangnam as those area developed, Gauhi-dong began to change from a homogenous residential community where yangbans with similar living standard lived to a residential zone of mixed social strata. The streetscape with a concentration of hanoks was littered with small, improved hanoks and modernized yangoks (western-style house).
In 1988 the Seoul Metropolitan Government, instead of just preserving it, ambitiously planned to ‘restore’ and ‘revamp’ the Bukchon area as the ‘Traditional Culture Zone.’ The plan went down the drain due to the lack of agreement on the terms of historical preservation between the government that was economic development-oriented and the homeowners who wanted to preserve their property right. The full-fledged preservation of traditional hanoks in Bukchon began with the ‘Bukchon Care’ Project of 2000 that involved experts and residents of Bukchon. The ‘Hanok Registration Program’ promoted the preservation and restoration of hanoks wherein the Seoul Metropolitan Government directly bought houses that homeowners wanted to sell and converted them into cultural spaces for residents or hanok guesthouses. Today the alleyways with concentration of hanoks are continuously repaired and maintained. Recently, social interests in hanoks are on the rise, and many of the culturally-minded people prefer to live in Bukchon. The number of tourists both foreign and domestic is on the rise. It is true that the current hanoks and alleyways of Bukchon differ from those that existed in the traditional Josoen dynasty and that they have lost their original forms due to the improvements made on the hanoks and the alterations that the alleyways have undergone. Nevertheless the hanoks that line in the streets and the alleyways of Gye-dong and Gahoi-dong are still significant as a space that presents the traditional residential style of historical Seoul.
The ‘Seochon Care’ Project, which aims to regenerate the historical environment of the west side of Gyeongbokgung, was also launched recently alongside the ‘Bukchon Care’ Project. Seochon is situated in the valleys of Inwangsan Mountain. It used to be the residence of yangbans who had a taste for the arts and the middle-class such as official interpreters, physicians and hereditary government functionaries. The area is famous as the background of Jeongseon’s InwangJesaekdo (Clearing After Rain in Inwang Mountain), Angyeon’s Mongyudowondo (Peach Blossom Spring, Utopia) and the Yeohang Literary Circle of Chusa Gim Jeonghee and the middle-class. Several modern literary pioneers have decided to live in Seochon and succeeded to maintain this trend, and even today, numerous galleries that foster artists are clustered in Seochon. Although not as many hanoks worthy of preservation are found in Seochon in comparison to Bukchon, it is still a favored spot for visitors because of the 500 years old alleyways, traditional markets, galleries and the natural beauty of Inwangsan Mountain’s Cheongpunggye and Suseongdong Valley, which is one of the famous scenic attractions within the Capital Hanyang.
