“Seoul announced on the 31st that the ‘Seoul General Architect Partners’, a group comprised of over 10 domestic and international experts in fields such as urban planning, architecture, design, sustainability, and landscaping, will begin its activities in earnest.
The city has been operating the ‘General Architect’ system to guide urban space and architecture policy. However, to respond to rapidly changing urban issues and global competition, they decided to form the Seoul General Architect Partners.
The Seoul General Architect Partners is an expert consultative group aimed at enhancing the quality of urban space and architectural policies in Seoul and strengthening future competitiveness. They will discuss major issues in urban architectural innovation and present a blueprint and long-term development direction for future Seoul. The first meeting will be held in November to detail the operation plan and main discussion topics for the partners.
Initially, the partners will prioritize discussions on topics such as ‘Envisioning Seoul for the next 100 years’ and ‘Urban Architectural Design Innovation.’ The city plans to operate the organization with a flexible advisory system, seeking advice from the partners for major issues and solutions as they arise.
The partners are composed of 10 experts with extensive practical experience in their respective fields. They include domestic members such as Ku Ja-hoon (Professor at Hanyang University), Choi Moon-kyu (Professor at Yonsei University), Maeng Pil-su (Professor at Seoul National University), John Hong (Professor at Seoul National University), and Oh Woong-sung (Professor at Hongik University). International architects involved are Thomas Heatherwick (UK), Dominique Perrault (France), Ben van Berkel (Netherlands), Jürgen Mayer (Germany), and James Corner (USA).
Through the operation of the partners, Seoul expects to comprehensively solve complex urban issues it faces, secure global competitiveness, and elevate its status as a top 5 global city.
Im Chang-su, Seoul’s Director of Future Space Planning, stated, ‘The Seoul General Architect Partners will serve as a think tank that builds a comprehensive cooperative system with the Seoul General Architect, raising the innovation and competitiveness of Seoul’s urban architecture to a world-class level.'”