A Green City Rises: Inspired by precedents from around the world, New Songdo City emerges near Incheon International Airport as an up-and-coming bustling business hub primed to bring South Korea’s struggling economy back on track.
These days, plans for creating entire cities from the ground up do not surprise us, but South Korea’s New Songdo City (NSC) does. It has a clear purpose to attract foreign investment; it has an ideal geographic location near Seoul’s Incheon International Airport; and its design champions innovation and sustainability in accordance with LEED standards. The first foreign real estate acquisition in Korea, this massive project is a joint venture between POSCO E & C, the South Korean steel giant’s construction division, and the U.S. developer Gale International, which appointed the New York firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) to spearhead the design. With KPF’s master plan and many of its landmark components already in place, the project is off to a strong start. But the question remains how it will finish.
Approached from the 7 1⁄2-mile-long suspension bridge connecting to the airport, NSC emerges from the coastal fog like a mirage. The most striking feature is KPF’s 68-story Northeast Asia Trade Tower, South Korea’s tallest building to date. Multiblock housing by HOK and the tree-studded Central Park gradually come into focus as the air clears. But they vie for attention with vast stretches of still-empty land and the broad boulevards binding everything together. Already well trafficked, the roads are the most visibly populated part of town. Though NSC has yet to acquire the vibe of a bustling urban center, it is also hard to imagine that only a few years ago, the 1,500-acre reclaimed site did not exist.
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