Seoul opens 30-year archive of urban metamorphosis

The Haechi Madang media exhibition is displayed at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, May 22. Yonhap

In 1995, as the capital of Korea hurtled toward a high-tech future, municipal officials quietly launched a panoramic survey to document its rapidly changing face. Decades before high-resolution smartphones and digital mapping, the project aimed to preserve the memory of a metropolis in perpetual motion.

Now, 30 years and over 40,000 photographs later, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is opening this vast visual archive to the public. Marking the completion of its seventh five-year recording cycle spanning from 1995 to 2025, the city has launched an extensive exhibition, “Seoul, a City Painted by Time,” running across both physical and digital spaces.

The landmark project has served as an essential tool for urban planning and public policy.

Every five years, photographers have returned to identical coordinates across the capital to capture the dramatic, often unrecognizable shifts in the landscape. The stark evolution of Seoul’s key districts highlights the sheer scale of this transformation: rural farmlands in Magok, a district on the city's western edge, have been entirely replaced by sleek research complexes. Meanwhile, the vast asphalt plazas of Yeouido, the city's central river island, have matured into lush central parks flanked by towering glass financial offices.

Following a highly successful run at the Seoul City Hall Gallery, the exhibition has been redesigned for the Haechi Madang Media Wall at Gwanghwamun. Strategically timed to fit into the daily rhythms of local commuters, a curated 12-minute digital film will broadcast during peak morning, lunch and evening transit hours.

Beyond the physical displays, the city is prioritizing global, open-source access. Through a partnership with Google Arts & Culture, the 30-year photo archive is now accessible to international audiences online. Under a public domain open-license agreement, the images are also available on the Seoul Institute’s platform, allowing researchers and creators worldwide to download and repurpose the high-resolution files free of charge.

“The landscape archive is a vital effort to convert rapid urban change into shared civic memory,” said Choi In-kyu, director general of Seoul’s Design Policy Bureau, noting the project’s goal to connect today’s Seoul with future generations.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.