Seoul as a global city

By Robert J. Fouser

The recent G20 Seoul Summit focused world attention on Seoul. For a few days, the city was the center of world politics as leaders of the 20 most important economies in the world converged.

The summit stirred a number of articles introducing Seoul and lauding the city’s efficient and cool handling of it. Suddenly, it seemed, Seoul became a city with great food and coffee, a lively arts scene and youth culture, cutting-edge IT and design, all tied together by a clean and safe subway.

The positive press that Seoul received raises the broader question of where the city stands among other major cities of the world, most of which are more famous and more accustomed to global attention.

The most common rank of a city is by population. The city of Seoul has 10,460,000 people, and ranks eighth in the world. The Seoul metropolitan area, or the so-called capital region, which includes Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, has 24,500,000 people, making it the second largest metropolitan area in the world after Tokyo, which has an astounding 35,670,000. By either measure of population, Seoul ranks very high among the cities of the world.

Another way to rank cities is by their wealth. The wealth of a city is harder to define, but the most common measure is the size the economy and the average income of the residents, both measured by gross domestic product (GDP) or purchasing power parity (PPP). The Seoul metropolitan area has a GDP of about $680 billion, ranking fourth in the world among major metropolitan areas. The capital region also ranks as one of the greatest concentrations of wealth in the world, equal to the GDP of Poland.

A lighter way to rank cities is by the length of subway lines because subways remain one of the key symbols of urbanity. With 317 kilometers of subway lines, Seoul ranks fifth in the world, and it ranks third in terms of the number of annual subway ridership. Continuous subway construction since the 1980s has turned Seoul into one of the leading subway cities in the world.

The most sophisticated rankings of cities, however, focus on the degree to which the city is a ``world city” or ``global city.” A noted ranking is the ``Global Cities Index,” which combines data on economic, political, and cultural activity, by the American journal ``Foreign Policy.” The 2010 survey ranked Seoul as the 10th most globalized city.

Throughout the 20th century, New York, London, Tokyo, and Paris were trend-setters in most fields of human activity. The Foreign Policy rankings and most other rankings still put these four at the top. Their dominance has deep historical roots. London and Paris were dominant imperial cities of the 19th century; they were joined by New York and Tokyo in the 20th century as the United States and Japan grew in economic, political and cultural importance. Each city drew on strong national power while developing extensive international links.

A closer look at New York, London, Tokyo and Paris shows that each city was a magnet for creative people who wanted an open and stimulating environment to realize their creative potential. At various points in time, each city has attracted large numbers of creative people from overseas who wanted to escape provincial conservatism and political oppression. New York, in particular, benefited from the infusion of creative energy from Europe in the middle of the 20th century, and it ranks as the most influential city in the world in most surveys.

Which brings us back to Seoul. This has been a good year for the city. The World Design Capital Seoul 2010 project has stirred interest in design, leading UNESCO to select Seoul as a ``Creative City for Design” in July. The traditional center of the city inside the four major gates is becoming more attractive as new green spaces and walking courses replace unfriendly streets and concrete structures. These positive developments no doubt influenced some of the positive press during the G20 Seoul Summit.

Seoul would love to join the ranks of New York, London, Tokyo and Paris as one of the leading cities in the world. Seoul’s high ranking in many categories gives it great potential. It has an edge over Shanghai and Beijing because the lack of political freedom in China makes it difficult, if not impossible, for them to become open global cities. Hong Kong and Singapore rank higher than Seoul in most globalization indices, but they are smaller and their influence is limited to economics.

To seal the deal and join the small list of truly dominant global cities, Seoul needs to become a place that attracts creative people from abroad and offers them something they lack at home such as freedom, liberation, and excitement.

Some will make Seoul their home, others will take it home with them, either of which extends the city’s global reach. Above, Seoul needs to become a state of mind as the place to be that stirs the imagination of people here and far away.

The writer is a professor of the Department of Korean Language Education at Seoul National University. He can be reached at fouser@snu.ac.kr.