preface
Prologue│Why We Focus on Gangnam

Part 1: Gangnam Before Gangnam: Forgotten Memories Restored with Urban Fossils

Chapter 1: Where Have All the Farmers Gone?: Gangnam Scenery from Its Rural Days
Old place names that remain in the school names│Apgujeong Hyundai Apartments built on rice paddies along the Han River│People from Gangnam who used to come and go by ferry│Gangnam Express Bus Terminal that used to be a radish field│Pioneers of flower cultivation and their descendants│The forefront of pig farming│Urban fossils that preserve traces of ‘rural Gangnam’│Gangnam suffered from floods 100 years ago as well│In search of the origins of Hanshin Pocha│People who used to climb up and down the hills

Part 2: The Birth of Gangnam: The Myth of Invincibility Born from a Failed Plan

Chapter 2: Breaking Ground: Yeongdong District Embracing the Aspirations of a Great Transition
The development axis that is at odds with the turbulent modern history│Why was a bunker installed in the 'Hangang View Apartment'?│There is no 'environment' in the green belt│The fate of the city determined by civil engineering technology│Which comes first, the road or the city?│"Only the conglomerates in Gangbuk are having fun"│The ripple effect that neither the president nor the mayor of Seoul anticipated│Why are government agencies moving south?│The never-ending discussion on the relocation of Seoul City Hall│Speculators disguised as the poor│What if Samsung Tower had been built instead of Tower Palace?│Traces of the development of Yeongdong District

Chapter 3: Changing the Flow of the Han River: Jamsil District, a New Land Connecting Cities
Jamsil, an island, Seokchon Lake, a river│The first 'Hangang View Apartment' and a wasteland│Warriors toward North Korea and the hosting of the Olympics│Songpa-gu, the link between Gangbuk and the Gwangju complex│The eventful life of the boatman 'Suk's father'│The disappeared dolmens and the demolished Baekje fortresses│Flooded, broken, and crumbling│How did corruption and scandal become a blessing?

Part 3: Three Dimensions of Modern Gangnam: The Interplay of Apartments, Industry, and Transportation

Chapter 4: From Matchbox to Object of Envy: The Trajectory of the Apartment
The collective memory of "a view of rice paddies next to an apartment"│The "Seoul countryside" once filled with housing complexes│"Bus routes are stagnant"│The origin of apartment complexes is not Gangnam│Luxury apartments built with loans│Why can't the government control housing prices│The whole story of the apartment district system│The future of reconstruction

Chapter 5: Standing on the Street, You Can See the Economy: Transportation and Industry That Sustain Gangnam
From gold to tungsten, the mines of 'rural Gangnam'│The defunct industrial railway plan│The defunct textile complex plan│Why a luxury goods store is being built in the terminal│New transportation networks and new industries

Part 4: The Future of Gangnam: The Emergence of a One-Polar City, No Second Gangnam

Chapter 6: A Macro View: The Era of Expanding Gangnam and the Greater Seoul Area
A "Gangnam-style lifestyle" embracing complex functions│Where does "Expanded Gangnam" begin?│A climb to Lotte World Tower reveals the "Greater Seoul Area Era."│The acceleration of the Gangnam-centric phenomenon.

Chapter 7: A Microscopic Look: Variables in Reconstruction and Redevelopment
What matters: housing type, location, or topographical characteristics? │ Could the Gyeongbu Expressway be built underground? │ Who opposes reconstruction and why? │ When will GTX-A Samsung Station open? │ Which areas should we pay attention to?

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"Gangnam's yesterday is a mirror that reflects Gangnam's tomorrow."
A Chronicle of 60 Years of Gangnam Development Reconstructed Through the Perspective of a Humanist

Gangnam is the most dynamic area in Korea.
This should not be understood to simply mean that many people live there.
In fact, Gangnam's population is estimated at 1.5 million as of 2024, accounting for only about 3 percent of the total Korean population.
Yet, Gangnam's presence is unrivaled.
For example, in terms of gross regional domestic product (GRDP), Gangnam-gu alone reaches 70 percent of the level of Busan or Incheon.
Gangnam is also the place with the most restaurants listed in the Michelin Guide.
In this way, Gangnam is standing out in various fields, from economy to culture.

Looking at Gangnam's achievements, the myth of its invincibility becomes self-evident.
It feels like a perfect space developed with full support from the government.
However, 《Gangnam by Urban Literature Scholar Kim Si-deok》 tells a completely different story.
In other words, Gangnam was in fact a “failed plan,” and its success today was due to “ripple effects that neither the president nor the mayor of Seoul anticipated.”
A good example is the 'Han River View Apartment', which is breaking new records every day.
The author focuses on its history rather than its location, synthesizing various government reports and testimonies from leading urban planners to explain that the site was planned as a kind of "bulwark."
However, as the government, conscious of the threat from North Korea, turned its attention to the area south of Seoul, the aspirations of the civilians took root in the void and have continued to this day.
In other words, as government interest weakens, private sector interest grows stronger. Gangnam development is full of this paradox, and for that reason, it is dynamic.

In this way, the book meticulously traces the numerous contexts hidden behind the splendid skyline, unfolding at a glance the path Gangnam has taken and the path it will take.
In that sense, this book will be the ultimate guide for anyone who wants to know about Gangnam for any reason, whether it's real estate investment, children's education, or a comfortable lifestyle.

“How a failed plan gave birth to an irreplaceable core city.”
The myth of invincibility that blossomed from the aspirations of the people

The author examines Gangnam's past, present, and future and emphasizes "administrative continuity."
This means that once a national policy is established, it continues to be implemented. Many of the large-scale development projects currently underway in Gangnam date back to the 1970s.
In other words, Gangnam's yesterday is a mirror that reflects Gangnam's tomorrow.
This is why the book begins its story in “rural Gangnam,” going back 60 years.

In Part 1, Gangnam Before Gangnam, we will depict the Gangnam landscape during its rural days and examine the traces that still remain.
In 1963, part of Gyeonggi-do was incorporated into Seoul, creating Gangnam. While Seocho-gu and Gangnam-gu were reorganized into large administrative districts, Songpa-gu was made up of part of Gangbuk and several smaller regions of Gyeonggi-do.
Because of this, even today, 60 years later, Songpa-gu has a different atmosphere and development direction from the other two districts in Gangnam.
Meanwhile, Gangnam, which had just been incorporated into Seoul, was close to a wasteland with endless low-lying areas.
But it wasn't an empty land.
Many farmers devoted themselves to vegetable and flower gardening and pig farming, which later became the prototype of the 'Seocho-dong Flower Village'.
In this rural Gangnam, flood damage was inevitable.
In fact, most villages at the time were located on hillsides that were relatively safe from flood damage, and the same was true for the single-family homes built during the early stages of Gangnam's development.
However, later, large apartment complexes, large industrial facilities, roads, and subway lines were built on the wide plains, which ended up causing flood damage.
For example, in 2022, the Gangnam area was severely flooded, resulting in casualties, and recently, it was reported that the Gangnam 4-gu district (Gangnam 3-gu + Gangdong-gu) in Seoul had the most empty space underground.
This is because the ground is particularly soft due to the development of the area by reclaiming wetlands.
In this passage, the author emphasizes that rural Gangnam should not be dismissed as a thing of the past.
Because life in Gangnam today can change depending on how we understand and utilize the traces of that time.

In Part 2, “The Birth of Gangnam,” we trace the development process of Gangnam and the origins of the myth of invincibility.
Gangnam was developed largely by dividing it into Yeongdong District (Seocho-gu and Gangnam-gu) and Jamsil District (Songpa-gu).
The development of the Yeongdong district, which began in 1968, was comparable to the process of building a massive military facility.
At the time, the government attempted to disperse the population of Gangbuk in preparation for the second Korean War, and as an extension of this, developed the Yeongdong district.
In fact, the Han River view apartments in Seocho-gu and Gangnam-gu, built during the development period, have bunkers and gun emplacements installed.
Even the vast greenbelt south of Yeongdong District was designated by President Park Chung-hee “by drawing lines on the map” to place military facilities.

But in the 1970s, the situation changed drastically.
As the US military withdrew from the Vietnam War and rumors of a withdrawal of US troops from South Korea began to circulate, the government became more sensitive to threats from North Korea.
As a result, the 'Temporary Administrative Capital Blank Plan' was created to move the capital to the current Sejong City.
Naturally, the development of Yeongdong District was put on hold, and it was at this time that the baton was taken up by the private sector.
From farmers who called themselves Gangnam natives to conglomerates and displaced people who moved from Gangbuk, countless people devoted themselves to the development of Gangnam, each pursuing their own aspirations.
In the process, as the price of houses in Gangnam became more expensive, especially in newly built apartments, the government tried to solve the problem by supplying more large-scale apartment complexes.
However, wherever the government intervened, an “apartment boom” occurred and housing prices soared.
This is the origin of the myth of invincibility, which runs parallel to the history of government failure.
This is still a lesson to be learned when investing in real estate today.

The development of Jamsil District, which began in 1971, was centered around attaching Jamsil Island, which was part of the Gangbuk living area at the time, to Gangnam.
After the 1981 Olympics and Asian Games were confirmed to be held, the Songpa-gu area underwent extensive renovations to welcome people from around the world.
Meanwhile, the development of Jamsil District was focused on geographic affinity with Gyeonggi Province as much as on security factors.
In other words, it served as a link connecting Seoul and Gyeonggi-do.
This is why Songpa-gu today shares human resources, goods, and capital with the semiconductor belt that stretches from Gyeonggi-do to Chungcheong-do.

In this way, Gangnam's past is not disconnected from its present.
Rather, he talks constantly.
By tracing the traces of life etched throughout Gangnam and connecting its past and present, the book helps us gain a deeper understanding of this captivating space.

“Not everyone lives in Gangnam, but everyone is influenced by Gangnam!”
Expanding Gangnam, a welcome addition to the era of the Greater Seoul Area

The book, which traces the history of Gangnam's development in Parts 1 and 2, takes a comprehensive look at its current state and looks ahead to the future in Parts 3 and 4.
〈Part 3: Three Dimensions of Modern Gangnam〉 examines Gangnam’s core elements: ‘apartments,’ ‘industry,’ and ‘transportation.’
In the case of apartments, reconstruction is definitely the hot topic, and most of the Gangnam apartments built in the 1970s have been rebuilt, leaving only Apgujeong Hyundai Apartment, Jamsil Jugong 5 Complex, and Eunma Apartment.
The problem is the Gangnam apartments built in the 1980s, and the author advises that the reconstruction of these apartments needs to be approached cautiously.
With construction costs and share fees skyrocketing, it is realistically difficult to redevelop apartments that are about ten years younger than those built in the 1970s.

In contrast, Gangnam's industry and transportation are still dynamic.
Gangnam boldly abandoned plans for a semi-industrial zone, textile complex, and industrial railway, which were once considered, and focused on attracting large corporations and cutting-edge IT companies.
In fact, Gangnam is where the largest number of headquarters of the top 50 corporations are located.
Meanwhile, in Gangnam, the combination of transportation (terminal) and distribution (department store) was attempted for the first time, creating a new flow of wealth.
The 'Yeongdong-daero Underground Space Complex Development Project' and the 'Jamsil Sports and MICE Complex Development Project', both of which are currently in full swing, also have transportation network development at their core.
Just as the Yeongdong area was developed around the Gyeongbu Expressway in the past, the development of the transportation network is also leading the future of Gangnam today.

〈Part 4: The Future of Gangnam〉 predicts the path Gangnam will take in the future at both a micro and macro level.
First, the author examines the current state of reconstruction and redevelopment in Gangnam at a “micro level,” examining even the “topography.”
Gangnam is prone to flooding, so even during reconstruction, there is constant noise surrounding drainage facilities.
This is because some residents perceive drainage facilities as disgusting.
In addition, the discussion of 'going underground on Olympic-daero', which is repeated every election season, could lead to a major disaster as it would eliminate the deep-water reservoir for heavy rain.

In conclusion, contrary to everyone's expectations, reconstruction and redevelopment are not easy problems even in Gangnam.
However, the reason the author is optimistic about Gangnam's future is because, on a macro level, Gangnam's urban functions are gradually being upgraded.
First of all, the ‘Gangnam lifestyle’ is expanding as a “factor that defines the lives of modern Koreans.”
The Gangnam lifestyle, consisting of 'apartments + shopping mall complex + waterfront space', first appeared in Jamsil, and today it is used as the basic framework for urban planning regardless of region.
The phenomenon of Gangnam's economic and administrative influence expanding along the semiconductor belt is also intensifying.
This phenomenon, which the author calls “extended Gangnam,” is a welcome sign of the “Greater Seoul era.”
'Greater Seoul' is not about Seoul 'expanding' through administrative district reorganization, but rather about it being 'connected' to several major hubs and transportation networks.
Ultimately, people, goods, and capital will move and share quickly, forming a single region.
With this, Gangnam is moving towards becoming an 'expanding one-pole city'.
This is why the author asserts that “there is no second Gangnam.”

We live in an era of ‘Koreanization of Gangnam, Gangnamization of Korea.’
Not everyone lives in Gangnam, but everyone is influenced by Gangnam.
That's exactly why you need to know Gangnam.
Because it allows us to see the future of Korea beyond the rise and fall of a specific city.
If you've always been curious about Gangnam, open this book and explore every nook and cranny through the eyes of a humanist.
You will encounter the real face of Gangnam that cannot be explained by housing prices alone.