Opening Remarks: Epidemics Change Space, and Space Changes Society
The Age of False Prophets / The Relationships and Spaces Created by Masks / Epidemics, Humanity, and the City / The Dismantling and Reconstruction of Space, the Dismantling and Reconstruction of Power

Chapter 1.
Apartment with a balcony like a yard
Why middle-class homes are now "three-bedroom apartments" / The 155 percent increase in housing obligations / The 4th and 3rd century and the reconfiguration of furniture / The new location of the kitchen / The need for private outdoor space / Balconies for planting trees / From wall-type structures to column-type structures / The era of timber-framed high-rise buildings / The best eco-friendly architecture / The five principles of post-corona apartments

Chapter 2.
The Crisis and Opportunity of Religion
Religion and Space / The Invention of Walls and Stairs / Priests and Idols / Temples and Meat Shops / Why Chapel Chairs Are Long / Monks vs. Pastors / A Sense of Community Created by Sharing Space and Time / Why Islam Enforces Five Daily Prayers / The Disintegration and Reconstruction of Religious Power Caused by Epidemics

Chapter 3.
A thousand students, a thousand courses
The Difference Between Classroom and Online Classes / Artists and Teachers / Facebook and Online Classes / The Absence of Peer Relationships / Paper Books, Audiobooks, and Video Classes / Schools Without a First-Class Student / Future School Scenarios / Education Curator Teachers / What is Education?

Chapter 4.
Will you continue to go to work?
55% of jobs / Why there are so many company dinners in Korean workplaces / Working from home and the future of work / Satellite offices / I need my own desk / Masks changing human relationships / Equal video conferencing / Shrek vs. The Lion King / Management and corporate philosophy in large organizations

Chapter 5.
Will the pandemic dismantle cities?
Epidemics and the History of Cities / Jan Gehl's Experiment / Doubling the Population, Doubling Competitiveness / The Law of Synaptic Synapse Growth / Humans Trying to Kill Two Birds

Chapter 6.
A self-driving underground logistics tunnel that will create a park on the ground.
Common Memories / Social Mix and Reconstruction / Balconies, the First Button of Social Mix / Linear Parks Rather than Square Parks / Underground Logistics Tunnels for Autonomous Driving / Imagining the Near Future

Chapter 7.
Edge City for Greenbelt Preservation and North-South Unification
The History of the Greenbelt / LA vs. New York / Urban Patterns Like Semiconductor Circuits / LH's New Mission / Edge City: Develop Only the Greenbelt Boundary Bordering Cities / DMZ Peace Edge City for Inter-Korean Integration / Cities for Farmers and Merchants / The Advantages of Small-Scale Redevelopment

Chapter 8.
The crisis and evolution of commercial facilities
Disney's Crisis / The Evolution of Commerce is the Evolution of Space / Space to See Others / When We Gather, We Die, When We Divide, We Live / The Evolution and Reduction of Offline Commercial Space / The Invention of New Building Forms / Two Crossroads / The Polarization of Space Created by Epidemics / Consumption of Space vs. Consumption of Things / Why People Line Up in Front of Restaurants / Shrinking Office Space / Wide Commercial Space, Narrow Residential Space

Chapter 9.
Where is the youth home?
Hong Gil-dong vs. King Sejong / 21st Century Tenant Farmers: Monthly Rent / Real Estate as a Platform Business / A World Where Only the Government and Big Capitalists Are Landlords / The Age of Villains and Hypocrites / We Must Gradually Lower the Barrier / Households, Not Population / Pruitt Igo vs. Gangnam / Chile's Low-Income Housing Policy

Chapter 10.
How to create balanced national development
Apartments that have become currency / Seoul's Han River view vs. New York's Hudson River view / The proliferation of counterfeit cities / Deliberations that kill diversity and advice that should disappear / A 21st-century smart town / Soje-dong hardware + Daedeok Research Complex software / Florence in Daejeon / The path to Yeoju / Three days in Yeoju / Creating a lifestyle

Chapter 11.
Creating social value through space
A church that embraces me / A building where people inside become part of the cityscape / A building where people in back alleys can see the sea

Closing Remarks: Climate Change and Pandemics—An Opportunity to Create a New Era
A world of changing standards / Corona Blues and space / Why whales are bigger than elephants / The era of technological advancement and low birth rates / An era that requires a new framework / King Yeongjo's Cheonggyecheon dredging project that created the Joseon Renaissance / A new space that will become a ladder for social mobility / The future is not something that comes, but something that is created.

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Source of the illustration

Will the city really disintegrate?

There are many factors that can change the future, including technological advancements, climate change, and infectious diseases.
The variables change over time, and the degree of influence of each factor also varies.
The impact of infectious diseases was significant in the past, but in modern times, with the advancement of medicine, it is considered to be not so significant.
At least a year ago, most people thought so.
That's why I couldn't have imagined the current situation where I have to stay home to avoid infection.
However, COVID-19 has turned human society, which was previously dependent on gatherings to survive, into a society that is dangerous when gathered together.
One of the most frequently asked questions the author has received since the coronavirus outbreak was, "Will the coronavirus lead to the disintegration of cities?"
The coronavirus has brought about such great changes to our lives that it has made us question whether we can continue to live together (to briefly mention the disintegration of cities, the author's answer is 'they will not disintegrate').
In this book, the author explains the reason using various evidences including human history.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said that BC (Before Christ), meaning before the birth of Jesus, and AD (Anno Domini), meaning after the birth of Jesus, may now be written as BC (Before Corona), meaning before the coronavirus, and AC (After Corona).
The coronavirus has had a significant impact worldwide, changing our lives far beyond expectations in terms of duration, number of infections, and number of deaths.
And the changes of the past year will continue into 2021 and impact our lives beyond.

Humans always try to predict the changing world and prepare for the future.
In times of such significant change, such demands are bound to be even greater, and experts from various fields are making predictions accordingly.
As an architect, the author attempted to predict how space will change in the future, and this book is the product of that speculation.

"When times change rapidly and times of crisis arrive, all kinds of prophets appear who talk about the future.
Many of them will later be revealed as false prophets.
Because there are so many variables, predicting the future is virtually impossible.
So I too could be one of the false prophets.
Even taking such risks, I am publishing this book because I believe that the more people with diverse backgrounds make predictions from various perspectives, the more likely it is that society will move in the right direction." - From the 'Opening Remarks'

The city of today and tomorrow

The experience of being cut off from the everyday spaces we enjoy is something we have never experienced before in our time, and it has been a major change, especially for the younger generation of one- or two-person households who often work, eat, and play outside.
As the home, which was primarily used for sleeping, became the space where people spent the most time, interest in living spaces, including the home, increased, and the aspects considered important in space also changed.
As the size of the living room was increased, the balcony, which was previously eliminated, emerged as an important space, and interest in space efficiency also grew.
In places where people must be together, such as schools, workplaces, and restaurants, social distancing and non-face-to-face arrangements have become important, and spaces that feel like outdoor spaces are being introduced even though they are indoors.
The introduction of online classes, remote work, and central offices has also increased the possibility of relocation or partial residency in regional cities.
This may also have an impact on the development of local cities, but since the number of workers who can move to other cities or live there is limited, local cities should build their own competitiveness rather than relying on such factors.
The author says that finding the color of each region and differentiating it from other regions can attract people.
This means that we need to create a different look from Seoul.
A city built to imitate Seoul ultimately leads to a desire to return to the original.
When you highlight the unique strengths of a city and create its own unique color, you create a reason to stay there and make it your home.
But good ideas alone have their limits.
Each region needs to have different building codes and regulations.
If you can create a space that is different from other areas, the chances of people wanting that space gathering will increase.
The same goes for apartments.
If it continues to look the same as it does now, its value will inevitably be determined by region or apartment brand.
Although various environmental factors such as convenient transportation will influence the choice of housing, if the façade design and materials are different, and if the choice is made based on advantages such as a duplex, a nice balcony, or a pretty brick finish, the space will reveal the individuality of the person living in it, and it will no longer be limited to a function like currency.
To achieve this, apartment designs must be diversified, and institutional improvements to facilitate such diversity are also necessary.
We need to find ways to increase diversity and efficiency while meeting the needs of both parties, such as opening up the gardens within apartments to residents, thereby allowing the apartment's balconies to be used more widely by loosening regulatory restrictions.
If we can create conditions that allow each region to have its own unique color and diversify residential designs such as apartments and villas, we will be able to create diverse cities and diverse housing.

The future is made by dreamers.

This book talks about how our spaces have changed, will change, and should change in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And it goes beyond simple spatial discussions, seeking ways to reduce conflict between classes.
When we talk about school buildings, we suggest alternatives for better education, and when we talk about housing, we even consider ways to make it possible for more people to own their own homes.
And it doesn't stop at just talking about living spaces, but as an architect, he talks about his diagnosis, criticism, and hopes for a wide range of spaces, including green belts, logistics tunnels, and balanced national development.

The near-future spaces presented by the author range from real-life spaces to indirect spaces, such as apartments with courtyard-like balconies, schools with customized curriculums for each child, linear parks connecting regions, companies divided into distributed central offices, small parks and libraries near my home, underground logistics tunnels for autonomous robots, and DMZ peace cities.
Among them, there are many stories that make you nod your head and seem like they could be applied right away, but there are also stories like the 'DMZ Peace City' that make you wonder if they will ever come true.
But at the end of the story, the author says emphatically:
They say the future is created by those who dream.
A utopia where we are happy together, not a dystopia for the few, is not far away.
This book is the result of my reflections on the beginning of those small steps.