Publishing the City Trilogy_Cities are a Journey, Life is a Journey
Prologue: When people come into the city, it becomes a story.

Part 1: Living with strangers
Concept 1: Anonymity: Living with Strangers… Streets and Squares
Concept 2: Power and Authority: Respect or Love? … The Blue House, the National Assembly, and the Government Complex
Concept 3: Memory and Records: Who Are We? … Preservation, Conservation, Restoration, and Regeneration

Part 2_A space where emotions move
Concept 4: Praise for Knowing: The Heart-Pounding Story of Our City… Jeongjo, Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, and Juhapnu
Insights from Concept 5: Why Travel to Overseas Cities… Context and Authenticity
Concept 6 Storytelling: Where is the "Space in My Heart"? ... Tongyeong Stories and Ganghwa Stories
Concept 7: Coding and Decoding: Hidden Implications in Space… Difference, Discrimination, Hatred, Negativity, Recognition, Affirmation, Kindness, and Consideration

Part 3_The Money Game Space
Concept 8: Desire and Greed: Am I an Accomplice in the Money Game? … Apartment Republic, Complex Republic
Concept 9: The Temptation of Corruption: The City of the "B-Shaped Disease"… The Republic of Babel and El City
Concept 10: Phenomenon and Structure: The Ability to Be Strange… The Perspective of a Stranger, the Attitudes of Citizens

Part 4: The Power to Create Cities
Concept 11: Money and Votes: The Power That Shapes Cities in This Era… Polarization Between Cities and Within Cities
Concept 12: Evolution and Mutation: Cities Unable to Be Built by Design… New Towns and Daldongne

Epilogue_City Story, Forever!
Appendix_Recommended Reading on Urban Topics

Raising the city to the level of a story
A masterpiece by urban architect Jin-ae Kim

Few people decide to study 'cities' unless they are experts in the relevant field.
While you may explore a specific city with a clear purpose, such as a city tour or real estate investment, studying the city itself is never easy.
Moreover, it doesn't feel like it has much to do with my life, so it's even more daunting.
'Kim Jin-ae's City Story', which started as a Thursday corner of TBS Radio's 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory', is an educational content created to break down such prejudices and preconceptions.
Kim Jin-ae's first goal was to pique the interest of factory manager Kim Eo-jun.
Because if the host is interesting, the listeners will be interested as well.
Kim Jin-ae's attitude was definitely effective.
More and more people are considering the city as their own story, and more and more people are learning to connect urban space with political, economic, social, and cultural issues.
One listener expressed gratitude to Kim Jin-ae for sharing various city stories, saying, “While listening to ‘Kim Jin-ae’s City Stories,’ I finally realized that we need to be proud of ourselves.”
Although it has the same name as the radio corner, 『Kim Jin-ae's City Story』 is a book that Kim Jin-ae wrote completely from scratch.
It is a masterpiece written in 10 years, and it is a book that deals with cities, which is his specialty.
This book not only shows that cities can be approached easily and enjoyably as stories, but also makes us realize how closely urban issues are connected to our lives and how much our lives can change by understanding cities.
Above all, it helps me develop a positive outlook on my neighborhood and city, and broadens my horizons to the point where I can think about my future in relation to the future of the city.
Anyone who reads this book will immediately add their own story to the fascinating "city story" prepared by Kim Jin-ae.


The fundamental conditions of urban life,
Provocative questions about 'anonymity'

"Kim Jin-ae's City Story" begins with a discussion that reveals the true nature of the subtle discomfort and rejection we have toward the city.
The key is anonymity, which can be said to be a fundamental condition of urban life.
The point is that since a city is essentially a space where you live with people you don't know, it's inevitable that you'll feel a certain amount of anxiety.
But this perspective is only a superficial look at the city's outward appearance.
Kim Jin-ae claims that the city's boundless freedom actually grows within anonymity, and lists the conditions for enjoying its positive aspects as follows:

“We will not define each other by our status, we will not ask where we come from, we will acknowledge that you and I share the same desires and fears, anxieties and trepidations, hopes and wishes, we will empathize with the ‘distance of intimacy’ and how far we can go, we will acknowledge that we can approach and distance ourselves at any time, and we will believe that we can feel each other’s body heat without being clammy.”

This is the moment when anonymity, which was thought to be a curse, becomes a blessing.
Unlike tribal or caste societies, urban life allows for more free and just relationships because people live with strangers they do not know.
The wisdom of living together with less hurt and less conflict can become a good culture or style that reduces social anxiety.

Moreover, looking at the city through the concept of anonymity makes us reconsider the meaning of streets and squares.
A plaza where people can walk freely and where freedom of expression is guaranteed is the most sophisticated form of urban art and the most basic promise of a city.
One thing to keep in mind is that these roads and squares are not given to us for free.
Because we have always performed the magic of transforming streets into plazas at every turning point in history, we can say that we already have the answer to how to use streets and plazas plausibly with strangers.

From the space of power to the space of everyday life
A book that makes you dream of a better urban life

The greatest appeal of this book is that it allows us to look at the urban space in which we live together from a new perspective.
Representative examples include powerful spaces such as the Blue House, the National Assembly, and the Prosecutors' Office.
Power essentially displays its authority and power through architecture.
It may evoke emotions like awe, pride, and patriotism, but the most fundamental emotion underlying it all is none other than fear.
Because in order to keep citizens submissive and prevent questions about legitimacy, power itself had to be feared.
The Blue House is a representative space of power that is often talked about because of its irrational spatial configuration.
The distance between the President's office and the secretarial staff's workspace creates significant problems in communication and work efficiency.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly building is the ugliest space of power.
They only tried to make the building itself bigger by using colonnades and domes to show off their authority.
As a result, the pillars and dome were separated, and it became a large, ugly monster with awkward proportions.
The prosecutor's office building has a blank poker face.
It hides the public power that 'our institutionalized self' possesses, and instead reveals the closed nature of bureaucracy.
It is located far from the main road, minimizing accessibility and communication possibilities.

There are also many brilliant insights that impact individual lives.
Kim Jin-ae points out that the problem is not the apartments themselves, but the "large apartment complexes," and the core of her criticism is that these large apartment complexes are destroying the city's roads.
For example, the alleyways that were intertwined like threads before redevelopment disappear the moment large apartment complexes are built.
It blocks most of the surrounding roads like a castle.
As a solution to this, I argue that our apartments should be urban apartments that promote urban living, rather than complex apartments.
Even the high-rise buildings that are becoming popular pose many problems when used as apartments.
Windows cannot be opened properly, which increases heating and cooling costs and has a negative impact on psychological and physical health.
It may look nice on the outside and be fine for a short stay or work, but it has too many problems to live in.
But our society covers up these problems.
It goes into detail about who does it and why.

In this way, 『Kim Jin-ae's City Story』 changes the way we look at urban life.
When something we took for granted looks different, we start to look for alternatives and seek change.
As individuals worry, find answers to their worries, make different choices, and take different actions, they grow significantly.
This is precisely why we need to read this book now.

Kim Jin-ae's city trilogy, completed over 20 years,
Read about my relationship with the city!

For Jin-ae Kim, who started her studies in architecture and expanded her studies to include cities, the city is, in a word, an object of love and conflict.
I love the city deeply, but I cannot help but be suspicious and questioning, and I neither idealize the city nor criticize it cynically.
That's why, when Jin-ae Kim talks about the city, she becomes more serious and thoughtful than ever, but at the same time, she becomes endlessly excited and cheerful.
'Kim Jin-ae's City Trilogy' is a life project that Kim Jin-ae completed over 20 years.
I read my relationship with the city from various angles, and figure out how to live and what to dream of.
"Kim Jin-ae's City Story" is the first volume of "Kim Jin-ae's City Trilogy."
Although this is the most recent book I have written and the first new book I am meeting with readers, I chose it as the first book because it unravels the thematic consciousness that underlies the trilogy.
The second volume, "Discovering Humans in the Urban Forest," is a newly revised version of "CEO Reading the City," published in 2009.
In addition to comparing our city with foreign cities, we explored the diverse ways in which humans grow by reading about cities and various content, including movies, books, university lectures, old maps, and the lives of specific individuals.
The third volume, “In Praise of Our City,” is a reprint of “In Praise of Our City,” published in 2003, with the title and main text intact.
By discovering the charm of our neighborhoods and cities and sharing an attitude of celebration, we narrow the gap between our lives and the spaces that surround us.

Although the three volumes are grouped together as the 'City Trilogy' series, each volume has its own unique personality due to the different writing styles and content covered.
The author recommends reading it this way:
The first volume is like listening to a 'city story' broadcast, the second volume is like imagining an overseas trip, and the third volume is like planning a weekend trip or a weekend walk.
Therefore, you can read just one book on a topic that interests you, or you can read three books together.
You can freely decide the order in which you read books according to your own tastes and interests.
"Kim Jin-ae's City Trilogy," which has freely varied and evolved over the past 20 years, will wholeheartedly support the new urban life that will unfold before you.