A Study on the Formation of Urban Space in Gangnam Area and the Urban Discourse in the 1960s

The purpose of this study was to inquire into the formation of urban space in Gangnam Area and its relation with the urbanistic discourse in the 1960s in Korea. The urban space of Gangnam has been formed through a series of steps since the first masterplan of Gangnam was suggested in 1962. The first step can be found in early master plans of Gangnam which were set up in 1962 and 1966. There, American-style garden suburb served as a dominant urban discourse. However this scheme came under scrutiny when the Seoul Urban Basic Planning was established in 1966. The planning adopted super block concept whose size was derived from the downtown of Seoul, and ring-radial roadway circulation system to determine a major urban structure. The final step took place in 1970 when Manhattan was employed as a model for the development of Yeungdong District 2. Naturally, grid-patterned streets and riverside roads provided a basis of urban planning in Gangnam, which would be modified a year later in accordance with natural topography