If chaos was a city it would be this one

The Chaotic Design of Seoul

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Video Producers:
Oliver Franke
Charles Street

Research & Writing:
Charles Street, Oliver Franke

Edit & Animations:
Timothy Simpson, Oliver Franke

[kimandre]

Seoul is functional mostly due to 2 things: down-to-earth public transportation system and super cheap cost of public transportation.

[Ed_Stuckey]

I was stationed (US ARMY) near the DMZ from 1962 - 1964. I went to Seoul once and Pusan once. The difference between then and now shocks me each time I see images from there.

[GrooveGravy]

As a Korean and a native of Seoul, how do you know all those exact details, history, and cultural aspects of the city and its people? I can’t imagine how much time you put into creating this great and astonishing documentary. Thank you for producing such excellent work! I really enjoyed it!

[theoryo]

I can say that Seoul relies on miracles. There are so many scars and wounds, yet we somehow survive and improve over tragedy. Seoul and RoK face so many problems rooting from its inequal, rapid development, but like public transportation, we will break out of it with another miracle. The miracle of the Han River is basically still ongoing.

[lukajakopic]

I have been visiting Seoul regularly for 15 years. I have lived in one of the smaller European capitals Ljubljana for most of my life and each time I am in Seoul I am amazed by efficiency and organisation Seoul's transportation, accessibility of medical care etc. Many things seem so thought of and organised in Seoul compared to my home city.

[bkjeong]

Seoul has been a major city for a couple millennia, too.

- the first capital of Baekje

- a major trading hub under Goguryeo (who took it from Baekje, sacked it and rebuilt it) and then under Silla

- Goryeo (Goguryeo resurrected)’s third largest city

- Capital of Joseon

[IraianReizell]

South Korean here, the department store collapsed one week after my visit with my family, and me back then being a wee little baby still remembered the place on television and was a huge shock to me.
Excellent video - though one updated is needed. We don't really experience monsoon seasons here what with climate change, and now in the summer we experience extreme heat(like everywhere) as high as 36.4 degrees celsius this year(according to KMA) with rain more resembling tropical patterns.

[evolancer]

That store collapse was more than not doing anything about the cracks.
They built more floors than what the original plan called for, skimped on column support and they put a bunch of AC units on the roof

[ninthsun]

As a South Korean living in Seoul, this video depicts the history of Seoul pretty good. Except spreading people out to Sejong is a failed plan. It was initiated 20 years ago to actually move the capital to Sejong, but the plan was abandonned by the next government. Still, some government offices and many people moved and Sejong is considered as one of the good city to live in South Korea. However, it's lacking infrastructure, especially education and job, prevents the city's further development.

Things might change maybe 10-20 years later when Seoul's real estate price breaks down. Until then, many problems described in Seoul will only deteriorate.

[Merijn-]

The title made me scroll past this video a few times, but i'm glad the algorithm kept serving it - great content.

[Account]

An interesting fact at 8:58 - Guryong Village (구룡) when translated into Chinese (九龍) is effectively Kowloon Village.

[이가람-sw]

9:17 To be more... accurate, protests did pressure the dictatorship, but did not effectively end it.

Next president, Noh Taewoo was a close friend of Chun as they both orchestrated the coup when they were generals.
Noh later dumped Chun, and it showed as change in leadership. So S.Korea was a democratic nation only in appearence, while in fact, ruled by the military.

It was only so when President Kim Youngsam was elected. He was originally the opposing party, but pretended to go with the military political power, Hanahwe, and became elected.
... but after he was elected, he showed his true colors; a believer of democracy.
He immediately disbanded and relieved the generals and military officers affiliated with Hanahwe overnight. Any military officer who claimed it was unright, he fired them.

Thats how S.Korea became truely democratic. People wanted democracy, along with a politician who was smart and able enough to overthrow a military regime.

Ps. Its too bad next president, Kim Daejung (got a Nobel peace prize) forgave former president Noh and Chun and their associates.
Their allies remained in power and still plague the S.Korean Government to this very day.

[rakeera]

Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul are top-notch cities, especially much better than Western big cities in terms of cleanliness, safety, and convenience

[김은혜-qet]

This is amazingly well done! You really pointed out almost every details very fast and deep way. So impressive and not biased at all in any way! I'm Korean, born, grew up and educated in Seoul! Really appreciate for making this! Thank you!

[bionicle]

"Why is *insert non-american city* insanely well designed"

[EmbraceMadnezZ]

I am shocked by Korea's current development, including Seoul. This is because Korea was a country where more than 80% of its land was completely destroyed by civil war. Most of the buildings on the ground were literally destroyed. And there are many historic structures that have been destroyed and burned down. Anyone who has studied the Korean War deeply knows that Korea at that time was despair itself.

Not only the United States, but most countries have even said that Korea is a country where there is no more hope after the Korean War. I think it is more than just a miracle that Korea has become an advanced country today and a country that teaches lessons to other countries in many areas. I send my love and respect to the Korean people.

[dirtiestharry]

8:55 a little fun fact, both Guryong and HK's Kowloon are written as 九龍 in Hanzi/Hanja script. They don't have any ties but it's funny that these towns with same name became famous slums of each city respectfully. If you ever get to name a place, don't name it 九龍 I guess.

[gf]

I am very impressed by the perfection of this video, Kudos!

[appolsappols]

For how well presented this video is, I wish there were better subtitles than the auto-generated ones

[chanjae]

Would agree on a lot except the “Hardly prepared for an invasion “ part. If you look at the mountain ranges in seoul at night, you would see the capitol defense forces having various measures against this lol