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Songdo

Coordinates: 37°23′20″N 126°39′08″E / 37.38898°N 126.65211°E / 37.38898; 126.65211
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Songdo
File:Incheon Skyline.jpg
New Songdo City under construction
Korean name
Hangul
송도신도시
Hanja
松島新都市
Revised RomanizationSongdo shin-dosi
McCune–ReischauerSongdo sin tosi


New Songdo City is a planned international business center to be developed on 1,500 acres (6 km²) of reclaimed land along Incheon's waterfront, 40 miles (65 km) west of Seoul, South Korea and connected to Incheon International Airport by a 7.4 mile (12.3 km) highway bridge, called Incheon Bridge. Along with Yeongjong and Cheongna, it is part of the Incheon Free Economic Zone[1]. The Songdo International Business District (IBD) will include a convention center, international school, museum, ecotarium, cultural center, Jack Nicklaus Golf Course, Northeast Asia Trade Tower (NEATT), First World Towers, Central Park. The Incheon Tower is part of another parcel within New Songdo City. State-of-the-art schools, hospitals, apartments, office buildings and high-end cultural amenities are to be built in the city. Architectural hallmarks from around the world, including New York's Central Park and Venice's canals, are to be incorporated into the city. English is planned to be the lingua franca.This 10-year development project is estimated to cost in excess of $40 billion, making it the largest private development project ever undertaken anywhere in the history of the world. The project aspires to make the city and South Korea the preeminent business hub of Asia.

When completed in 2015, the city's infrastructure will be a test bed for new technologies, and the city itself will exemplify a digital way of life. "It will be one of the world's first cities in which all information systems - residential, medical, business - are linked." [1]

Songdo IBD development is being undertaken by an international joint venture led by Gale International and POSCO. The masterplan was designed by the New York office of Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF). Infrastructure development, labor, and funding are also being provided by the city of Incheon.

Development Plan

Built on 1,500 acres of land reclaimed from the Yellow Sea off Incheon, about 35 miles from the South's capital Seoul, New Songdo City is billed as the largest private real estate development in history. By its completion date in 2015, New Songdo City is to be a free economic zone with 80,000 apartments, 50 million square feet of office space and 10 million square feet of retail. The 65-floor Northeast Asia Trade Tower, which will be Korea's tallest building when complete. Computers will be built into the houses, streets and offices as part of a "ubiquitous" network linking everyone in a sort of digital commune. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/new-songdo-city-atlantis-of-the-far-east-1712252.html)

The city is intended to be "...a city that enjoys clean air... and a superior quality of life just doesn't exist anymore." 40 per cent of Songdo is officially designated "green," including the centerpiece 100-acre park. The city's main car depot has been buried in a sunken courtyard to keep heat and emissions down. A sleek new public transport system including underground trains linked to Seoul and a network of electric water taxis in the city's salt-water canals will help make maintain a clean urban environment and reduce carbon emissions.

In 2003 Birds Korea called for the of halt the reclamation project due to concerns at the loss of internationally important tidal-flats. Prior to reclamation the Song Do tidal-flats had supported several globally threatened waterbird species in internationally important concentrations, and provided a staging ground for migratory waders as they traveled between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. [2]

Yonsei Songdo Global Academic Complex

Originally agreed to on May 8, 2006 between the city of Incheon and Yonsei University, the Yonsei Songdo Global Academic Complex will be an anchor of the R&D aspect of the Songdo area and bolster the Korean education and research industries. Construction will be in two phases with the first phase including the Global Campus, Joint University Campus, R&D Campus, and the Global Academic Village. Phase one is expected to be complete in 2010 allowing phase two to begin the next year in 2011 with further expansion.[2]

The Joint University Campus aspect of the project is expected to be either an overseas campus of a major foreign research university or a joint campus created and managed between such a university and Yonsei University. This joint campus will be integrated and fully compatible with the Yonsei University program.[3]

Central Park

The central park will be 100.05 acres and designed by KPF / Towers Golde. [3]

Reception

In May 2009, some 45,000 people visited model homes for five new apartment complexes in a single weekend. Songdo's first block of 2,600 apartments were over-subscribed by about 8-1 when they went up for sale in 2006. Another 1,000 apartments will come on to the market this year and despite the sour economic data pouring out of Asia, they are expected to sell well.

Sheraton is due to open a new 319-bedroom hotel on 1 August, golfing legend Jack Nicklaus is overseeing the construction of an 18-hole 7,300-yard championship course; and in April this year, US tech multinational Cisco Systems signed a multibillion-dollar deal to provide network technologies to the new city.

Most components of the city, from the 470,000 square foot international school to Songdo's $155m (£94m) Convention Centre, which opened October 2008, are state of the art. The school, affiliated with the prestigious US-based Milton Academy, has facilities to rival most universities, including a 650-seat theatre, swimming pool and a TV studio in the basement connected to the internet so students will be able to broadcast around the planet. "They've spared nothing," says the school's head Jorge Nelson. "It is probably the most advanced school in the world."

An average apartment, as of June 2009, costs roughly $500,000, with some going for twice or three times such prices. Fees at the International School start at $25,000 a year. Shopping at the huge Taubaum Shopping Centre will be out of the range of many ordinary shoppers. The history of built from the ground-up cities like Brasilia, Islamabad and Canberra, as opposed to those that have grown organically, is not encouraging. Songdo risks becoming a sterile urban theme park, warn some observers.

See also

References

  1. ^ What is IFEZ
  2. ^ What is Yonsei SGAC?
  3. ^ Chief Features of SGAC, Joint University Campus

"New Island Hopes to Be Hong Kong Of Korea" in The New York Times. September 24, 2004.

37°23′20″N 126°39′08″E / 37.38898°N 126.65211°E / 37.38898; 126.65211

McNeill, David, New Songdo City: Atlantis of the Far east. 22 06 2009. Accessed on 25 06 2009. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/new-songdo-city-atlantis-of-the-far-east->

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