Sejong, Korea’s MultifunctionalAdministrative City, was createdas a national project to relocategovernment ministries and agen-

cies from Seoul, the aim being to pursuemore balanced regional economic devel-opment and boost national competitive-ness.

Between 2012 and 2014, a total of 37central ministries and their related offices,which makes for 13,000 public officials,moved to the newly developed city.Fourteen state-funded research instituteswith 3,200 researchers have also beenrelocated there. Aiming to attract a popu-lation of 500,000 by 2030, Sejong will bedeveloped as a self-sustaining city that canserve as the administrative capital ofKorea and fulfill various functions,including those related to education,research, healthcare, welfare and high-tech industries.

To that end, a three-phase developmentplan is well underway, with the first-phaseplan to be completed within the year. Thisphase involves the relocation of centraladministrative organizations and thedevelopment of city infrastructure, includ-ing roads. Sejong is home to many parksincluding Sejong Lake Park, the country’slargest artificial lake park (about 690,000square meters), and the Central Park (1.41million square meters), all of which repre-sent 52 percent of the city. This figure isthe country’s highest. In addition, the cityis promoting the world’s best educationalenvironment by introducing advancededucation systems including smartschools. The newly-adopted Bus RapidTransit (BRT) system runs along the innerand outer rings of the city, boosting effi-ciency of the public transit system. Duringthe second phase, from 2016 to 2020,development will focus on boosting thecity’s self-sustainability by strengtheningthe previously mentioned functions. Inparticular, the city will stand at the center

of a Creative Economy Valley that willconnect the Daeduk Inopolis, OsongBiovalley, and the International ScienceBusiness Belt, and focus on nurturingindustry-academia-research clusters thatcan converge science with industries. Forthis plan, Sejong designated a 750,000-square-meter land in the city’s southeastin June as an Urban High-Tech IndustrialComplex. After the first two phases,Sejong will go through a maturity phaseand stand as a self-sustainable city by2030.

Special city development projectsSejong is promoting special city devel-

opment projects in five categories: apart-ments, houses, private buildings includingcommercial structures, public buildingsand bridges. Unlike other newly devel-oped cities in Korea, Sejong has intro-duced design contests, business proposalbidding and the “block architect” systemfor private buildings in order to constructhigh-quality buildings. Thanks to suchefforts, the city is home to residential andcommercial buildings with uniquedesigns.

The houses in Sejong are being devel-oped under various themes, including tra-ditional Korean and European. State-of-the-art technologies and design have beenadopted in the city for public buildingsand bridges, which will promote the cityas a gigantic architecture and engineeringmuseum. Notable landmarks in the areainclude the Handuri Bridge, the nation’sfirst asymmetrical cable-styled bridgewith curved pylon, the National Library ofSejong City, which won the ReddotDesign Award, Sejong City Hall, thePresidential Archives and more.

With continuous special city develop-ment plans, Sejong aims to become the“mecca of architecture and urban plan-ning” for students in those fields.

Sejong’s new growth engineThe city’s Urban High-Tech Industrial

Complex will be developed as academia-industry-research clusters to lead thecity’s growth. In particular, the complexwill form clusters with Daedeok Innopolis(IT) and the Osong Bio-convergingIndustrial District to lead the nation’s cre-ative development. The complex’sVenture Park will house venture andmedium-sized companies with strongcompetitiveness, while the Research Parkwill serve as a hub for R&D companiesand research institutes. The ResearchCore, also in the complex and designatedto support academia-industry-researchcooperation, will accommodate theKnowledge Industry Center and Academia-Industry-Research Cooperation Center.

Considering growth potential and con-nectivity with other clusters in the neigh-borhood, the complex will focus onattracting tenants from the IT, bio technol-ogy and green energy technology indus-tries. It will open after briefing sessionsfor future tenants, who will be evaluatedon factors related to job creation, revenueand technological competitiveness.

National Agency for Administrative City construction

11, Doum6-ro, Sejong-si,Republic of Korea

Tel. +82-44-200-3184Fax. +82-44-200-3139Http://www.macc.go.kr

E-mail: sayoung@korea.kr

8 l December 2015

Zone

Sejong,a Capital in the Making

The new administrative capital of Sejongis being developed with exceptional design and academia-industry-research clusters