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# The past, present, and future of Asian cities

Cities are increasingly being built in Asia. They are constantly changing. How have cities been historically built, developed and headed for decline? What will future cities look like? The ACC held an international academic symposium titled Asia Cities Culture to discuss city cultures in Asia from varying perspectives and offer an outlook for the future.

The conference included a roundtable of next-generation researchers in the morning and three sessions in the afternoon: Continuity, Hybridity, and Contemporaneity Urban Design; Urban Design in and of Asian Cities; and Challenges and the Future of Asian Cities.

A keynote speech was delivered by Peter Carl, Emeritus Professor of Architecture at the University of Cambridge in the UK, to offer a lens into understanding cities and associated ethical issues. It was followed by presentations under three different topics.

Daniel Oh, Associate Professor at Korea University

Session 1 focused on Continuity, Hybridity, and Contemporaneity Urban Design, with cases studies from Iran, Hong Kong, and Korea on the features of Asian cities and the changes they are undergoing.

Mozafari Mohammad Hassan, H.K. Research Professor at the University of Busan, presented the findings of his research on urban planning in the Iranian city of Isfahan. The city is one of the largest cities in West Asia of historical importance. It holds significance as a model of traditional urban design as a capital city.

Professor Hendrik Tieben from the Chinese University of Hong Kong shed light on the changing identity of Hong Kong, which had often been considered as a hybrid between the East and West. He mentioned about the popularity of village regeneration projects in the suburbs after the pandemic, and how it formed part of a larger trend to reconnect back to cultural roots.

Daniel Oh, Associate Professor at Korea University, compared three subculture districts in Seoul - Daehakro, Hongdae, and Seongsu - in the context of urban development. These districts share in common that they all began with the territorialization of a youth culture that defied the establishment. Oh noted the importance of the transformation of a subculture into a mainstream culture, suggesting that subculture could be the key to urban revival.

Mozafari Mohammad Hassan, H.K. Research Professor at the University of Busan

Session 2: Urban Design in and of Asian Cities explored the latest issues in urban design, including new towns, the fall of cities, urban infrastructure systems, urban spatial analysis, and evidence-based design.

Zhongjie Lin, Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, touched upon ways to address the issue of ghost cities in China with an example of the Zhengdong New District. Ghost cities in Western countries describe places, often former industrial towns, that have experienced declines in population and economic activity. But in China, they refer to under-occupied new towns. These new developments were driven by speculation, instead of actual demand, leaving many local governments with a pile of debt. Lin took the Zhengdong New District as an example of how a ghost city can be saved through a combination of economic foundation, political support, financial contribution, and continued execution.

Han Gwang-ya, Professor at Dongguk University, noted how railways have driven urban growth in Korea and examined urban development based on railway systems as well as the changing features of urban structure. He highlighted a gradual shift from single-center cities to multi-center cities caused by the recent development of high-speed train stations and metropolitan railway systems across regional hubs. Based on these findings, he identified potential challenges in future urban design.

Kim Young-chul, Associate Professor at KAIST, shared his research findings on urban spatial analysis for urban design. Kim stressed on the growing availability of tools to analyze the characteristics of urban space, such as Street View by Google Maps, and how the advanced ability to share and process urban spatial data contributed to new research findings.

Kim Ho-jung, Professor at Dankook University, chairs Session 3, while Baek Jin, Professor at Seoul National University, presents his findings

Session 3 on Challenges and the Future of Asian Cities discussed how Asian cities should change and grow and what an ideal future city should look like.

Aiba Shin, Professor of Urban Policy and Science at Tokyo Metropolitan University, introduced a Compact City Policy in Japan, a country facing an unprecedented drop in population and shrinking cities. He discussed realistic urban planning under the current conditions.

Zhang Ye, Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore, delved deeper into the concept of the ‘sharing city,’ a future city model in the post-pandemic era, including how it was developed and how it can be used to address several issues.

Kim Dong-kun, Director of the Next Society & City Institute at Taejae Holdings, compared the transition from agricultural to industrial society with the ongoing shift from industrial society to future society. He viewed a small yet competent city as the most promising future city model that can help address existing urban issues and contribute to the evolution of human life.

Baek Jin, Professor of Architecture at Seoul National University, examined the ongoing discourse on future cities and questioned if a technological revolution will bring about a smart utopia, and whether a metropolis or a mega-metropolis is a positive form of living together. He noted that a delicate balance between technological advances and considerations for human nature can lead to the creation of an ideal future city.

Asian cities are undergoing changes which come with a variety of challenges. How can we address these issues, and what will future cities look like? The symposium offered an opportunity to reflect on these questions and share research findings from case studies in several countries. The outcomes from presentations and discussions will serve as the academic foundation for ACC content creation and production programs and strengthen a platform for Asian cultural research exchanges.