A New City and Business Hub for South Korea

Architectural Record takes a look at the design of the new city, and how it aims to attract business.

"While South Korea has been engaged in large-scale landfill construction since the 1970s, necessitated by a shortage of buildable area near the nation's capital, the impetus for building NSC came after the South Korean economy hit the skids in 1997. At the urging of the International Monetary Fund, the South Korean government designated the site as a free economic zone with a full-fledged city to attract foreign investment. To jump-start the influx of money from abroad, the government made an unprecedented move by selling the land to this private, international joint venture and putting the new owners in charge of the city's development. 'Basically, it is a free-market experiment,' says KPF principal James von Klemperer, FAIA."