High-rise, high-density neighbourhoods allow us to accommodate the density that our cities need in order to provide robust urban infrastructure, diverse services and thriving commercial centres and to support sustainable growth. Unfortunately, they rarely achieve the vibrant public realm and attractive urban environments found in our best old neighbourhoods.
Prepared for Korea Land & Housing Corporation, this 120-acre master plan explores how a new high-rise neighbourhood can accommodate significant growth while creating a more human-scaled and walkable public realm. The project includes approximately 9,500 homes in a transit-connected area served by metro and bus.
PREPARED FOR:
Korea Land & Housing Corporation
LOCATION:
Seoul, South Korea
SIZE:
120 acres
UNITS:
9,500 homes
What is it that many tall neighbourhoods lack — the same qualities that make older neighbourhoods feel so memorable?
We looked closely at the character of older urban neighbourhoods and identified two qualities that are often missing in newer high-rise districts: vibrancy and charm.
This creates several improvements:
We set out to understand why many new neighbourhoods struggle to achieve the vibrancy and charm found in older urban areas.
Two issues stood out:
Scale: Wide streets, oversized open spaces, and towers without a strong street-level experience can make neighbourhoods feel less human-scaled. These conditions make it harder to create intimate spaces, active edges, and the concentration of people and activity that support a vibrant public realm.
Car Dominance: Many new neighbourhoods still prioritize vehicle movement over walking, cycling, and transit access. This can weaken the public realm and expose residents to more noise, pollution, and safety concerns. Even in many transit-oriented developments, car infrastructure continues to shape the everyday experience of the place.
To respond to both challenges, we developed Scaling Down, an urban design methodology for creating high-density neighbourhoods that feel more walkable, intimate, and human-scaled.
As Phase 1 of a large-scale urban redevelopment project in Seoul, we designed a dense neighbourhood to redevelop one of the unsuccessful low-rise modernist neighbourhoods being rapidly redeveloped all across South Korea
Situated in a central area near two major subway stations, the site is well positioned for transit-oriented development. However, it also faces major connectivity challenges, with freeways bordering two sides and part of a third.
This condition presented both a challenge and an opportunity: to apply our Scaling Down approach and create a dense new neighbourhood that retains the walkability, intimacy, and charm of the old city.
Rather than starting with built form alone, we focused on the human experience: how people perceive their neighbourhood, how they move through it, and how they engage with the public realm.
During the design process, we studied two urban typologies that shape the fabric of Seoul and many other South Korean cities. Each offers important advantages, but each also creates a very different experience at street level.
Older traditional neighbourhoods and post-war low-rise neighbourhoods are often made up of small detached houses, compact lots, narrow streets, and small apartment buildings.
What do they do well?
These neighbourhoods often create charming and vibrant urban environments. Narrow streets, short blocks, and smaller buildings create a strong human-scale experience, with varied routes, intimate spaces, and places that feel enjoyable to explore.
Where do they fall short?
These neighbourhoods are limited in their ability to accommodate higher density. Adding significant growth can compromise both private living conditions and the quality of shared open spaces.
High-rise neighbourhoods in South Korea are often a more refined version of the modernist tower-in-the-park model, with slim towers set within landscaped open space.
What do they do well?
These neighbourhoods can accommodate significant density while maintaining smaller building footprints. They provide generous separation between buildings, ample public and private open space, and bright homes with strong views. They also have the potential to support a wider mix of services, amenities, and commercial activity.
Where do they fall short?
The public realm is often oversized. As a result, these neighbourhoods may not concentrate people and activity in the way needed to create vibrancy, despite their high density. Without smaller, more intimate spaces at a human scale, they can also struggle to create places with charm.
To create a dense and charming neighbourhood, we integrated the strengths of both low-rise and high-rise typologies. High-rise buildings carry most of the density, while lower-scale buildings, smaller open spaces, and pedestrian-focused streets shape the everyday experience of the neighbourhood.
We also reduced the dominance of cars to create a safer, quieter, and more pleasant public realm.
This approach was implemented through two key design moves:
We focused on the places where people experience the neighbourhood most directly: streets, open spaces, building edges, and everyday walking routes.
Most of the density is accommodated in high-rise buildings, while low-rise buildings help define the scale and character of the public realm. This allows the neighbourhood to support significant growth while still feeling walkable, intimate, and human-scaled at ground level.
We introduced a range of street types, including car-free and car-light streets.
The most important pedestrian routes connect key destinations such as metro stations, main commercial streets, major parks, and schools. These pedestrian-only routes form a continuous network that runs parallel to major vehicular streets, reducing conflicts between people and cars.
Street design also encourages slow and careful vehicle movement, while reducing the number and visual presence of parking areas.
By combining the strongest qualities of low-rise and high-rise neighbourhoods in Seoul, the plan creates a new type of urban fabric.
The dominant experience is small-scale, walkable, and pedestrian-friendly, while 75% of the floor area is accommodated in high-rise buildings. This allows the neighbourhood to deliver substantial density without losing the vibrancy, intimacy, and charm of older urban districts.
Comparison (to scale) of existing neighbourhoods and our proposal (right)