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The purpose of this studio was to develop urban design guidelines for the Public Administrative Town [PAT], within Sejong City, Korea. The twelve-member studio, consisting of planners, designers, architects and landscape architects, began the process of guideline development by analyzing the 2007 winning design for the PAT formulated by Haeahn Architects and Balmori Associates. This design consists of an iconic governmental building, an internal grid system containing mixed-use corridors, an outer ring consisting of housing, extensive green spaces, and two water bodies on the western and eastern sides of the site. Each of these environmental factors and their interrelationships have been incorporated into the urban design guidelines formulated for the PAT.

The plan’s core principles are to achieve ecological sustainability, spatial and conceptual equality, a flattening of the skyline, and the integration and connection of the city to the region, nation, and world. These ideas are conceptually represented as Flat City, Link City, and Zero City.

The studio sought to implement these ideals at every level of the city’s operation. These investigations culminated in a framework of realizable goals and specific guidelines that allow the government and people of Korea to achieve the admirable aspirations set forth in the winning design for this new city.

The studio produced a 165 page document focusing on nine specific aspects of the plan. We translated the ideals of Flat City, Link City and Zero City into specific guidelines and goals for each of these areas:

REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY, including a direct high-speed rail connection to Seoul and the Southern cities, as well as a Bus Rapid Transit System for Sejong that provides both local and express service;

STRUCTURING MULTI-MODAL TRANSPORTATION that removes the parking requirement from the government buildings and other locations in the central area and aims to reduce traffic and auto emissions; the modification of the street grid to distinguish BRT streets, through-streets that connect to other parts of Sejong, circulator streets, local access streets and connections for pedestrians only;

A LAND USE PLAN that encourages mixed use with an emphasis on commercial space in the center of the city and mixed use with an emphasis on residential development along the perimeter of the PAT;

AN ARTICULATED ICONIC PLANE that implements the concept of the structures as expressed in the competition design for the government building;

AN ICONIC EDGE along the central park that is the site for public buildings and could be the location for the legislature, judiciary, and presidential offices if the full capital ever moves to Sejong. The scenic walkways along them, forest preserves, public parks, plazas, and pedestrian connections to the green roofs on the government buildings;

A PRODUCTIVE URBAN FORM in which tower locations are determined by optimal positioning for wind turbines, and access to solar radiation controls tower orientation and shapes courtyards in lower buildings;

A BUILDING MORPHOLOGY in which structures and building guidelines are environmentally conscious; and

ECOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY for the whole city; including intensive urban agriculture, green roofs, gray water separation in all buildings, photovoltaics, swales and other natural systems for stormwater management.

Executing the interwoven ideals of Flat, Link and Zero at every scale is a complex and challenging goal. The PAT can and should be a city that embodies these ideals and serves as the emblem of Korea’s dynamic, forward-looking democracy in the 21st Century. The goal of this report is to suggest how to develop the city in a way that ensures the realization of these goals and ideals on every level.