A promising investment destination in Gangbuk, according to a Harvard real estate doctor, is Zipconomy TV.

▶ Reporter Ayoung Yoon
You specialize in urban planning, how do you see a city called ‘Seoul’?

▷ Professor Kyungmin Kim
Seoul is a really lovely city. Even in Gangbuk, each block has a different personality. From Jongno, there is the Sewoon Mall in the south, and the Gwangjang Market and the Dongdaemun General Market are interesting. If you go next to him, you will see Hwanghak-dong. There are not many cities with different layers in a city like this. The city of Seoul is very attractive. When I bring foreigners to Gangnam, I’m also in New York, so I’m sick of it. For example, I like Itaewon to Jongno.

▶ Reporter Yoon Ah-young
What real estate is worth investing in Seoul?

▷ Professor Kyungmin Kim
However, single-family homes are possible in areas where commercialization is possible.

▶ Reporter Ayoung Yoon
It is not the area that is currently marketed.

▷ Professor Kyungmin Kim
Yes. I think all lines of line 6 will be marketed. On the left is the ancient city, and on the right are Hapjeong Hongdae and Sangam, the mighty MBC. Hapjeong, Sangsu, Daeheung, Gwangheungchang, merit, originally powerful. There are many interesting things about Samgak Island, and if you go further to Itaewon. All that remains is a claim for weak factors and a new party. Interesting cafes began to enter Sindang. Another is Dongmyo Station, Hwanghak-dong. It will be almost done. There is no connection between business districts and Gangbuk express business districts. It’s a matter of time. In the future, it’s good to go ahead and see the change even if you can’t invest, even if you can’t invest.

▶ Reporter Yoon Ah-young
In fact, Line 6 has been a line that has been neglected. I look forward to the future.

▷ Professor Kyungmin Kim
Because there are two anchors. Little boys 10 years ago, they played in front of Hongdae and went to the Itaewon club.

▶ Reporter Yoon Ah-young
Gangbuk is colorful. After all, won’t these cities develop?

▷ Professor Kyungmin Kim
Right. It can develop. You need a balance between development and conservation. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do development. I am also friendly with people in the industry. There is a slightly different point of view. Preservation is the preservation of the community, but there is physical preservation and there is preservation in terms of industry.

For example, I said Sewoon Sangga, Gwangjang General Market, but there is no country in the middle of the city that has a huge market that sells such important fashion items all over the world. No country has a fashion like Dongdaemun General Market. Of course it is worth it. Also, there is no country with urban manufacturing in the city center. It’s worth it in its own way. Around the Sewoon Mall. The same goes for Munrae-dong. But when I went to Eulji, the officetel was broke and sold. What is that. This happened when Mayor Park Won-soon. This policy emerged from the market that emphasized urban renewal. Later, I’m in Euljiro Hip-ji, and I’m trying to do something by dividing myself into zones. The city of Seoul is abandoning it because it is important for the manufacturing industry in the city center, but I will change it like that on the next slide. What a comedy it is.

The shape of the building is important what you want to leave, but you also have to think about preserving the underlying industrial resources. There is no city in the city where the manufacturing industry remains huge. I think it is a great advantage and you have to worry.

The urban regeneration policy that the government is doing at the moment is very bad. There are two purposes for urban regeneration. There is a residential wellness facility where residents can live stably in the local community, but why is urban regeneration necessary without residents? The second is the economic revitalization of local communities. In order to build a local business abroad, these are the two necessary things. In the case of Changsin-dong, it is an area where fashion sewing factories are concentrated. It is about how to grow the fashion sewing industry, why do you need murals, kindergartens and observatories? In fact, it is a neighborhood where no strategy should be taken to revitalize fish tourism. What we misunderstand is that we may choose to revitalize tourism as a way to revitalize the economy, but it cannot be seen as a revitalization of urban regeneration just because people are overcrowded.

▶ Reporter Ayoung Yoon
You are doing an urban regeneration project yourself. What is Shared City Lab?

▷ Professor Kyungmin Kim
Urban Hybrid has many of our laboratories in Changsin-dong, Dongdaemun and fashion sewing factories in 2012, but we entered the living laboratory level. There was a problem in the middle of the remodel, so I went in good faith and sympathy and offered to help those people. I started Urban Hybrid at the lab level. It is developed and operated as a joint design bureau in which Shareone’s hideaway, a new fashion designer and a sewing factory in Changsin-dong work together. I think there are many things that are meaningful to me. I met a good designer there and made a sample pattern so I watched him work together in a separate office. I like the urban hybrid model because Changsin-dong is a crowded area of ​​ordinary people. It is one of the major urban regeneration projects (at the time of the Park Geun-hye administration), and I think it can be seen as a private developer making adequate profits to revitalize the economy in urban regeneration. I think there should be more of this type of business. In short, it can be seen as a social enterprise specialized in urban regeneration.

▶ Reporter Ayoung Yoon
In fact, is this type of development business profitable?

▷ Professor Kyungmin Kim
The funding and incentives from the Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) are really good. If you can’t make money from real estate at 1.5% for 10 years, you shouldn’t be doing business. Social enterprises are also companies. Obviously, your salary must go out and your return must be guaranteed. However, since this company is small, what the government needs to do is how to grow economies of scale and make a big company.

▶ Reporter Ayoung Yoon
How to invest in real estate other than apartments (shops, offices, etc.)

▷ Professor Kyungmin Kim
From an investment perspective, there are four types of real estate. They are houses, retail stores, offices, and warehouses. Speaking of trends, offline retail is almost at a collapse level. Not only in Korea, not only because of the coronavirus, but since mid-2010, all shopping malls, department stores and hypermarkets have been destroyed. It is a very big illusion that a large company is going to fail, but if the autonomous retailer will work. You should never make business investments. Is it really a big problem? The developers are also reducing the mall by building apartments. Policy administrators should tolerate this too. What people can do is not commercial, office buildings and large-scale distribution warehouses. In the end, a house remains.

Zipkonomi TV planning
General Manager Sung-keun Cho, Construction and Real Estate Manager
Reporter Yoon Ah-young
Photographing PD Kim Sohee
Edited by Minkyung Cho PD
Produced by The Korea Economic Daily, Hankyung.com

Reporter Ayoung Yoon [email protected]