Transit-oriented development (TOD) pursues sustainable urban development through compact growth, mixed-use zoning, and pedestrian-friendly neighborhood design in cooperation with transportation planning. Seoul has actively developed urban rail transit since the 1970s based on a TOD concept, and each station’s areas have differently evolved throughout the history of urbanization in Seoul. In response to investigating the complications of current TOD, this paper evaluates TOD characteristics through accessibility and clustering analysis methods and categorizes TOD types using the targeted 246 subway station areas at the neighborhood level. As a result, subway TODs are grouped into the four distinct categories of (1) high-density: a form of mainly mixed-use with residential and retail development and good accessibility; (2) moderate-density: average accessibility and high-mixed use; (3) compact business district setting: highly accessible to offices and retail; and (4) compact housing: high-rise apartments with schools and retail. The results also find that Cluster 2 is the most common TOD type and redevelopment possibility in Seoul, with relatively lower ranks in the building floor area (GFA) and diversity in comparison to other TOD contexts. Cluster 3 has the most significant transit demand, generating an active transit environment in Seoul. Different urban development periods impact the characteristics of TOD types.

Unlike urban planning processes have actively used empirical approaches, the urban park design and planning still uses the conceptual research approach; therefore, discrepancies often arise between the designer’s intention and real phenomena. In this work, we examine and propose a trade-off method for sustainable urban park design and planning that integrates conceptual and connectivity analyses, specifically for the Yongsan Park master plan. Yongsan Park is a mega-scale urban park project with a unique history as being a military post-industrial site for a long time. To re-link the isolated park site to current urban context, the park connectivity requires careful consideration both conceptually and empirically during the design and planning process. We used the spatial network analysis and statistical methods to investigate the potential visitation proposed by the park master plan and to understand the correlations with built environment factors. The results indicate that an iterative process is needed between conceptual design ideas and empirical connectivity analyses to properly reflect the designers’ intent and improve the long-term outcomes of large urban park design and planning. The trade-off method also provides insights of the urban planning strategies for nearby neighborhoods to enhance park connectivity and potentially contribute to the park management phase.

Architectural industries are facing much pressure on the endless national projects about ‘Smart City’ which are pushed by IT evolution nowadays. This is a difficult task, and all are stumped to suggest promising smart cities in a short period of time without any priori projects. However, based on their own ideas many architects have already commenced responding to the 4th industrial wave. In this paper, we invite three researchers from three distinctive fields and introduce their sketches of future cities according to the value creation, city networking and social hierarchy.