*5.2. Seoul (1910~1945)*

Hanyang (Seoul), which was designated as a capital of Joseon, was established using traditional urban planning ideas of Feng Shui geomancy, China's city wall planning norm Chinese Royal Records, and considering the natural environment, including the original topography and terrain. Feng Shui geomancy had a significant effect on the decision to select Hanyang as a capital and the location of Gyeongbokgung, the royal palace. Around the

palace, the locations of other major buildings such as shrines, ritual sites, and government offices followed the principles of 'shrines on the left, ritual sites on the right, government offices on the front, and markets on the back' in Chinese Royal Records. The palace was not located in the middle but north, and market stores were built in front of the palace. The modernization of Joseon's capital Seoul began after the opening of ports in 1876. Since he took royal refuge at the Russian legation in 1896, King Gojong had implemented the Urban Rebuilding Project around Gyeongun-gung during the Korean Empire (Figure 6).

**Figure 6.** Map of Seoul's Urban Renewal (Government-General of Joseon Gazette, Notice No. 173 in June 1919).

After Japan won the Russo–Japanese War in 1904 and signed the Eulsa Treaty, the effective power of the Korean Empire was transferred to the Resident-General. From 1907, the Resident-General began to reshape spaces in Seoul. With Gyeongseong Prefecture Urban Renewal during the Resident-General period, Seoul's urban renewal established a straight road connecting Donhwamun, Gwanghwamun, Daehanmun, and Namdaemun, which ran through Gyeongbokgung, a visual focus in the spatial structure of fortress walls, and Gyeongun-gung, which emerged as a new visual focus with the Urban Rebuilding Project during the Korean Empire period [34]. Afterwards, the 1912 urban renewal plan, implemented by the Government-General, focused on turning Seoul's urban organization into a grid shape. When it came to the responsible organization and funding, the Gyeongseong Civil Works Office implemented urban renewal, directly under the Department of Civil Works of the Regional Bureau of the Government-General, and then transferred to Gyeongseong Prefecture. For funding, until the urban renewal plan was announced in 1912, road paving funds from the Government-General were used, but afterwards, funds were secured by selling government properties.

Japan established urban planning in 1919, which affected Seoul, and discussions on urban planning were held in the city as well. The most central figure was Inspector-General Mizuno Rentaro of Political Affairs, who was elected in August 1919 along with Governor- ¯ General Saito. Mizuno had a deep personal relationship with Got ¯ o Shinpei and served as ¯ a director in the Imperial City Redevelopment Institute after the Great Kanto earthquake. ¯ During this period, the Gyeongseong Urban Planning Research Association was organized, and the draft of Seoul urban renewal plan was completed in 1925 but did not include benefit principles. In the fortress walls of Seoul, sections connecting the Japanese Army Garrison in Yongsan were rebuilt, and as a result, the downtown tended to expand towards Yongsan (Figure 7).

**Figure 7.** Seoul Downtown Planned Street Network Map.

In Seoul, the tram railway was built in 1898. Urban renewal implemented since Japanese colonial rule was planned to sort out roads in line with the tram network. Like Tokyo, modern urban planning was established with the construction of major transport facilities in mind, as transport convenience was one of the most important pillars in the city.

#### *5.3. Beijing (1936~1945)*

Beijing served as a capital as in 'zhongdu (central capital)' for the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) and 'dadu (big capital)' for the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). Beijing was built under the principles of castle planning in Chinese Royal Records. With the emperor's residence at the center, fields, additional palaces, roads, streams, and bridges were connected organically across the entire Beijing (Zhu, 2006). After the Qing dynasty's feudal monarchy crumbled due to the Xinhai Revolution, urban renewal and construction began in Beijing.

The Beiyang government (1912–1928) created the Capital Urban Renewal Office, which took charge of urban planning and construction in Beijing, and turned facilities related to the emperor in the Qing dynasty into public spaces. In addition, streets, gates, and walls were renovated to allow for vehicle traffic. With the Manchurian Incident in 1931, Japan occupied Northeast China and took over Beiping in 1937 (its name was changed to Beijing in April 1938). In December 1937, Japan established the Provisional Government of the Republic of China in Beijing and the North China Political Affairs Commission in March 1940. At that time, Beijing functioned as a capital for the regime in North China and played an important role to allow Japan to form a colonial stronghold. The population grew fast after Japan took over Beijing, and there were growing needs for urban planning in response to the population growth. In Beijing, the area in which the city walls used to

be was designated as the old city center, and new cities were built westwards instead of expanding the old city center (Figure 8).

**Figure 8.** Map of for Beijing's Urban Renewal (Capital Library of China).

#### **6. Conclusions**

Tokyo started urban renewal quite early in 1876 to present itself as the modern capital of Japan. Plans and revisions for urban renewal were presented before establishing the Urban Renewal Plan in 1914. While the planning for urban renewal was discussed primarily for Tokyo, the implementation of urban renewal plans was carried out in a similar period also in other colonized cities. Tokyo enacted the City Planning Law for the first time in 1919 and revised it in 1933. The City Planning Law for each city under colonial rule was discussed and introduced based on it. In 1940, Seoul had a population of 940,000 people, Taipei 330,000, and Beijing 1.6 million, and along with urban scale problems, the timing of urban planning and the existence of the old city walls made a difference in each city's planning. What Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, and Taipei had in common was that they were all centered on the existing city walls.

This study aimed to examine the conclusions drawn about modern city planning, its timing of implementation, and its effect in several cities. The study found that the establishment of organizations for decision-making and implementation preceded urban renewal projects in all cities.

Firstly, urban renewal projects and city planning laws were carried out in different cities. It mentions that each city established an organization for decision-making and implementation prior to urban renewal projects, and the timing of these organizations varied among the cities.

The sewerage networks were planned by experts in sewage planning, while other city planning was led by administrators. In the colonial cities of Taipei and Seoul, urban renewal was led by the Government-General, while in Tokyo and Beijing, the respective government agencies were responsible for urban planning. In Tokyo, the Tokyo Urban Renewal Review Committee was established in the Home Ministry in 1885, and the Tokyo Urban Renewal Committee was created in 1888. The City Planning Law Implementation Preparation Committee was established by the Government-General of Taiwan in 1934. In Seoul, the Urban Planning Research Association was established in 1928, and the Kyungseong Urban Planning Survey Committee was organized in 1933. Japan took over Beijing in 1937 and the General Office of Construction was established in the North China Political Affairs Commission in 1938, with the City Bureau thereunder to push for urban planning. While the timing was different, the establishment of organizations to plan urban renewal and the city planning law went ahead in a similar pattern in colonized cities. With respect to planners, although an expert was invited to plan sewage works, urban planning for other works was carried out by administrators in the cities. The urban planning in Taipei and Seoul was led by the Resident-General or Governor-General appointed at that time.

Secondly, the implementation of urban renewal and the City Planning Ordinance among several cities was carried out in the following order: First, urban renewal was planned for Tokyo, but it was actually applied in Taipei before Tokyo. Taipei underwent urban renewal before other cities, and its street system was based on the grid-iron design. Meanwhile, the City Planning Ordinance was first planned and implemented in Tokyo and later spread to other colonized cities during a similar period.

Thirdly, the effects of urban renewal and the City Planning Ordinance in each city were similar in that they started by rebuilding the old city walls and then shifted their focus to expanding the city and suburban areas. Tokyo renovated Edo, which was a traditional city, through Urban Renewal Plan, and it was expanded to the west, south, and north of Edo through the City Planning Law. The Great Taipei Urbanization Plan aimed at connecting the inside of the city walls as well as traditional housing clusters in Dadaocheng and Monga and expanding the city walls eastwards. Seoul renovated the traditional city through Urban Renewal Plan, and the expansion of the new urban area tended to expand towards Yongsan and Yeongdeungpo area (southwest). In Beijing, the area in which the city walls used to be was designated as the old city center, and new cities were built westwards instead of expanding the traditional city (Figure 9).

**Figure 9.** Changing shapes of traditional cities Edo, Taipei, Seoul, and Beijing.

Finally, the urban renewal project and City Planning Ordinance in each city had different characteristics: Taipei aimed to integrate sewage systems and streets and built a new downtown on top of the old one, which was destroyed by a natural disaster, with Japanese financial support. Tokyo aimed to integrate sewage systems and streets as well, but it did not happen as planned due to financial difficulties and disasters. Instead, it focused on rebuilding roads within the existing urban structure. Seoul's sewage works were developed independently of streets as a result of rebuilding small streams. The

plan prioritized preserving the existing city, but due to funding constraints, it focused on rebuilding the existing downtown through land readjustment. It had a longer history of discussions and survey activities for urban planning due to a longer colonial rule. Beijing planned for new cities and placed greater emphasis on preserving the old city walls, leaving the urban structure unchanged. It relatively overlooked the old city walls.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, S.Y. and K.L.; methodology, S.Y.; software, K.L.; validation, S.Y. and K.L.; formal analysis, S.Y. and K.L.; investigation, S.Y. and K.L.; resources, S.Y. and K.L.; data curation, S.Y.; writing—original draft preparation, K.L.; writing—review and editing, K.L.; visualization, K.L.; supervision, S.Y.; project administration, S.Y.; funding acquisition, S.Y. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
