용산공원 청년임대주택, 기존 미군시설 활용하자 [왜냐면]

Recent debates surrounding Seoul's Seoul Park (용산공원) have intensified. The government and ruling party have proposed constructing youth rental housing at Seoul Park, citing environmental preservation. In contrast, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon opposes any development within a 1-meter radius of the park. This author has long been attentive to Seoul's World Heritage value, and in this context, any large apartment complex being built at Seoul Park would be detrimental.

Yet, as a building designer who created the 1989 Seoul-Bund Sample Apartments, youth housing cannot be overlooked. So, is there a new possibility? The answer already exists within Seoul. During the 2000s, Camp Seoul housed 14,000 people, including 8,000 military personnel, alongside schools, hospitals, sports facilities, religious centers, and commercial establishments.

The remaining building (1245 units) could be repurposed as rental housing for young people and newlyweds. The park's restoration will take considerable time, but this period can be utilized as an "interim use" phase. This time is meant for young people to live in. Their housing does not have to adhere to traditional apartment formats.

In this era of AI, humanoid robots, autonomous vehicles, and remote work becoming commonplace, apartments may not be the best living arrangements. The meaning of living spaces is evolving as life relationships shift rapidly. A new trend called "직주 통합" (direct integration of work and residence) is needed, with short-term stays fitting better than permanent residency.

With autonomous driving becoming universal, the relationship between cars and housing will change significantly. A shared living space could accommodate multiple people in a single bedroom, along with a living room, kitchen, and workspace. In this way, Seoul could become a fantastic location for young people to live, experiment, and transform their lives without being tied to ownership or property value.

The result would create a massive "future housing living lab." Interestingly, various world housing cultures, such as European parlors with fireplaces, Russian pheches, Japanese tatami, and Korean ondols, have already converged in Seoul Camp. This concept has been a "world housing laboratory" for a long time. This approach is not new; the U.S. San Francisco Presidio Park has long housed 3,500 residents using existing buildings.

When historical heritage is preserved and utilized appropriately, it can be maintained, remembered, and generate resources for management. Seoul, surrounded by rich green spaces and existing military facilities, could provide young people with new housing in AI, remote work, shared economy, and autonomous-driving era. With clear principles in place, such as protecting historical landscapes, cultural heritage, and repurposing existing buildings, Seoul's current conflict could transform into a different question: "How can we live while preserving the park?"

Young people can live, work, meet, fail, and create new housing while preserving the park. This would make Seoul's historical memories a living park for the future, rather than a place of past sorrow.