2024 Skyscraper Competition
Honorable Mention
Lee Sang-min, Baek Changheon, Kim Yong Hee, Jung Chang Gyun, Kang Somang, Jo Youngjae, Seo Chaebin
South Korea
Background
Currently, the birth rate of the Republic of Korea has plummeted with rapid economic development since the 1960s. This is the result of a combination of social and cultural factors as well as economic factors. In fact, Korea’s total fertility rate reached 0.78 percent in 2022, the first OECD member to reach 0 percent range, less than half of the OECD average, indicating the seriousness of the low birth rate problem in Korea. As such, the low birth rate problem in Korea is one of the major social problems that raises concerns about the current population structure and future social and economic stability.
The causes of these problems can be seen socially, time, and physically, but time and physical problems can be seen based on social problems.
Currently, if you look at Seoul and neighboring Gyeonggi-do, there are many business facilities in Seoul, and the residential area per person in Seoul is very small, about 30㎡. Most of the population lives in the outer Seoul area and goes to and from Seoul using private and public transportation. It takes about twice as long to commute from here as 58 minutes each way compared to major OECD countries, but these commuting conditions reduce the quality of life, which can only take more than an hour at real distance due to poor transportation infrastructure and huge usage population. In other words, the distance in time is greater than the physical distance. Therefore, the residential environment centered on large cities found in Korea not only causes gentrification due to high cost and congestion, but also acts as a factor that makes marriage and childbirth hesitant. Read the rest of this entry »