SPACE April 2025 (No. 689)
Rapid population decline is shaking the fabric of small and medium-sized cities to the core. To rebuild these cities, we need to move away from the inertia of regeneration and take a perspective that acknowledging change. This is where the Mid-Size City Forum comes in. They look at phenomena outside the metropolitan area and seek urban and architectural alternatives to the crisis.
[Series] The Possibilities Inherent in Extinction, Mid-Size City Forum
01 What is Happening Outside the Metropolitan Area
02 Thinning Phenomenon
03 Urban Perforation
04 Erasing Plan
05 Ad-Hoc Architecture 1
06 Ad-Hoc Architecture 2
07 Global Mid-Size City
08 Temporary Mid-Size City
09 Resilient Mid-Size City
10 Fantastic Mid-Size City
11 Outside the Mid-Size City
View of 2025 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival, Image courtesy of Hwacheon-gun
In recent years, the defining characteristic of small and medium sized (hereinafter mid-size) cities can be summed up in one word: ‘temporality’. To be more precise, it refers to a stark contrast between peak and off-peak seasons. Widespread mobility across the country and the numerous local festivals fiercely promoted by municipalities have only exacerbated this phenomenon. The influx of people, often outnumbering a local population several times over, arriving in a single day only to vanish in the next like a mirage, has become a new norm for mid-size cities. However, as we all know, certain disparities generate their own force. This is precisely why the Mid-Size City Forum seeks to uncover alternative possibilities in the face of these rapid cycles of change.
Diagram of programme dispersion and increased travel range in mid-size cities (1970s / present, data source: Statistics Korea). Since the 1990s, new housing developments on the outskirts of mid-size cities have been actively pursued across the country. As a result, urban areas have expanded rapidly while density has decreased.
Since the 1990s, most mid-size cities have experienced rapid spatial e...
