The Berlage launches a studio this winter to investigate Seoul as capital city. No doubt this will include some investigation into the preparations to move the Korean seat of gov't to a new town built from scratch.

"Not only are Capital Cities contested political sites, due their obvious role in hosting the political functions of the nation-state, but especially because they are highly charged symbolic manifestations of their social, political, and urban vicissitudes. It is this that makes them tangible representations of the idea of the city as endorsed, or simply supported, by the constituted power. With the embracement of liberal-democracy by many advanced “democratic” countries in the world, the urban logic of neo-liberalism seems to be the only current political vicissitude of most Capital Cities. Against this scenario the studio seeks alternatives which are politically challenging the urban and architectural manifestation of the neo-liberal logic of urban space." link