Developers have planned the Incheon region as the Korean answer to Asian hubs like Hong Kong and Singapore. They expect a lot of income from tourists in transit, wanting to kill some time and spend some $. The airport was finished ten years ago, and already serves as the main international air hub for all of Korea. The first stages of the three 'new cities' have been completed, and the government together with the developers hope to have realized the following artist's impressions by 2017 (I've also read 2020 somewhere else, but both seem rather unreachable to me). Songdo (one of the three new cities) for example is now home for 18.000 people, but is meant for 65.000 people. That means only a third of the project has been finished over the last decade.
Someone coined a term for (over-) planned hub-cities like Incheon: "aerotropolis": Today, the ubiquity of jet travel, round-the-clock workdays, overnight shipping, and global business networks has turned the pattern inside out. Soon the airport will be at the center and the city will be built around it, the better to keep workers, suppliers, executives and goods in touch with the global market. This is the aerotropolis: a combination of giant airport, planned city, shipping facility and business hub. (source)
The first two designs are by Daniel Libeskind.
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
한미수교100주년 기념탑은 1882. 5. 22 제물포 화도진 언덕에서 조선국 전권대신 신헌과 미국측 대표 슈벨트 제독 간에 체결된 전문 14조의 한미 수교 통상 조약의 역사적 사실을 기념하고 향후 한.미 양국간의 상호 신뢰 및 우호 협력 관계의 지속적인 발전을 도모하기 위해 건립하였다.
탑의 외형은 돛을 형상화 시킨 형태이며 인간, 자연, 평화, 자유를 8개탑으로 구성함으로써 양국이 상견례하는 뜻과 결속을 나타내고 있다. 탑신 높이는 20M, 18.5M, 17M, 15.5M 각2기이며 내부는 철, 외부는 동으로 되어 있으며 '움직임 그 100년'이란 기념 조각이 새겨져 있어 한ㆍ미 양국간의 영원한 우애와 유대를 상징하고 있다.
인천은 높이에 대한 열망이 많은 것 같다. 그 이면엔 그 높이를 점유하고 있는 역사를 되짚어 볼 필요가 있지 않을까 싶다. 개항장 주변에서 가장 높은 자리에 자리잡은 한미수교100주년 기념탑과 맥아더장군상이 바로 그 높이의 정점에 있다. 그 높이에서 그 높이만큼의 인천과 바다 그리고 넓혀 생각하건데 한국을 통제, 감시하고 있는 그 누구도 눈치채지 못할 미국의 CCTV 같단 생각을 하게 한다. 응봉산 가장 높은 곳 한미수교100주년기념탑은 있는 높이도 모자라 2m가 넘는 단 위에 올려져 있음이 곧 나의 질문의 높이로 새삼스럽게 다가온 이유가 되겠다.
구 캐릭터 월디(Worldee) 는 우리 구를 대표하는 요소들을 집약하여 함축적으로 표현하고 있는 캐릭터로서, 월미(月尾)를 형상화한 머리문양과, 구조(區鳥)인 갈매기의 날개를 형상화한 귀는 전세계를 향해 힘찬 나래를 펴는 우리구 영종도의 인천국제공항을 상징하고, 발은 파도의 형태로 항구ㆍ해양도시인 우리구 이미지를 나타내고 있다.
아울러, 우리구 월미관광특구를 방문하는 모든 이를 환영하는 메시지와 21C 세계속의 관광중심도시로 웅비하고자 하는 우리구의 의지가 담겨있습니다.
Incheon is a port city and forms Seoul's gateway to the seas. This makes for a relatively poor city since the money which comes in flows directly towards it's close neighbor. In the past Incheon was used as a strategic point for military actions by Russia, Japan, China and the U.S.A. All these different cultures have influenced the face of the city, especially in its oldest parts. Incheon must be the only place in Korea where you can walk into a Japanese style house located in China Town and find a North American fireplace in the living room! It's also the only city in Korea which has a China Town. Other remarkable elements which remind of Incheon's turbulent history are a general MacArthur statue in a park called 'Freedom Park', a soup which is originally made out of the edible leftovers of North American soldiers which in adopted form is still available today, and a remarkable number of anglo-saxon colonial style buildings.
Next to this Incheon is the stage for one of the most terrible movies ever made, Inchon, which tells the story of the 1950 invasion of Inchon during the Korean War which was masterminded by general MacArthur.
As I wrote in the post 'Introducing Baedari', Incheon is undergoing major developments. This process started about 20 years ago and still hasn't reached it's final stage. In the mean time the city pretty much went broke and seems not to be able to finance further development. This gives the city a certain feeling of uncompleteness I felt less in for instance Seoul. With Korea being one of the MIKT countries, Incheon surely will develop much more in the near future. Let's hope that by that time the idea of cultural heritage also applies to the urban landscape for the Korean government.
Worth mentioning as well is that the local government has designed a character for certain parts on Incheon (it's a bit unclear to me which parts, but for sure the harbor and the airport). It's called 'Worldee' and it is based on a seagull (ears & hair), an airplane (ears), and waves (feet). You can spot Worldee in many different parts of the city in many different roles (like a policeman, sailor, tourist, etc).
