Urban Design & Mobility Observations from Korea and Japan

I just returned from an international trip with my family to Korea and Japan. This was my first time visiting Asia, and also the first time I took more than a week away from work since I can remember.

My wife, son, and I visited my sister and her family, who are currently living in South Korea. My brother-in-law is leading a military command at Camp Humphreys, about 40 miles south of Seoul. We were fortunate to be able to tour an aircraft hanger and reconnaissance planes while there. To maximize our time traveling halfway around the world, we extended our travels to Japan. Outside of my professional interests to observe and experience the urban design, land use, and mobility systems, we focused much of our trip on eating the best food, visiting temples and shrines, and incorporating fun activities throughout the travels for my 6 year old son.

Here was our itinerary, broken up into 3 key parts:

• Days 1-4: South Korea - Seoul

• Days 5-10: South Korea - Pyeongtaek & Asan Techno Valley home base with Day trips to Jeonju, Osan, Suwon

• Days 11-16: Japan - Tokyo & Kyoto

The following are my observations and photos I captured from my mobility and urbanist lens, mostly focusing on Seoul, Tokyo, and Kyoto.

Seoul

Seoul has a mind-bending amount of high-rise buildings that dot the landscape as far as you can see. We hiked Namsan Peak, and went up the Seoul Tower, which really gave us the full 360 degree perspective of this massive city.

South Korea has a fun, energetic, and futuristic vibe in a city that is very modern and old at the same time. One thing that struck me in Seoul was how some streets were more dedicated to cars traveling at faster speeds, while others were for the pedestrian. Instead of trying to accommodate the car for every street, it seems that Seoul separates its streets into two types:

1. Car and bus travel separated from pedestrians and cyclists, with barriers. The sidewalks are wide and clearly marked for bikes and pedestrians.

2. Streets that are either closed to cars or very inconvenient and a hassle to drive through because they are so narrow, and they're loaded with pedestrians, like below:

In Seoul, I observed a lot of narrow streets like this that held shared space for all - walking, biking, and very slow driving. Cars are mainly driven on the larger thoroughfares, and because there is very little on-street parking, many people don’t drive. One of the main reasons that people don't drive is its clean, efficient, and expansive subway system as evident in the subway map here: 

Seoul has also taken bold action to reclaim parts of the city that were previously highways and instead weave green infrastructure throughout the city, as evidenced here:

A major observation I had coming back to the states with a fresh set of eyes was how our streetscapes are incredibly overloaded with parked cars along our curbs. Once you recognize the difference, you can’t unsee it. Should public streets be storage areas for privately owned cars?

On to Japan

Entering Japan almost immediately had a different feel to it. It's a country that has a high bar for quality, and there are high standards for design, food, and safety. As my wife put it, "everything feels more humane here." Of course, reading about the history of Korea and Japan is a good baseline understanding of the two distinct cultures when traveling to these countries.

Tokyo

Tokyo - what can I say? The place is mesmerizing. Quiet and bustling at the same time. There is this dichotomy of this massive city and off the busy streets, there are little villages everywhere. At the end of our trip, we took a fast, mostly above-ground train through the city to Narita airport. I remember gazing through my tired eyes that wanted to soak up every last second of Japan, that the mid-rise buildings seemed to never end, and on every opening view of a street between buildings, I saw people walking, and virtually no cars. Tokyo really feels like a city that is designed for humans to thrive.

We stayed in Ginza, a centrally located, and modern part of the city with many restaurants, office buildings, and high-end shopping for endless blocks. It had a resemblance to Midtown Manhattan, but cleaner, quieter, and more refined. I agree with what Daniel Knowles wrote about in an article on Tokyo being a carless paradise, "From photos, Tokyo can look almost unplanned, with neon signs everywhere and a huge variety of forms of architecture. You expect it to feel messy. What I experienced, however, was a city that felt almost like being in a futuristic village. It is utterly calm, in a way that is actually rather strange."

In Tokyo, amazingly, more trips are taken by bike (17%) than car (12%). The remaining 71% of trips are mostly taken by transit.

Tokyo has the most-used public transport system in the world, with ~40 million people commuting by train each day. Most of our several rides on the subway were not that crowded. It’s the frequency. We never waited more than 3 minutes for the next train. Rush hour on the T in Boston felt more crowded.

Just like Seoul, much of Tokyo was developed after the onset of the automobile, though 86% of streets are not wide enough for more than one car to fit (whether moving or parked).

Safety is paramount in Japan. Everything is designed to ensure absolute safety, from the trains to pedestrian areas protected with bollards, and clearly marked and separated areas like below for bikes.

Further research of this "EcoStation21" led me to discover that the company behind this bike parking operation, NCD, developed this in response to the city's goal of reducing the amount of abandoned bikes at major train stations in Tokyo. These low-cost bike parking stations are now in about 40 locations across the city.

Kyoto

We took the Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo Station to Kyoto Station. The trip took about 2 hours, 15 minutes, but would have taken 5 hours, 30 minutes to drive. This is a similar distance of driving from Boston to Philadelphia (a drive I know well). I could only dream of traveling that distance in the US in just over 2 hours! Overall the bullet train is a must-do experience, and bonus, we got to see Mount Fuji!

Kyoto really embodies old Japan. The city is flat with many narrow streets and is surrounding by hills and mountains with hundreds of temples and shrines. You could spend an entire year attempting to see them all and still not achieve that. We rode subways and trains in Kyoto, which is extensive for American standards, but it does not have the footprint and reach that Tokyo's subway does. Instead of more cars being used, people bike all over Kyoto. It was very evident as soon as we left our hotel and began walking the streets, where there was constant flow of bike traffic. It had this Amsterdam vibe to it.

Not Typically Seen in America

The amount of bikes I saw unlocked on the street was amazing. Bike locks were certainly used, but it was very common to see bikes unlocked.

The size of vehicles you see in Seoul, Tokyo, and Kyoto are more well-suited for the size of the streets, resulting in less traffic congestion and safer streets, and enable delivery vehicles like this to be used:

Nice touches such as bike pullways at subway stations provide more accessibility and promote multimodal transportation and first/last mile connection by bike.

Bike & Scooter Sharing Captures

As someone that has worked in bike and scooter sharing for over a decade, I naturally took an interest in the various setups and systems that I encountered.

Leaders in Safe, Efficient Mobility Systems

Ultimately, our time in Japan wasn't nearly enough (which we sort of knew going into it). We've heard about the pull that Japan has for people that visit, and we've definitely felt that already, so I hope to make a trip some time again in the near future.

Both Korea and Japan exceeded my expectations, and the sheer size and scale of Tokyo and Seoul in particular were difficult to even wrap my head around. We did see as much as we could with our time, but there were many areas of these cities that we missed out on, simply because there wasn't enough time. To immerse yourself in both countries, it requires at least a 2 week trip, unless you pick one or two cities to spend a full week.

Both South Korea and Japan are leaders in safe, efficient mobility systems, and good urban design principles, though there is always room for improvement, and though their safety record for pedestrians continues to improve, it's still not perfect. I plan to incorporate these observations and insights and apply them to my consulting and planning work for cities, universities, and real estate developers. We can have safe and efficient mobility systems, and better design our cities to be more human centric, as long as we make it a priority.