The Only Way Is Up

Like many capital cities, Seoul straddles a great river.  However, unusually, the organic sprawl of the city is hemmed in on all sides by steep mountains.  So while high-rise towers may be considered as failed, post-war, social housing experiments in many European  cities, here in Seoul, blocks of 30 or 40 stories are quite the norm and socially they function very well.

Mountains which made Seoul an ideal defensive military position now limit the urban sprawl

Typically 5 to 10 towers are grouped around a central hub including some shops, restaurants, a gym, nursery school, children’s playgrounds, games pitches, water features and some parkland. There are 1 or 2 levels of parking underground and more solar panels on the roof than you can shake a stick at.

Modern family apartments have footprints of 150m².  These are built with the latest electronic wizardry, ostensibly to reduce energy consumption.  The windows are quadruple glazed, hot water is supplied centrally, heating is electric underfloor and programmable roomwise.  Air conditioning is silent, remote controlled and flush mounted in the ceiling with the LED  lighting. 

All the gadgets can be controlled centrally via a touch screen consul which also incorporates the video entry system for the main lobby and the apartment door while also displaying CCTV of the grounds so you can monitor your kids playing nicely with their friends.  Most importantly, when hubby arrives home, his car registration plate is read automatically at the barrier to the car park.  This relays a courtesy chime inside your apartment so wifey has adequate time to dispatch the boyfriend down the back stairs and put the kettle on so there's a nice cup of tea waiting for hubby as he steps out of the elevator.

Even the Jetsons never had it so good.