11 - Selectively Connected: New Songdo and the Production of Global Space

Summary

Abstract

For many, the phrases Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and Free Economic Zone (FEZ) will conjure up images of sites of material production. However, New Songdo, in Incheon, South Korea (part of the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ)), is representative of a new trajectory for zones that seek to be liveable, globally connected urban spaces. This chapter situates New Songdo within local, national, and global contexts, challenging its self-presentation as a coherent, bounded space that is radically different from its outside. By looking at New Songdo's constitutive insides and outsides together, I provide a framing for understanding how a city-scale zonal space such as New Songdo paradoxically functions as both an enclave and a hub. Selective spatial liberalization and selective connectivity work together to amplify particular, often imagined, constitutive elements while obscuring others.

Introduction

Since 2003, the South Korean government has established seven Special Economic Zones (SEZs) across the country, each promoted as bringing a designated focus and economic benefit to its respective locality. The largest of these zones is the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ), west of Seoul. The IFEZ is constituted by three sections, all located within Incheon Metropolitan City: Yeoungjong Island, Cheongna International City, and New Songdo International City. While Yeoungjong and Cheongna have lagged behind their projected development schedules and are described as ‘dead’ by some locals and planners, hopes and resources continue to be placed in New Songdo. Compared to other sections of the IFEZ, and to other zonal projects across the country, New Songdo continues to be the most viable as well as the most ambitious project. Unlike globally connected cities such as Seoul, Hong Kong, and Singapore that have evolved out of complex colonial pasts, New Songdo's ‘global city’ and ‘global business hub’ ambitions are drawn from a set of reference points detached from the rich history of Incheon.

New Songdo, which has been planned in various forms since 1988, is one of the largest real estate development projects in history, with an estimated combined public and private input of US$35 billion in its central International Business District (IBD) alone. United States development firm Gale International, along with POSCO E&C, the engineering and construction subsidiary of South Korean steel giant POSCO, was contracted by the city of Incheon to develop New Songdo's flagship 600-hectare IBD.