Creative Seoul: A Lesson for Asian Creative Cities

Abstract

Seoul is the urban locus of a remarkable pop cultural phenomenon, the Korean Wave. Seoul’s participation in the global creative city competition results in the paradoxical exclusion of the concerns and participation of its citizens. Korean Wave-centric initiatives are focused at either attracting more tourists and/or providing marketing opportunities for those within the industry. This Seoul case study illustrates a more nuanced analysis of the creative city reality (as a center of international creative business) and governance, one that questions the creative city paradigm as a whole. It advances the discussion of creative cities from ahistorical one that centers the European and American experiences. Seoul therefore questions the paradigm for creative city policymaking in the Non-West.