Oswald Nagler, HURPI, and the Formation of Urban Planning and Design in South Korea

Abstract

As in other postcolonial settings, after its independence, Korean urban planning was still influenced by the Japanese legacy in planning culture, systems of approach, and urban form. However, there was a turning point beginning in the 1960s, led by Oswald Nagler and the Housing, Urban and Regional Planning Institute (HURPI). Nagler applied an interdisciplinary approach to the Korean urban situation and made substantial efforts to apply and localize Western planning principles in accordance with the Korean context, and educated young talented individuals. Even though the institute has been repetitively reported to have exerted a profound influence on the formation of Korean urban planning, its function and specific contribution has largely remained obscure. This study clarifies HURPI’s function and contribution by way of interviews with its members, recovering otherwise lost materials, and analyzing them with a focus on the South Seoul plan in comparison to works done by local planners at the time, as well as later work on the Mok-dong plan.