Who archives the city? place-making at Gwanghwamun square: power struggles between political authority and civil power

Abstract

ABSTRACT Working within the framework of the “city-as-archive,” this article investigates recent place-making processes that have occurred in Seoul, South Korea—debates over the function and symbolism of Gwanghwamun Square. The nature of the dynamics in who archives a city is determined by which actors hold power in place-making. In turn, archiving a city is a vigorously political process. In order to understand how the actors of Gwanghwamun Square’s place-making affect the visualization and formation of shared city stories and memories, three significant stages of development at Gwangwmun Square will be examined: 1) the construction of a historical site that archives political ambition and nation-building, 2) the creation of an icon for global brand-building, and 3) as the archival site of conflicts between political leaders’ ambitions and their citizens’ priorities. By analyzing three phases of re-development, it becomes clear how power shifts, and how the scope of stakeholders expands and changes. It reveals the city as an archive, how a public space has been (re)collected, revised, retrieved, and erased by different stakeholders during different political contexts.