The small alley way streets of Seoul (go-mok-gil) are the support systems for micro-industries, once randomly dispersed throughout the northern half of the city. Scaled to compact urban conditions, these production networks sustain neighborhoods and working communities. Shops such as the one above are large enough only for the solo-working man, specialized in his or her daily routines (like the sign maker pictured here). His shop, in tern, connects to the plastics distributor- with links to the paint specialist, delivery man on motor bike and so on; a web of light industries production preserving a microcosm of connectivity, activity and ultimately compact urban forms. A city in my mind has never seemed so small.
Boundaries between daily life and production are intertwined at street side shops facing passers-by. Distinctions between zoned places here and there remain overlooked.
Industry as the foundation of Seoul.
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