How did the Kim dynasty design Pyongyang?

this video is sponsored by curiositystream pyongyang is the capital of north korea an extremely isolated and secretive nation of 25 million people on the northern half of the korean peninsula pyongyang is home to almost 3 million of those citizens including kim jong-un the nation's young supreme leader and the grandson of north korea's founder kim il-sung kim jong-un rules over a nation which may have the worst human rights record in the world the organization human rights watch considers north koreans to be some of the world's most brutalized people the government restricts freedom of association expression and movement it uses detention torture and executions to maintain control of the populace pyongyang was almost completely rebuilt after the korean war by kim il-sung according to his own unique brand of socialism the economy is tightly controlled and residents live in government housing with no property rights this video is all about the world's most secret and dangerous national capital we begin the story 3000 years ago but spend most of the time talking about the post-korean war city during the era of the kim dynasty despite what you may think pyongyang is a rapidly growing and changing metropolis and is even showing signs of opening up its economy and society pyongyang straddles the banks of the tadang river in the west central part of the country the river is wide and deep and connects the heart of the nation to the yellow sea it's a pretty good river to begin and found a prominent city on too many great cities have a founding myth and pyongyang is no exception according to legend the city was founded by the god king dengun in 2333 bce though historians put the founding date closer to the 7th century bce dengun was said to have been the son of a god and a female bear north korea's regime actually claims to have found dengan's tomb back in 1993 though unsurprisingly that claim is unverified and is likely fabricated either way having a founder with bare dna is a major flex as the kids say pyongyang's prominence persisted past its bronze age origins and it was the capital of other shifting regimes in the next several centuries by the 5th century ce pyongyang was the cultural center of the gregorio kingdom which controlled much of the korean peninsula the city had a library with tens of thousands of volumes palaces gardens a fortress and other large buildings pyongyang then entered a period where it frequently changed hands mongols occupied the city in 1232 chinese rebels seized the city in 1359 the japanese captured it in 1593 then the manchurians in 1627 and the japanese again in 1895. all this capturing made its people wary of foreigners foreshadowing the secretive and isolationist policies of the 20th century it was during the japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945 that pyongyang began to grow and modernize rapidly occupation was incredibly harsh on koreans but japan made korea the second most industrialized nation in asia after japan itself japan introduced things like factories movie theaters and schools to this traditionally agrarian nation but most of the fruits of korean labor ended up in japan after the atomic bombs were dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki japan surrendered and korea was no longer under japanese control the u.s and soviet governments agreed to administer the peninsula and split it at the 38th parallel pyongyang was in the northern soviet half of the peninsula initially the soviet union agreed to occupy north korea for five years then allow for independence something not too popular with local koreans who preferred immediate independence during this time guerrilla leader kim il-sung rose to prominence as a communist leader after leading raids against the occupying japanese forces from the previous period in 1948 the democratic people's republic of korea better known as north korea was officially formed with kim as premier pyongyang was the de facto capital a title made official in the 1972 constitution i'm not going to go into an entire history of the korean war but i will say that nearly 75 of pyongyang was destroyed by us bombings between 1950 and 1953 after the war large amounts of the city had been entirely rebuilt the previous city structure an organic form grown throughout the centuries was largely ignored and the new government with help from the soviet union reimagined the city as a communist paradise it's fair to compare pyongyang to brasilia or nerusal 10 new capitals essentially built from scratch we'll talk about the monumental architecture that comes with the new capital in a second but first we have to acknowledge that in 1953 the year the korean war ended the city was home to over 550 000 people many of whom were now homeless the city needed to be rebuilt rapidly and it was korean planners look to the soviet union for inspiration and much of the early rebuilding looks very much like a typical soviet city you can walk through many parts of pyongyang and barely realize you're in a southeast asian city much of the historic architecture is gone with only a few vestiges remaining in its place stark concrete housing blocks gave the city a bleak uniformity neighborhoods were organized according to soviet principles as well each neighborhood consists of about 5 000 residents and includes shared amenities like a grocery store post office clinic and schools you can check out my video on soviet cities for more information on this the parts of the city not covered in soviet housing is filled with monuments squares and public buildings dedicated to kim il-sung his son kim jong-il and his son kim jong-un the three leaders of north korea sensed the war the most prominent space is kim il-sung square at the heart of the city it's large enough to host a rally with 100 000 people and you can actually see the markings on the pavement where people should stand for choreographed dances and rallies across the tadong river stands the juche tower built in 1982 it's 170 meters tall and built with 25 550 granite blocks one for every day of kim il-sung's life the north korean government uses public spaces and monuments to convey its ideology and project state power kim jong-il actually wrote an architectural treatise that codified the principles of designing monumental space this space needs to have a focus point like a statue or portrait it must have a background or backdrop that blocks out everything behind the focus point enhancing it the background should be further extended by a frame of symmetrical elements finally the space should project out there should be one side of the space left open when you combine monumental architecture with soviet housing the result is sort of a bleak urban form the kims themselves would come to resent the sovietness of their city their unique brand of socialism called jouche or self-reliance prized korean nationalism and a korean identity but the city hasn't stood still since the 1950s the city is now home to over 3 million residents so there's been pressure to koreanize the city as well as to make room for those new residents this has led to some pretty dramatic changes over the last 60 years or so what's happened first of all kim jong-un had the soviet housing painted bright pastel colors to add a little warmth to the drab scene it's honestly not a bad way of making the city seem less depressing on a budget second new districts have been added you can see how different the buildings in the murray street area look compared to the surrounding older buildings the same can be said for the new district along riyam yang street it's a stark contrast from previous eras no more beige concrete blocks third existing soviet housing is being replaced one prominent example is the new prestigious residential area along chiang jiang street in the central city the new towers would not be out of place in shanghai or tokyo they're home to some of the most elite party members in north korea finally north korea has doubled and tripled down on monumental architecture in an attempt to make the city more interesting and indoctrinate citizens better there's the tower of eternal life with twin arches spanning a six-lane roadway and there's the arch of triumph another monument built from 25 550 blocks another arch the arch of reunification is dedicated to the idea of a reunified korea reunified under kim rule even the sport stadiums are iconic and monumental you've got the indoor stadium with the kim portraits on the outside the pyongyang ice rink is like any stadium i've ever seen and it's a city landmark finally the mayday stadium is one of asia's largest and built to show that pyongyang could host an olympics just like seoul when they did back in 1988. ryugyong hotel may be the most famous example of this modern take on monumental architecture it's a 105 story pyramid that is probably the single most iconic building in pyongyang for years it was missing its all-glass facade and it was such an embarrassment that the government would photoshop it out of skyline photos today it's the tallest unoccupied building in the world the new growth areas not including the monuments and intimidating architecture now make pyongyang feel more connected and modern than ever before it's not all bland and gray anymore and i haven't even mentioned pyongyang's parks the government says that it has more parkland per capita than any city in east asia though it's always good to be skeptical of north korea's claims that said there are a substantial number of parks and playgrounds in the city parks are where the residents are the most free they can find some solace and privacy away from the constant surveillance streets are another major public space in the city car ownership is still fairly rare so streets are relatively quiet there's a growing middle class in pyongyang and taxis are an affordable luxury that is increasingly popular but for most people they either walk or take transit pyongyang has a public alarm that goes off at 7am every morning that signals the start of rush hour residents have the option to take buses trams trolleys or the metro system the metro system consists of two lines and was mostly built in the 1960s it's one of the deepest metro systems in the world and the stations can serve as bomb shelters a useful feature in a country seemingly always on the brink of war it's also the cheapest system in the world to ride a ticket costs about one-half of a u.s cent we also need to circle back on public squares for all the images of military parades and choreographed celebrations the public squares are just big public spaces most of the time you'll see kids rollerblading and people taking strolls you'll even see temporary kiosks selling snacks and lottery tickets it would be a pretty normal scene where not for the giant paintings of the kim's in the background there are other elements of pyongyang life that are beginning to feel normal at least by our western standards north korea's economy is operated from the top down but lately small-scale private enterprises being tolerated by the government and embraced by residents the city now has banks where the residents can save money and earn interest the government is allowing some to start new businesses from small market stalls to department stores and app development studios these businesses must source their own materials and find customers a very different way of operating from the normal government command and control economic system while pyongyang residents have been given some new financial freedoms nearly every other aspect of their lives is still under government control including the environment they live in housing is government owned and public spaces are designed to exert control and indoctrinate citizens no other city on earth attempts to do this as explicitly as pyongyang that's why the city is so fascinating because cities are the combinations of society and built form and with a society as draconian as north korea you're going to end up with a pretty unique built form like i said earlier ryugyong hotel is one of the most distinctive buildings in pyongyang now i didn't think an extended discussion of that one building made sense in the main video but i go into more detail in the version of this video posted on nebula nebula is where i post all kinds of bonus content like that things that didn't make sense in the video you know were left on the cutting room floor or things i just wanted to make additional commentary on actually that content replaces this ad because there are no ads on nebula videos it's also home to lots of great original videos including a very good trivia show presented by sam from wendover it's a game show that i was actually a contestant on if you sign up for nebula you can see if i win big or not nebula is great and it's made even better thanks to our partnership with curiosity stream curiosity stream is the source for high quality engaging documentaries for instance they have a whole series called rebuilding ancient rome which shows you what rome would have looked like in ancient times thanks to modern day 3d graphics technology it pairs well with my nebula original video planning ancient rome which shows the city's growth and development during that time period we have a deal where if you sign up for curiosity stream using the link below you get nebula for free that's not a free trial but it's free as long as you're a curiosity stream member and they're running an after holiday special deal where you can get the entire year for 41 off that's less than 12 dollars for a year of curiosity stream and nebula it's the lowest price i've ever seen for this bundle and it ends really soon signing up is a great way of supporting this channel as well as the dozens of other creators working to make nebula a success it's overall just a really great deal too so go click on the link in the description and get an 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Channel: City Beautiful

Views: 667,315

Keywords: city planning, town planning, urban planning, urban design

Id: 6S8fXjaS_4I

Length: 13min 47sec (827 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 14 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/porkave]

Quite a few tankies in that comment section

[u/roboticWanderor]

Ah, it looks like my city ins Cities: Skylines!

My people are very happy and prosperous. Best city ever made. Thank you glorious leader.