Dongtan Rapidly Emerging as Key Hub in Greater Seoul's Southern Region

Suwon is being developed as a core city in the southern Greater Seoul region, encompassing Seongnam, Yongin, Hwaseong, Pyeongtaek, Osan, Anseong, and Uiwang. In May, the government presented a long-term vision for Greater Seoul cities through the "2020 Metropolitan Seoul Urban Plan Amendment," which included these provisions.

The government's concept calls for forming a self-sufficient city cluster centered on Suwon, where urban functions are mutually shared and complemented, while strengthening education, administration, and electronics industry sectors to develop the city as a core hub of a knowledge-based industry belt.

However, there is a strong possibility that the hub city of the southern region may be reorganized around Hwaseong's Dongtan 1 and 2 New Cities rather than Suwon. According to comprehensive analysis of the 2020 Greater Seoul Transportation Plan and various development strategies, if Suwon fails to integrate nearby Dongtan into a single living sphere, its standing as a hub city could be undermined.

● Dongtan: The Largest New City in Greater Seoul's South

As land development in the Greater Seoul area has expanded southward toward Pyeongtaek along the Gyeongbu axis, Hwaseong's Dongtan 1 and 2 New Cities have drawn significant attention. Dongtan 1 New City (9.03 million square meters, 40,921 households), which completed development, and Dongtan 2 New City (23.4 million square meters), located just across one road, are entering construction phases.

This results in the creation of a massive city with a total development area of 31 million square meters and a planned population of 146,000 households (inflow population of 365,000 people). This exceeds more than twice the combined development scale of Gwanggyo New City (11.23 million square meters, 31,000 households) and Homaesiljigu (3.116 million square meters, approximately 20,000 households).

Additionally, Dongtan is expected to emerge as a "transportation hub" due to its excellent accessibility to the Greater Seoul area. According to the province's GTX (Deep Underground Express) plan aimed at completion by 2016, the Dongtan-KINTEX axis, which reaches Gangnam from Dongtan in approximately 18 minutes, is being pursued as the top priority among three proposed routes.

Furthermore, the Second Outer Ring Expressway and Second Gyeongbu Expressway are being expanded, and Korea's largest-scale integrated transfer center (tentative name: TransCity) will be constructed where railways, buses, and new transit systems converge. Including the 50,000-square-meter transfer center, the 1.48 million-square-meter site will accommodate not only deep-underground railways but also Honam High-Speed Railway (KTX) service. Additionally, beginning this month, an express bus service connecting Dongtan and Gangnam, stopping at a maximum of eight bus stops, has been launched.

● Suwon's Standing as Hub City Weakened

Dongtan 1 and 2 New Cities have established "Global Knowledge Creation City" as their development concept, gathering capabilities in core knowledge sectors including business, advanced industry, culture, design, and environment. Industrial land alone comprises 12% (approximately 430 square meters) of the total development area, reflecting plans to create a self-sufficient new city based on industry.

Hwaseong City has also announced its 2020 Urban Master Plan, incorporating the development strategy of the Yellow Sea Economic Free Zone and establishing plans to foster advanced industries centered on Samsung Electronics, electronic information, and biotechnology as production bases.

The city aims to build an industrial complex network linking the nearby Hwaseong Industrial Complex and Hyungnam Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex, while also positioning itself as a center for West Coast marine leisure through hosting the International Boat Show and Korea Match Cup World Yacht Championship. According to the 2020 plan, of the 920,000 planned population, approximately 554,000 residents are estimated to reside in the eastern living sphere centered on Dongtan.

In terms of presenting future visions centered on tourism and advanced industry, this differs little from Suwon's long-term urban master plan. Suwon plans to intensively develop advanced industries centered on Samsung Electronics and the Suwon Industrial Complex, as well as tourism linked to Hwaseong Fortress, creating a green city free from pollution. It is developing the Gwanggyo Tech Valley as well as an administrative center around Gwanggyo New City.

While it remains uncertain to what extent these entities will realize their similar future blueprints, experts assess that "Dongtan New City" has strong potential to grow into the core city of Greater Seoul's southern region, considering development and growth prospects.

● Need to Form Metropolitan Living Sphere Encompassing Dongtan

While Suwon is expected to play its role as a hub city according to the government's plan, its standing will inevitably be undermined if it fails to integrate with Dongtan New City. Additionally, various variables are expected to emerge depending on how the administrative system reorganization issue, currently under discussion by the political sector and the Blue House, is resolved.

Rep. Moon Jun-il, who has consistently advocated for Suwon's expansion to a metropolitan city, stated, "The situation would change if Suwon, Hwaseong, and Osan were unified into an integrated metropolitan city," adding, "As integration discussions are progressing in various places recently, the timing of administrative reorganization may also be accelerated."

Separately, there is also an opinion suggesting that Dongtan New City residents would establish an independent city and then pursue integration with Suwon, which has high metropolitan brand value. Professor Kim Sung-young (Department of Social Welfare) at Osan University advanced this argument through a report titled "Basic Research on Administrative District Reorganization," also emphasizing the necessity of integrating Osan and Hwaseong. This is interpreted as a move to check Suwon's metropolitan expansion.