Pangyo Techno Valley
Core idea
Innovation district by expressways/subway
Why it matters
Korea’s ‘Silicon Valley’
Description
A state-led innovation district developed from 2005 by Gyeonggi Province in Pangyo, part of Seongnam city south of Seoul, on land associated with the Pangyo new town programme. The plan concentrated information-technology, biotech and game-industry firms in a purpose-built campus district positioned at the junction of major expressways and connected to Seoul by the new Sinbundang subway line. It rapidly attracted many of Korea's leading technology companies.
Significance
Pangyo Techno Valley became known as Korea's 'Silicon Valley' and stands as a prominent case of government-orchestrated economic clustering tied to new-town development and transit access. It is studied as evidence of how East Asian developmental states assemble innovation districts deliberately, and it prompted second- and third-phase extensions as well as emulation elsewhere in Korea.
What shaped it
- Transit-oriented development (TOD) (1993)
- The information / digital age (1948–)
- Cloud computing (2006)
- Neoliberalism (1970s–1990s)
Plans it influenced
- Eindhoven Brainport City Vision (2016–)
Sources
- https://www.pangyotechnovalley.org/eng/menu/baseView?menuLevel=1&menuNo=8
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangyo_Techno_Valley