Image of the Week: The Multifunctional Administrative City

Published on October 10, 2011

At one point, Sejong City - the new Multifunctional Administrative City of Korea - was going to be the capital of the country.

Not just any kind of city - a HAPPY CITY dammit.

 

Sejong "will make a future city of Green Growth bloom"

That is not going to happen now, even though dozens of agencies and government ministries are moving to the home a little less than a 100 miles from Seoul. Those moving include the Office of the Prime Minister, although it appears the PM himself is too smart to leave the political nerve center of Seoul for the quiet surroundings of Sejong City.

So, what does the new Multifunctional Administrative City of the 10th largest economy look like? Here:

And you thought Songdo was a barren wasteland?

We started with a tour of the museum, which includes your typical High-Tech Walkway™ and High-Tech Model of the City™. These were very well done though, so I have to give the planners credit.

This hallway was really quite "enlightening." Sorry - couldn't help it

 

The city blooms with light!

After we got a tour at the museum for the city (they always have these super high-tech museums for these new cities), we got to watch the movie trailer for the city. With pulsing bass reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, the narrator told us how the "new Multifunctional Administrative City™ is going to revolutionize East Asia."

This family lives in Sejong City - which means they are HAPPY.

Snark aside, at least South Korea has goals and a vision for the future. In America, we get a former pizza man and his 9-9-9 special.