Monday, June 21, 2010

End of the line

According to the Hankyoreh, Seoul's last daldongne, or "poor hillside village," in Junggye-dong, Nowon-gu, will be torn down and replaced by apartment buildings.


The photo above is taken from this blog, and more photos can be found here.

For a before-and-after set of photos of the destruction of another, much larger, daldongne, Antti Leppänen's photos of Nangok in Sillim-dong taken between 2000 and 2006 here are well worth your time.

2 comments:

Antti Leppänen said...

Interesting. My perception is that "the last hillside neighborhood" has been torn down on several occasions, at least since Nangok was raced in 2001-03... Anyway, thanks for remembering.

By the way, I was tipped that Gwanak-gu is looking for photographs taken in the area in 1963-2000 (see the official notice) on "views, streets, habits, major establishments, events, tourism destinations and other photos with living history."
I contacted the person in charge, telling that I photographed in Gwanak-gu extensively in around 1999 and inviting to take a look at what I had made available on my Flickr account. I got a polite answer that unfortunately none of my pics is suitable for the picture book they're planning to release. Guess my photos are not what they's like to be remembered of their ward...

Unknown said...

I actually want to pick up on the "last hillside village" claim in Hankyoreh. Not for picky reasons, but just to draw attention to the question of what is, or is not, a 달동네... Is there a degree of informality in the housing? Is there an income threshold for residents?

I recognize the history of the concept, and would really love to know more about it, and whether this really, really is the "last."