Digital Media City (DMC; ) is a

high-tech High technology (high tech or high-tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or ...

complex for

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

technologies, housing

ubiquitous Omnipresence or ubiquity is the property of being present anywhere and everywhere. The term omnipresence is most often used in a religious context as an attribute of a deity or supreme being, while the term ubiquity is generally used to describ ...

networked offices, apartments, exhibitions, conference halls,

television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

headquarters and cultural centers in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea. It is located at 366, Worldcupbuk-ro,

Mapo District Mapo District () is one of the 25 districts of Seoul, South Korea. Mapo has a population of 381,330 (2015) and has a geographic area of 23.87 km2 (9.22 sq mi), and is divided into 24 '' dong'' (administrative neighborhoods). Mapo is located in ...

. It was constructed in 2006 across and approximately 1.7 times the size of the

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is a financial area of London, England, located in the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Greater London Authority defines it as part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside ...

development in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It is a high-tech city centered on Digital Media Street for broadcasting, movies, games, music, e-learning and related industries. It attracted well-known IT companies such as LG Telecom, Pantech, LG CNS and

Samsung SDS Samsung SDS Co., Ltd. (formerly Samsung Data Systems; ), Established in 1985 as a subsidiary of Samsung Group, is a provider of Information Technology (IT) services, including consulting, technical, and outsourcing services. SDS is also active ...

, media companies like MBC,

JTBC JTBC (shortened from Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company; ; stylized in all lowercase) is a South Korean nationwide pay television network. Its primary shareholder is JoongAng Holdings, with a 25% stake. It was launched on December 1, ...

, YTN, SBS, as well as various kinds of public exhibition facilities including the Korean Film Archive and the Korean Film Museum. It is served by the Digital Media City Station on Seoul Subway Line 6,

AREX AREX (Airport Railroad Express; ) is an airport rail link and commuter rail line in the Seoul Metropolitan Area of South Korea, linking Incheon International Airport and Gimpo International Airport with Seoul Station. The section between the ...

and

Gyeongui Line The Gyeongui Line is a railway line between Seoul Station and Dorasan Station in Paju. Korail operates the Seoul Metropolitan Subway service between Seoul Station and Dorasan Station. History ''For the original line's history and other in ...

. Residents of the Digital Media City are nicknamed ''Denizens'' (Digital Citizen) for their constant enthusiasm and interaction with high-tech digital technologies. The original advisors on the development includ
Dennis Frenchman
and Michael Joroff of the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT) who also advised on the development of

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in City of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by The Peel Group, Peel Media; its principal tenants are Mass media, ...

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and Digital Mile in

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

History

From 1978 to 1993, the currently developed area of the Digital Media City was in fact a massive

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

for

's garbage on an island (at the time called Nanjido, now annexed into the mainland) in the Han River, before transforming into a high-tech modern city in the 21st century. This dramatic turn-around is considered to be the result of the

Miracle on the Han River The Miracle on the Han River () was the period of rapid economic growth in South Korea, following the Korean War (1950–1953), during which South Korea transformed from one of the least developed countries into a highly developed country. The ...

, a term coined to describe Seoul's highly accelerated and successful development since the early 1960s. Used

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

briquettes A briquette (; also spelled briquet) is a compressed block of coal dust or other combustible biomass material (e.g. charcoal, sawdust, wood chips, peat, or paper) used for fuel and kindling to start a fire. The term is a diminutive derived from th ...

and other industrial waste materials produced during the city's rapid development in this period led to pile ups of trash. By the 1990s, these pile ups grew to mountains at a height of and length of , even after being compressed into a rectangular shape that weighed over . This was in comparison to Namsan, a natural mountain in Downtown Seoul, which is . Nanjido's accumulation of garbage increased to 3,000 truck loads of waste per day, essentially creating a pyramid 34 times larger than the

Great Pyramid of Giza The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It served as the tomb of pharaoh Khufu, who ruled during the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. Built , over a period of about 26 years ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. In 1996, Seoul began to launch stabilization projects to withhold further industrial developments and build facilities to prevent the environmental contamination caused by the landfill zone. The stabilization projects included reinforcing the inclines of the landfill that were on the verge of collapsing, minimizing the sludge from the trash and collecting harmful gases. The gas accumulated in the process was utilized as the heat energy necessary for heating nearby facilities of the

Seoul World Cup Stadium The Seoul World Cup Stadium (), the Sangam Stadium, is a stadium used mostly for association football matches. The venue is located in 240, World Cup-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It was built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and opened on Nov ...

and the Sangam housing development area. The re-engineered region was first designated a

housing development A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throug ...

zone in March 1997. A "New Seoul Town Development" project was announced when Goh Kun became the

mayor of Seoul The mayor of Seoul () is the chief executive of Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul being the capital and largest city of South Korea. The position is historically one of the most powerful in the country, charged with managing an annual budg ...

in July 1998. In August of the same year, the general planning for New Seoul Town project began to take form. Based on this, a master plan was established for the Millennium City (Sangam New Millennium Town). Along with drawing up a city plan to turn the Sangam region into a secondary center of Seoul, a subsequent plan was drafted to build a gateway town that embodies both

information Information is an Abstraction, abstract concept that refers to something which has the power Communication, to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the Interpretation (philosophy), interpretation (perhaps Interpretation (log ...

and

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

. The plan has since been carried out in concrete, and encompasses separate projects such as the World Cup Park, an environmentally friendly housing complex and the Digital Media City. The Digital Media City is part of the larger Millennium City project in the Sangam-dong district of Seoul, 4 miles (7 km) from the central business district. Millennium City, conceived as a new town center, also encompasses the World Cup Soccer Park, a major transportation hub, and the restored Nanji-do landfill. The project's initial funding from the Seoul Metropolitan Government is being used to leverage the involvement of private technology partners and developers. The project was planned by the metropolitan government with the assistance of the Seoul Development Institute (SDI), a public think tank established by the City of Seoul, and is being implemented by the development arm of the City government. The Seoul Metropolitan Government provided the IT broadband and wireless networks that serve the area, constructed the infrastructure, and provided tax incentives and favorably-priced land for the most desirable tenants. These "magnet" tenants will attract other firms to the area, because of their business relationships or because their presence brands the area as a prestige location. The Korean national government has located several key IT and cultural agencies within the Digital Media City.Center for Real Estate
Web.mit.edu. Retrieved on 2013-07-12.

References

External links

Digital Media City website (Korean)

Korean Film Archive website

Korean Film Museum introduction
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Seoul 1997 establishments in South Korea Mass media in Seoul Economy of Seoul Geography of Seoul Mapo District