Seocho-gu is spending 5 billion won on a street reconstruction project in the French expatriate village of Seorae Maeul this year ― one of the costliest endeavors by an administrative district to develop a foreigner community.
The project, aimed to create a more inviting space for foreign residents, will cost roughly the equivalent of 6.3 million won per resident.
That's worth repeating.
will cost roughly the equivalent of 6.3 million won per resident.
I was surprised to see a Wikipedia entry on this little enclave, but it says that there are roughly 560 French people currently living there.
The project is focused on renovating a 540-meter-long section of Seorae Maeul's main street, where the culture center is located. The project will rename the section the "French Specialized Street."
Construction manager Jeung Suk-gu said the design will make the area more "comfortable" for both Koreans and expatriates.
Ahhhh, I see, this doesn't sound like it will end well.
Construction began last month and is slated for completion in December.
Wider pedestrian walkways, a narrower road and more street lights are the centerpiece of the project, according to a press release from the Seocho-gu District Office. Street signs will also be replaced to include French translations.
A small support group of foreigners were consulted by the design team, but some villagers are unaware of any changes at all.
French national and Seorae Maeul resident "Tika" has been living in the area for the past five years. Preferring not to reveal her full name, the French-language teacher at the nearby international school said that the village is already a "really pleasant" area.
Tika said the road did not need any changes, especially not the narrowing of lanes for wider sidewalks.
"We need the road because there's a lot of traffic," she said, adding that Seorae Maeul was already suited to her needs, evident from her long residency. She plans on living there for the next three years.
Though it sounds like the community got started organically---read a little more from KBS---the Seoul government announced in 2008 that Seorae Village would be one of the six "Global Villages" that would both make life easier for expatriates and make Seoul a more foreigner-friendly city. Those two things sound the same, though Seoul was worrying about its "ranking in globalization," and these villages would presumably increase that score; from an article on the Seoul city page that I can no longer find:
Seoul's ranking in globalization in comparison to other Asian countries was rather low, according to a survey by the city government.
It assessed that Korea ranked 29th in the globalization index in 2006 when Hong Kong ranked 10th and Japan was 15th, city officials said. In a survey on business environment, Korea was placed 26th whereas Singapore was 3rd and Hong Kong was ranked 9th, officials said.
Though if you're interested in what Seoul had to say about this particular Global Village Center, this release has some info:
The Global Village Center in working closely with the corresponding district office plans to provide support in administrative paper work as well as provide information and consultation for foreigners in distress. That’s not all, an impressive list of experience and tour programs are planned. Furthermore, the center plans to use expatriates as volunteers in order to provide a more comfortable environment for foreigners. The center will also provide foreign languages and Korean classes.
The main focus of the center is to be placed on the needs of the large French community surrounding the French Foreign School in the Seocho-gu district.
Anyway, that Times article says that while the number of residents stays the same in Seorae, the faces are frequently changing.
"Most residents are here for two to three years," Lim said, but long-term residents are in the minority. This contrasts with other expatriate communities, where most foreigners reside for at least several years.
The constant turnover in the French village can be seen in the international schools. Children of French residents usually attend only elementary or middle school in Seoul because they return to their native country, Lim said.
Comparing the expenses for the reconstructed French road to other district offices' costs on foreigner community development, Lim said that she believes Seocho-gu has invested the most time and effort.
She believes Seocho-gu has been the most proactive in reaching out to foreigners and making the area attractive to newcomers, but the number of foreigners remains fairly constant.
"More can come, but it's almost always the same," she said.
Well, for the time being it sounds like the village will play many roles: a small but potentially viable French community, a tourist attraction for curious Koreans and expatriates, and a feather in the cap of a city deeply interested in appearing and being more global.
Perhaps a tourist attraction for expatriates at least once, because like the Chinatown in Incheon with no Chinese people, it seems to get mixed reviews. To get you started, there are two threads on Dave's ESL Cafe about it: "The French area of Seoul" and "Seoul's bogus 'French Quarter'." I'll save you a little trouble and point out the highlight of those two threads, from RACETRAITOR, in response to a comment that suggested there weren't many French people actually there:
I believe the law states it's a minimum of two dead French babies found in a freezer and then it automatically becomes a French quarter.
You'll have to Google that yourself if you don't get it.
5 comments:
I occasionally go through that part of town on the way to work. At the southern end, up the hill, the main street ends at a T-intersection without the benefit of a traffic light. And the people that must turn left (onto what would be the top of the T) are at the mercy of the other drivers already there — Korean or foreign — who tend to take the "I was here first and don't have to help you one bit" tack.
Putting a functioning traffic light there would be a great improvement.
Seoul has lately been quite good at putting in park-like walkways, and without seeing their plans, I imagine they're doing something like that. The road is only one lane in either direction, so widening the walkway, I imagine, would mean making it harder for people to park illegally, which is not something they need to encourage anyway.
Sounds like they are once again throwing money at a project to improve something that doesn't need improving.
Shouldn't that be you a least need one limb and some other body part in a freezer to consider it a French Quarter?
/ lived just outside New Orleans for a year
// miss it now and then
'The project will rename the section the "French Specialized Street." '
Anyone consult anyone else on that? Wouldn't something a bit more... French be better... Surely by this stage at least city officials must realise when they put their minds to it that not all "foreigners" speak English.
Maybe something with a "rue" in it, or a "boulevard?"
Even if it was just 프랑스 불르바르 or however you can hangeulize it - combining Korean grammar for naming roads and some actual French. Might seem more like a French quarter then.
asadalthought, one of the main streets is in fact officially named Montmartre (몽마르트길).
They're actually too small to be boulevards; more like rue.
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