I miss you, but I don’t miss the parking lots
Industrial Park, Ann Arbor, Michigan
From the suburbs of a small city in the USA, to a much larger suburb of Seoul, South Korea, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Blocks of tiny houses? McMansions? Expansive interstates, with convenient off-ramps to large strip malls and floating box stores surrounded by well manicured landscaping? For twenty-two years that was the world I knew. We need something? Okay, get in a car, drive, park in the lot, and walk a couple meters to the store or restaurant. In college, I embraced suburbia, and took comfort in the shopping malls, the smell of Target, the bright lights hanging over the lone shrub in the miles of parking lot. It was an aesthetic I applied to music, writing and art I made in university.
Bundang, the suburb (or satellite city, as it’s also known) of Seoul is nothing like Southeast Michigan. If I walk outside of my apartment, I can get my hair cut, rent a movie, and choose from six restaurants without leaving my small street. In one block either direction I can get all my groceries. Coffee shops, convenience stores, noraebangs (karaoke rooms), bars, a library and anything else I need are all within a five to ten minute walk from my apartment. A radically different lifestyle from the car-dependent one I was raised.
If I choose to leave our neighborhood, I can take an inexpensive bus or subway (less than $2, gets us anywhere in the city). Or ride a bike along the Tancheon, a stream that runs through Bundang, lined with a bike lane, and a walking lane, which makes for a perfect commute to work in the morning. The Tancheon also serves the community with basketball courts, playground, mini-golf, and waterparks for children; a living space for the people of Bundang. And, if I chose to leave it, Seoul is a short 30 minute bus ride, thanks to dedicated bus lanes on the expressway that whiz past the constant traffic.
This is why I’m changing directions. For a while I have planned on studying Library Science, but further research, and really evaluating my level of excitement for courses such as Library Automation and Systems, Document and Subject Analysis, or Cataloguing and Classification made me question, is this really for me? Add to that, the lack of opportunities (apparently, all those librarians aren’t retiring) and the uncertain future for libraries (I don’t want to manage a computer lab, or youth video game night).
So, Urban Planning/Design it is. Why? The first few paragraphs are the beginnings of my motivation for graduate school. Basically, I dread returning home. I love you, who is reading this, but I don’t love cars (I never want to buy one again). I don’t love strip malls. I want to live somewhere with density, places I can walk. I like buildings that house apartments, restaurants, businesses, and offices all in one. Sure there are places like New York, and Chicago, but people all over the U.S. should be able to get around without a drivers license.
This seems like a better fit. One, its something I’m very interested in. Two, it’s a job that is needed. We won’t be able to live this way forever in North America. Eventually, we’ll run out of oil, and we’ll need to live closer to our neighbors. It also helps that the job comes with some room for creativity, and computer applications I enjoy spending time with (AutoCAD, GIS, Sketch Up, etc).
Right now, I’m looking at schools in the UK, and Netherlands. They’re cheaper, and the they’re cities offer more examples of the planning I wish we had in the States.
