Project : Architecture

City as Verb

Seoul, Korea 2020 | Seoul Hall of Architecture & Urbanism Exhibition

When we describe cities, we often rely on nouns—fixed places and objects that take on an artifact-like quality in our imagination. Houses, streets, buses, parks, and even the word city itself are understood as completed entities handed down to us. Yet in an era of rapid social and technological change, the definition of the city is increasingly unstable. Can we instead understand the city as a set of active, transformative processes? And as inhabitants take on a more integrated role in shaping urban life, can the city be reframed as a site of citizen action?

City as Verb proposes a simple yet consequential shift: transforming the nouns we use to describe urban environments into actions. Rather than defining a street as a static object, for example, it becomes moving. While the former implies centralized control, the latter recognizes citizens as active participants who creatively engage with their surroundings rather than passively occupying them.

The exhibition is a distilled reflection on the 2019 Seoul Biennale Cities Exhibition, presenting 17 cities that illustrate how urbanism is evolving into a series of dynamic processes. Organized around six themes—Sustaining, Moving, Mixing, Regenerating, Participating, and Layering—the exhibition addresses both the potentials and challenges facing contemporary metropolitan regions. Spanning five continents, the selected cities offer global perspectives that also engage in a critical dialogue with Seoul, encouraging visitors to reconsider how they actively participate in the everyday making of their city.

Introduction gallery: 17 global cities

A series of windows punctures through the spaces for a quick overview

Gallery 1: Sustaining

Whereas the noun “sustainability” reduces environmental performance to a technical and standardized metric, the verb “sustaining” emphasizes stewardship—often achieved through minimal means. Rather than a singular achievement, it suggests the continuity of daily action. Four selected cities illustrate distinct ways in which sustaining is manifested.

In Amman, Jordan (Re)visiting the Valley Section by Fadi Masoud and Victor Perez-Amado proposes a hybrid strategy between agricultural and urban that can man-age endangered water resources in the politically contested Jordan River Basin.
View into Alleyway: Copenhagen, Denmark’s film Great Ar-chitecture on a Small Planet by Thin Green Line Productions travels globally, showcasing how Danish architects address environmental challenges through collaborative, forward-thinking solutions.
In Amsterdam, Netherlands, the short film Building Circular Resilient Neighborhoods by the City of Amsterdam’s International Office and Department of Planning and Sustainability repositions industrial heritage as the foundation for co-created, circular communities.
In Tokyo, Japan, the research project Urban Wild Ecology, curated by Fuminori Nousaku and Mio Tsuneyama, explores how everyday life can be sustained through small-scale ecological practices linking microbes, solar energy, shared housing, and urban wilderness.

Gallery 2: Moving

Where the nouns transport and infrastructure suggest heavy, fixed systems requiring centralized control, the verb Moving conveys lightness, adaptability, and the ability of citizens to choose—or even hack—multiple modes of mobility.

The film Urban Mobility by the Civic Data Design Lab at MIT follows four commuters in Nairobi, Kenya, as they walk, cycle, ride motorcycles, and take buses through both informal and affluent neighborhoods.
The Eindhoven, Netherlands exhibit 101 Streets by ZUS (Zones Urbaines Sensibles) offers a global analysis of iconic streets, examining how architecture is shaped by political context. Forcing Utopia by MIIM Office for Architecture, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, challenges conventional notions of the “good” street by exploring the complex social and spatial dynamics of KL’s motorways that drive rapid urbanization.
In Los Angeles, United States, the graphic novel Towards Automated Transitopia by the City Form Lab at Harvard GSD envisions how residents might experience new forms of automated public transit in a city defined by daily congestion.

Gallery 3: Mixing

Mixed-use urbanism originally sought to create synergy between large-scale development and diverse programs. In recent years, however, it has often been reduced to a tool for gentrification. Reframed as the verb Mixing, this gallery reclaims the concept through historical continuity, everyday human interaction, and citizen agency.

In São Paulo, Brazil, Felipe Correa and Devin Dobrowolski’s São Paulo: A Graphic Biography explores how inner-city post-industrial areas can be reintegrated amid rapid economic growth, with a focus on affordable housing.
In Ulsan, Korea, Co-opting Urban Industrial Symbiosis for Urban Resilience by Niall Kirkwood and Sang-Yong Cho similarly looks at the post-industrial urbanscape, this time addressing opportunities within a slowing economy through collective advocacy. In Vienna, Austria, the film/drawing, Pro-ductive City Vienna: Hidden Windows, Productive Screens, by Studio Vlay Streeruwitz strives to fundamentally shift the self-portrait of the European City as a ‘clean’ place that exports industry to a place where local industry is protected as a ‘UNESCO-type’ heritage that promotes creativity, public engagement and sustainable production.
In Zurich, Switzerland, The Distributed Cooperative by TEN explores how Zurich’s rental housing—one-third of which must be non-profit by 2060—can integrate digital services to foster new forms of collectivity within its small-scale urban fabric.

Gallery 4: Regenerating

Mixed-use urbanism originally sought to create synergy between large-scale development and diverse programs. In recent years, however, it has often been reduced to a tool for gentrification. Reframed as the verb Mixing, this gallery reclaims the concept through historical continuity, everyday human interaction, and citizen agency.

In Hong Kong, UrbanISMS: Three Short Stories about Hong Kong by OCEAN CN reinterprets the complexity of sites along the city’s southwest coast through layered visual and spatial media, revealing how urban intelligence emerges from accumulated variations.

Gallery 5: Participating

Clarifying the loosely defined noun ‘public space,’ the verb ‘Participating’ posits a version of inter-action that is citizen driven and able to catalyze dynamic change. Inherent to actively participating in our cities at a societal scale is the idea that the sum is greater than the whole of its parts.

In Cape Town, South Africa, The Distributed Cooperative by Urban-Think Tank documents a 28-year resident-led planning process that combines new housing prototypes with livelihood programs, embedding participation into daily life. In Paris, France, Co-Urbanism: 21 Collaborative Practices of the City, curated by Pavillon de l’Arsenal, presents partnerships between citizens and public agencies, demonstrating how collective action can co-program services and produce highly site-specific projects within a dynamic social and ecological ecosystem.
An existing ancient ruin within the gallery acts as a backdrop to the Regenerating and Participating themes.

Gallery 6: Layering (Seoul)

As we shift away from a narrow idea of economically driven urban ‘progress’ to a culturally-based understanding of the city, the heavy infrastructure from a previous era is placed in question: Rather than demolish these bridges, overpasses, and water pumping stations however, the verb ‘Layering’ describes strategies that combine program, smart design, and structural innovation in bringing new social use to areas that once excluded citizens’ activity.

Layering describes strategies that merge program, smart design, and structural innovation to reclaim spaces once closed to public life. Public housing by Mass Studies, SAAI, Arcbody, Posco A&C, and Ctopos will rise above rainwater pumping stations, garages, and highways. Underutilized areas beneath overpasses will be transformed by Need Architecture, MMKM, Kyunghee University, and Simplex into fine-grained community spaces. Along the Hangang, firms including MVRDV, NOW Architects, and SOAP will convert once-isolated waterfronts and bridges into ecological, pedestrian-friendly zones. By building over, under, and alongside existing systems, layering repositions infrastructure as an active part of the city’s social fabric.

Graphic Panels Within Exhibit

City as Verb Wednesday Seminars
The City as Verb seminars, hosted by the City of Seoul, served as a bridge between the 2019 Seoul Biennale Cities Exhibition and its 2021 continuation. Organized in partnership with the French, Netherlands, and Swiss embassies, the events pursued two goals: expanding dialogue between Seoul and its global partner cities on urbanism and citizen engagement, and reaching a broader audience of Korean officials, citizens, and community stakeholders. International experts joined virtually to share how their cities are addressing emerging urban challenges, alongside local panelists who examined shared concerns and key differences.

Seminar 1: Paris, France | 15 July 2020

Reinventing Paris, Co-building the City

Speaker: Alexandre Labasse, Director, Pavillon de l’Arsenal
Presented 22 award-winning projects from the “Reinventing Paris” competition, highlighting hybrid architecture, green integration, and new models of co-construction exhibited at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal.

Co-Urbanism: 21 Collaborative Practices of the City

Speakers: Kelly Ung and Laure Gaye, Directors, Atelier Approches !; Co-curators
Reviewed tools for co-conceiving and co-managing public space, demonstrating how collective thinking reshapes Paris as a dynamic social and ecological ecosystem.

Roundtable Participants:
Choon Choi (moderator; 2021 Seoul Biennale co-curator with Dominique Perrault); Taehyung Kim (Director, Seoul City Urban Space Improvement Bureau); Prof. Rafael Luna (2019 Seoul Biennale co-curator); Paco Bunnik (Chief City Planner of Amsterdam); Prof. Suk Yeon Yoo (Future Seoul Architect); Prof. John Hong (Curator, City as Verb).

Partner Embassy: Institut Français / Embassy of France

Seminar 2: Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 22 July 2020

We…City, Amsterdam

Speakers: Paco Bunnik, Chief Urban Designer, Department of Planning and Sustainability, City of Amsterdam; Tjeerd Haccou, Partner, Space & Matter

Paco Bunnik discussed Amsterdam’s urban growth strategies and approaches to resilient development—social, technical, and environmental. Tjeerd Haccou presented realized and future projects in Amsterdam and abroad, with both speakers emphasizing participation and social sustainability.

Roundtable Participants:
Choon Choi (moderator; 2021 Seoul Biennale co-curator with Dominique Perrault); Prof. Seunghoy Kim (Seoul City Architect); Taehyung Kim (Director, Seoul City Urban Space Improvement Bureau); Prof. Eui Young Chun (Senior Vice President, Korean Institute of Architects); Prof. Seunghyun Yoon (Future Seoul Architect); Prof. John Hong (Curator, City as Verb).

Partner Embassy: Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Seminar 3: Geneva, Switzerland | 29 July 2020

A Hybrid Territory – Switzerland as a Laboratory for Contemporary Urban Design and Beyond

Speaker: Michael Jakob, Professor, HEPIA – Geneva School of Engineering, Architecture, and Landscape

Professor Jakob examined Switzerland beyond conventional distinctions between city, countryside, and nature, highlighting the hybrid role of contemporary landscape architecture.

Roundtable Participants:
Prof. John Hong (Moderator and Curator, City as Verb); Prof. Seunghoy Kim (Seoul City Architect); Prof. Wookjoo Jung (SNU); Prof. Dong Woo Yim (2019 Seoul Biennale Co-curator); Prof. Bumjoon Kang (Future Seoul Architect).

Partner Embassy: Embassy of Switzerland

Seminar 4: Rotterdam, The Netherlands / Seoul, Korea

2045 Seoul Urban Space Plan, Urban Constellation

Speaker: ZuKhyung Kim, Commissioner, Presidential Commission on Architecture Policy / OUJAE Architects

The lecture outlined Future Seoul’s urban vision through three agendas—daily scenery, public accessibility, and vibrant urban space—proposing Urban Constellation as an integrated, cross-disciplinary framework.

Conflict and Innovation in the Museum

Speaker: Marina Otero, Director of Research, Het Nieuwe Instituut

Marina Otero examined how technological, economic, and cultural shifts reshape design and innovation, framing conflict as a catalyst for collective knowledge and alternative ways of living.

Roundtable Participants:
Prof. Seunghoy Kim (Seoul City Architect); Taehyung Kim (Director, Seoul City Urban Space Improvement Bureau); Prof. Seunghyun Yoon (Future Seoul Architect); Hyeri Park (Associate Partner, KCAP Architects & Planners); Prof. John Hong (Curator, City as Verb).

Partner Embassy: Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Sponsor
Seunghoy Kim (Chief Architect, Seoul City), Tae-Hyung Kim (Director-General, Urban Space Improvement Bureau), Won Seok Choi (Director, Urban Space Improvement Division), Hyeon Rae Kim(Manager, Urbanism and Architecture Communications Team), Se Chang Park, Jeong Yeon An, Hye Yeong Choi (Urbanism and Architecture Communications Team)

Organizer
Seoul Hall of Urbanism and Architecture

Curator and Exhibit Designer
John Hong (Prof. Seoul National University, Director, Project : Architecture)

Project Manager, Assistant Curator
Eunseop Suh, Researcher, Project : Architeccture, Seoul National University)

Research Assistants
Jungho Kwon, Sohee Yoon, Shinwoo Park (Project : Architecture, Seoul National University)

Advisors
2019 Seoul Biennale Cities Exhibition Curators, Dongwoo Yim (Professor, Hongik University), Rafael Luna (Professor, Hanyang University)

Participants

  • Amman, Jordan: (Re)visiting the Valley Section by Fadi Masoud and  Victor Perez-Amado
  • Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Building Circular Resilient Neighborhoods by the City of Amsterdam’s International Office and Department for Planning and Sustainability – Paco Bunnik;
  • Copenhagen, Denmark: Great Architecture on a Small Planet by Thin Green Line Productions
  • Tokyo, Japan: Urban Wild Ecology curated by Fuminori Nousaku and Mio Tsuneyama
  • Nairobi, Kenya: Urban Mobility by the Civic Data Design Lab at MIT
  • Los Angeles, United States: Towards Automated Transitopia by the City Form Lab
  • Eindhoven, Netherlands: 101 Streets by ZUS -Zones Urbaines Sensibles
  • Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Forting Utopia by MIIM Office for Architecture
  • Sao Paulo, Brazil: A Graphic Biography by Felipe Correa and Devin Dobrowolski
  • Ulsan, Korea: Co-opting Urban Industrial Symbiosis for Urban Resilience by Niall Kirkwood and Sang-Yong Cho
  • Vienna, Austria: Productive City Vienna: Hidden Windows, Productive Screens, by Studio Vlay Streeruwitz
  • Zurich, Switzerland: The Distributed Cooperative proposed by TEN
  • Hong Kong: UrbanISMS: Three Short Stories about Hong Kong by OCEAN CN
  • Lima, Peru: Framing the Collective by Sharif Kahatt and Marta Morelli
  • Taishan, China: Incremental Urbanism: Evolving Collective Forms by Elaine Yolam Kwong and Jason Ho
  • Cape Town, South Africa: The Distributed Cooperative by Urban-Think Tank
  • Paris, France: Co-Urbanism, 21 Collaborative Practices of the City, curated by Pavillon de l’Arsenal
  • Seoul, Korea: Mass Studies, SAAI, Arcbody, Posco A&C, Ctopos, Need Architecture, MMKM, Kyunghee University, Simplex,  MVRDV, NOW.

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