Abstract

This paper aims to propose an alternative way of explaining “Gangnam-ization” by reinterpreting the process ofGangnam -style urbanization based on concepts such as the relational view of place, affective urbanism, networked territoriality, and hegemony. As existing studies on speculative urbanization focus on economic and institutional solutions to curb speculation, there is a lack of understanding of the social, cultural, and spatial aspects that shape the speculative desires of the urban middle class. Based on these concerns, this paper explores the discursive representations of Gangnam -style urbanization, how these representations are articulated with the various affects emerging from the process of Gangnam -ization, and howGangnam-ization becomes a hegemonic urbanity and becomes the dominant idea and common sense of the urban middle class. Through these explorations, this paper reveals that the hegemony of Gangnam -ization is not driven by any single central and powerful force, but is the outcome of a highly uneven and complicated historical and geographical process that has been shaped by a complex interweaving of diverse material, discursive, and affective forces operating in a number of Gangnam -style new towns and at multiple spatial scales.