Abstract

This study examines the background, planning, and results of a representative apartment construction project in Pyongyang City. In particular, it focuses on Pyongyang new towns, apartment construction projects for more than 30,000 people, in terms of their status as bedroom towns, and examines cases of Kim Jong Il era and Kim Jong-un era. The 50,000-units new town project of Kim Jong-un period was aimed at providing large-scale housing in the face of a growing population and housing shortage, and it has succeeded in achieving its goal. The construction of new towns under Kim Jong-un has been carried out under a specific plan compared to the Kim Jong-il era, and are more advanced as mechanisms of state governing. The new towns under construction in three districts and streets emphasized housing for the ordinary citizens and vulnerable groups, and strengthened the requirement to improve job-housing proximity by housing workers from nearby enterprises. The 50,000-unit New Town is characterized by its location as a satellite city or an urban-rural connection space, which implies an expansion of the urban landscape. The expansion of the city-scape could deepen the metropolitanization of Pyongyang in the future, and if there is a lack of proper urban management and development projects, it could lead to urban sprawl. These concerns are a paradox of the Pyongyang new towns, given that garden cities and new towns were initially proposed as alternatives to solve the problems of large cities.