| Abstract: | This article explores how the vision of a world city influences local cultural politics, by looking at an attempt to construct a cultural quarter in Seoul, South Korea. The Hong-dae area of Seoul has a reputation as a vibrant place of urban amenities, emerging cultural forms, and neighbourhoods of cultural workers and artists. In 2003, the city government announced a policy to create a Cultural District in the area. Subsequently, local conflict over defining Hong-dae culture emerged, and the plan was later postponed. This study elucidates how the proposed policy, framed by a vision of Seoul as a world city, led local actors to territorialise, fossilise, ethnicise and capitalise Hong-dae culture. It argues that competition for world city status may politicise and territorialise urban cultural scenes, rather than enhancing the urban amenities of diversity, openness and tolerance. |
