Gwangju and Jeonnam: The Birthplace of a Responsive Civilization
Having lived in Gwangju and Jeonnam, I became certain: their real problem is not inconvenient transit but a structure that has severed the flow between people. When everyone moves only by their own car, the roads fill with vehicles and the streets empty of human presence.
Gwangju and Jeonnam: The Birthplace of a Responsive Civilization
— Ma-eum Urbanism and a Vision for an Electric-Mobility Experimental City
by Lee DongHun
But having lived here, I have become certain of something.
The problem with Gwangju and Jeonnam is not merely inconvenient transportation,
but a structure in which the flow between people has been severed.
Public transit is inconvenient, the subway lines are few,
and so most people end up moving only by ‘their own car.’
And so the roads are left with nothing but cars,
and it becomes hard to see people on the streets.
As the chance to meet someone’s eyes, or to offer a light word in passing, disappears,
isolation, individualism, and selfishness slowly take root within the city.
Transportation is not merely a means of movement; it is the starting point of social connection.
A responsive rail network and open emotional spaces are not merely technology;
they are a structural design that makes people face one another again.
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(Body)
If you design a city through technology alone, you end up losing people.
A city must be a being that takes in emotion.
Ma-eum Urbanism sees the city as a ‘responsive body (感應體).’
A living space that senses people’s inner lives and their flow.
I want to begin this new concept of civilization in Gwangju and Jeonnam.
1. Background — The City of Collapsing Senses
Many of Korea’s cities have been designed around speed, performance, and economic efficiency.
But now we feel it.
The feeling that “this is a place to live, yet I cannot truly live here.”
The provinces in particular are drying up. The young leave, the elderly grow isolated, land is abandoned, and buildings are erected without emotion.
Gwangju and Jeonnam are, rather, an opportunity.
We can turn the crises of aging and low density into the conditions for an experiment in responsive cities.
2. Philosophy — Ma-eum Urbanism
Ma-eum Urbanism goes beyond the technology-centered concept of the ‘smart city.’
This philosophy sees the city as **a ‘responsive system’ connected to the human heart.**
• “A train station that notices my mood as I walk along the road”
• “A bubble-like space within the city center where you can rest while feeling the trees and the sky”
• “A transit network designed around the flow of people, where emotion flows more than data”
This is the imagination of Ma-eum Urbanism.
3. The Specifics of the Proposal
1) A Responsive Rail Network
• A loop through Gwangju–Mokpo–Yeosu–Suncheon–Goheung
• Design based on emotional response — lighting, temperature, sound, and more
• A responsive platform for ‘rest’ installed at every station
2) Natural Play Spaces
• Play gardens in the city center based on emotion-recognition sensors
• Restorative forests where generations can stay together
3) A Youth Ecosystem
• Satellite campuses and experimental education
• A local youth fellowship program (based on a rotating residency of 300 or more)
• Knowledge stations (bus-terminal-style coworking hubs)
4) A Responsive Space Base
• A space-experience site designed around the Goheung and Muan area
• An AI-based, emotion-aware space-experience platform
5) An Electric-Mobility Experimental City (all of Jeonnam)
• Autonomous driving + demand-responsive rural transit
• Village-style EV sharing + a responsive guidance UI for the elderly and infirm
• Benchmarking the cases of Toyama, Norway, Finland, and Jeju Island
4. The Goal of the Transformation: Not Technology, but Sensation
This proposal is not a simple introduction of technology.
It is about restoring the senses that people have lost.
About making spaces where relationships have been severed flow again.
This is the ultimate goal.
Gwangju and Jeonnam can become the first stage for this experiment.
What matters more than electric cars, autonomous driving, or space technology is —
a city in which, within all of it, people can feel themselves again.
5. My Wish
I built this project alone.
The philosophy, the planning, the policy, the design, down to the sentences.
I am not a civil servant, nor an entrepreneur.
But I dare to say it.
This vision is **‘the beginning of an emotion-based civilizational transformation’** — meant to restore what we have now lost.
I have formally submitted this proposal to the Office of the President.
If you would like to know more, or to build it together,
please reach out by LinkedIn DM or at [email protected].
Full text below
https://maeum.notion.site/22105969a3598001b8a4e360dae4cca9?pvs=74