Un Precedented Pyongyang

Despite the notorious fact of it being one of the most veiled countries in modern history, North Korea recently has started to get engaged with the rest of the world, and now we can easily witness various socio-economic changes of the nation which was seen in the 1990s in other post-socialist countries. And as the capital of the nation, Pyongyang has already entered into fast transformation stage with numbers of developments both in public and private sectors since the new regime of Kim Jung Un. However, we sometimes overlook the fact that the city was built based on the goal to be an ideal socialist city. After the three years of Korean War in the 1950s, Pyongyang was completely demolished and had a unique chance to build a new city based on the socialist ideology. Although the current morphology may not be exactly same as the original master plan, many urban spaces and infrastructures remain as evidences of socialist urban planning. And interestingly enough, these are urban elements that have major conflict with the idea of market-oriented economy, and at the moment, the morphology of the city is already changing. Then, the question is, will Pyongyang become one of post-socialist cities, having them as precedents to the city, or will it have its own development path that is unprecedented?

In the wake of the political succession to Kim Jung Un, the issue of non-traditional security is increasingly important. From the lasting effects of the famine of the 1990s to continued food shortages and the growing marketization of North Korean society, the Pyongyang regime is facing diverse and unprecedented challenges. This book offers cutting-edge analyses of emerging North Korean non-traditional security issues by the world's leading specialists in the field.

This book deals with the political and legal issues of the Korean question in the United Nations. This is the first in-depth analysis of the meaning and effects of the Korean problem in UN politics. The book discusses the UN's role in the management of the Korean problem, the effects of the Korean war, South-North Korea's rivalry over the issues of their legitimacy and international representation, the problems of the Korean armistice agreement, and prospects for the four-party peace talks. It also examines North Korea's nuclear program and structural famine as the new concerns of the international community in the post Cold-War era. This study is intended as one of the important readings for researchers, scholars and students in the fields of international law, international organizations and international relations.

North Korea, despite a shattered economy and a populace suffering from widespread hunger, has outlived repeated forecasts of its imminent demise. Charles K. Armstrong contends that a major source of North Korea's strength and resiliency, as well as of its flaws and shortcomings, lies in the poorly understood origins of its system of government. He examines the genesis of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) both as an important yet rarely studied example of a communist state and as part of modern Korean history.North Korea is one of the last redoubts of "unreformed" Marxism-Leninism in the world. Yet it is not a Soviet satellite in the East European manner, nor is its government the result of a local revolution, as in Cuba and Vietnam. Instead, the DPRK represents a unique "indigenization" of Soviet Stalinism, Armstrong finds. The system that formed under the umbrella of the Soviet occupation quickly developed into a nationalist regime as programs initiated from above merged with distinctive local conditions. Armstrong's account is based on long-classified documents captured by U.S. forces during the Korean War. This enormous archive of over 1.6 million pages provides unprecedented insight into the making of the Pyongyang regime and fuels the author's argument that the North Korean state is likely to remain viable for some years to come.

This handbook provides the most comprehensive examination of Asian cities—developed and developing, large and small—and their urban development. Investigating the urban challenges and opportunities of cities from every nation in Asia, the handbook engages not only the global cities like Shanghai, Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, and Mumbai but also less studied cities like Dili, Malé, Bandar Seri Begawan, Kabul, and Pyongyang. The handbook discusses Asian cities in alignment to the United Nations’ New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals in order to contribute to global policy debates. In doing so, it critically reflects on the development trajectories of Asian cities and imagines an urban future, in Asia and the world, in the post-sustainable, post-global, and post-pandemic era. Presenting 43 chapters of original, insightful research, this book will be of interest to scholars, practitioners, students, and general readers in the fields of urban development, urban policy and planning, urban studies, and Asian studies.

As a way to understand the contemporary project in architecture, this book provides an index of ideas, theories, projects, and definitions that string into a methodology for evaluating the contemporary language of architecture described as “contemporism” through a review of topology (form) and typology (system and elements). The contemporary project has been trying to answer the postmodern question of how to move beyond modernism through a thread of architectural styles that tried to respond to deficiencies from the modern promise and contextual changes. Yet, the question remains, should this ongoing struggle to move beyond modernism be a stylistic battle? Has the present architectural practice ever left the modernist tendencies, and is there a structure for a contemporary language in architecture? This book presents a collection of highly illustrated projects that have worked under these parameters to break away from modernism in order to present a holistic integration of topology and typology as a language for “contemporism.” The index is illustrated with individual spreads, which can be read sequentially or independently, and encourages the reader to make their own connections. It also includes interviews and contributions from Toyo Ito, Anthony Vidler, Ben van Berkel, Christian Kerez, and Greg Lynn. This book is essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students in architecture.

Imminent Commons: Commoning Cities presents questions and answers concerning the current state and near future of cities of the world through the lens of public initiatives, projects, and urban narratives. Cities are searching for new possibilities that will help them survive and thrive within new systems of municipal governance. The strategies of cities with regard to rapid urbanization, scarcity of public resources, and privatization of commons will be examined through the diverse spectrum of focused projects. It also discusses the present and future of cities as commons in the 21st century through examining various ways the cities use to deliberate, operate, imagine and execute their policies for the city.

Remarkably, more than half of the world's population now lives in cities, and the numbers grow daily as people abandon rural areas. This fully updated and revised seventh edition of the classic text offers readers a comprehensive set of tools for understanding the urban landscape, and, by extension, the world's politics, cultures, and economies. Providing a sweeping overview of world urban geography, noted experts explore the eleven major global regions. Each regional chapter considers urban history, economy, culture, and environment, as well as urban spatial models and problems and prospects. Each begins with two facing pages: a regional map that shows the major cities and a table of basic statistical information about cities and urbanization in each region and a list of ten salient points about that region’s urban experience. Chapters conclude with a list of references, including films and webpages, which can be used by the student and instructor for additional information about specific cities. This edition adds the important new themes of climate change and migration, while continuing to focus specifically on sustainability, water, technology, social and environmental justice, security and conflict, the history of urban settlement, urban planning trends, and daily life. Vignettes of key cities give the reader a vivid understanding of daily life and the "spirit of place." The opening chapter presents an overview of key terms and concepts and explores contemporary world urbanization, and a concluding chapter projects the world's urban future. Liberally illustrated in full color with a new selection of photographs, maps, and diagrams, the text also includes a rich array of textboxes to highlight key topics ranging from migration and immigration to LBGTQ activism, human security, and climate change. Clearly written and timely, Cities of the World will be invaluable for those teaching introductory or advanced classes on global cities, regional geography, the developing world, and urban studies.