Podcast

Seoul's population has grown rapidly over the past decades, reaching 10.6 million in the 1990s. However, it has dropped since then due to new developing cities surrounding Seoul and poor air quality caused by fine dust. Seoul has a great subway system, excellent healthcare and education, and well-developed public transport. It is ranked as Asia's most livable city with the second highest quality of life globally. However, Seoul has expensive groceries and extreme winters and summers. Welcome to the Urban Cities Podcast, where today we are talking about urbanisation in Asian cities. This episode on the podcast, we cover the capital of South Korea, Seoul. I'm Mitchell, and these are my two friends Hunter and Bryce. Hi, I'm Bryce. I'm a statistical expert with a degree in economics and a mathematics major in statistics. And I'm Hunter. Before we get started, I just wanted to say thank you to Mitchell for having us on the podcast. No problem. Moving on, Seoul's rapid growth over the past decades has been astronomical. In the 1960s, Seoul's population was at 2.5 million. In the 1990s, Seoul's population has reached a whopping 10.6 million. Seoul's current population sits around about 10 million people and is expected to stay the same for the next 20 years. But why has the population dropped since the 1990s? Seoul's population has dropped in the last 30 years because the new developing cities surrounding Seoul have drawn some of the city's area growth. Mass amounts of people are leaving Seoul due to the poor air quality caused by the fine dust. Sounds interesting. We have made a graph. Seoul's population has rapidly increased from 1960 to 1990. Seoul's population is estimated to stay at roughly 10 million people. Seoul is the financial centre of South Korea. Yui Island is the headquarters of many stock exchanges and banks in South Korea. People may move to financial centres as they are seeking low transaction costs and a qualified workforce. But with all this population, how are people managing to get around? Do the residents of Seoul have basic infrastructure and livability? Seoul has a fantastic subway system. It is the most efficient way to get around the city. Not only does this reduce traffic, but is a great way to get around the city. Seoul's healthcare and education is one of the best in the world. They rank third in mathematics and in the top group for all other subjects. Seoul's public transport is well developed, affordable and clean. Seoul is ranked Asia's most liveable city and has the second highest quality of life globally according to Arcatics. So are there any negatives and how does urbanisation affect the residents of Seoul? Seoul has expensive groceries. This is because Seoul imports very little food from other countries. Another con is that Seoul has extreme winters and summers. In winter it's freezing having a low of negative 8 degrees Celsius and in summer having a high of 30 degrees Celsius. Interesting. I'd love to hear more but that's all we have time for today. I hope you enjoyed this episode and I will see you next time. Thank you.