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Note1 B Park and T Gillespie, ‘PC Bang Brought a Big Bang: The Unique Aspect ofthe Korean Internet Industry’, The Journal of Education, Community, andValues 3(8), 2003.

Korean Cyber-Bangs: Seoul

A couple are watching a movie on a state-of-the-art home theatresystem within a small room in a four-storey walk-up building. Agroup of students are singing karaoke songs in the basement and,across the street, a group is meeting to work on a term paper, oncomputers rented by the hour. Around them, schoolboys are gamingand video chatting. They could not do this in their families’ homes.Outside, glowing signs announce that similar activities are takingplace in bangs (rooms) all along the busy street.

Modern bangs provide privacy and technological services forwork and play in small spaces available for the public to rent outfor short periods of time, measured in minutes or by the length ofa movie. They are a natural consequence of a society congested inspace and time. There are different types of bangs. Norebangs arekaraoke rooms, PC bangs are cybercafés, and DVD bangs are forviewing rented movies. Traditionally, dabangs (tearooms) wereplaces for literary discussion and production.

High-density bang areas are typically found around majoruniversities and large schools. Their early appearance and

success facilitated the development of Internetinfrastructure in Seoul1 by creating economic pools of use.South Korea is at the forefront of Internet and wirelesscommunications technology and use.

Bangs are a versatile typology that fits in small spaces,basements and upper floors, surrounded by different usessuch as retail, office or housing. Providing a sense oftemporary community, they make use of less desirablefloor space, extending and transforming the life and use ofbuildings that may not otherwise be profitable to owners.Many also create 24-hour flows of people, improving thesense of community, liveliness and safety – transformingthe city from within.

Diagram showing 24-hour activity in a neighbourhood: the weekdayschedules (transparent tori) and peak hours (opaque) of differentactivities in the area, and how they overlap.

Footprint of the city area of Seoul with high-density bang areas (orange) aroundmajor campuses, surrounded by districts that provide services for students’work and leisure. Konkuk University Station, where lines 2 (green) and 7 (pink)intersect, has high passenger traffic and is a popular meeting point. Line 7 isthe only way to cross the river to this station from the popular Gagnam businessdistrict south of the river.

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Section X-X showing a slice through the neighbourhoodprogrammes, revealing bangs in upper floors and basements.

Clockwise from top left: Corridor with many doors; interior of DVD bangviewing booth; interior of norebang (karaoke); interior of PC bang.

3-D mapping of bangs along a street in the Hwayang-Dong area. The bangs tendto be on upper floors or in basements, indicating that lower-rent spaces aregood enough for such purposes. Exit 2 of the train station reconciles the flowfrom the underground and elevated lines.

Rodrigo Guardia

Street corner outside the Konkuk University sky-train station, apopular place for young people to meet.

Streetscape of bangs. This area of buildings of between four and fivestoreys high has seen its interior spaces filled with various leisurefacilities: restaurants, bars, norebangs (karaoke), DVD and PC bangs areplentiful. There are also spaces for rent in which groups of friends canplay board games, just as people would do in their homes in the West.

The penetration of high-tech bangs and shop fronts into low-rise,formerly residential areas creates the contrast of busy, litcommercial and entertainment street front and dark entrances toalleys of apartments and houses.

DVD bang norebang PC bang