Seoul Voted 3rd Worst City in the World to Live in Options

[mytwocents]

Lonely Planet users have voted Detroit USA as the worst city to live in the world. Seoul came in third.

The rankings:

1. Detroit, USA – Crime, pollution and crumbling infrastructure don’t appeal to you.
2. Accra, Ghana – Ugly, chaotic, sprawling and completely indifferent to its waterfront location.
3. Seoul, South Korea – According to one comment, ‘It’s an appallingly repetitive sprawl of freeways and Soviet-style concrete apartment buildings, horribly polluted, with no heart or spirit to it. So oppressively bland that the populace is driven to alcoholism.’
4. Los Angeles, USA – A highly contentious pick, placed here because of its ‘uncontrolled sprawl, pollution, appalling traffic and ugly freeways.’
5. Wolverhampton, England – So bad that we don’t even have it on this site! Check out post 35 on this thread.
6. San Salvador, El Salvador – Widely acknowledged as the grubbiest of the Central American capitals.
7. Chennai, India – We describe it as lacking Mumbai’s prosperity, Delhi’s history or Bengaluru’s buzz. Even the movie stars are ‘not that hot.’ You think we’re being generous.
8. Arusha, Tanzania – A gateway to natural wonder that has more than its share of rust. Get out as quickly as you can.
8. Chetumal, Mexico – Combining the worst of mass tourism and outlying decay, Chetumal just doesn’t charm you.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ghana/travel-t...rticles/42/9782

I wish Seoul could get rid of all the ugly looking concrete buildings. I can never understand why and how this came about. Korean construction companies are world famous for building some of the most famous land marks like the Taipei 101, the Dubai Tower, the Petronas Tower in Malaysia, and on and on. So many structures were built by hands of Korean workers in the Middle East and Asia. Therefore it's obvious that it's not that Koreans lack any expertise or technology in construction. So why in hell Koreans end up with the second and third best at home? That makes me wonder and scratch my head. There's something seriously wrong when you can build great looking buildings for foreigners, but can't do the same at home.

Read some of the comments about Seoul (Ouch), and get a good laugh.

I LOVE Seoul. Not pretty, but there's some SERIOUS fun to be had. You need to know where to go, and who to go with, and it needs to be snowing.
No, my vote would be for Baltimore. Everywhere feels threatening, tragic waste of a harbourfront, drug-crazed loons everywhere, even in downtown, and they used pneumatic drills outside my $250-a-night hotel from 1am to 7am (then stopped!).

Chalk up another vote for Seoul. I've been here 5 years. The population density is inhumane and reminds me of Soylent Green. At least Detroit once had culture.

hey, c'mon, seoul is cool! i agree with andrew, it's just a matter of know where to go and who to go with. I was there in the last spring and it was just lovely. Beautiful ancient architecture, good food and great museums. It's just that korean people aren't usually nice with people they don't know and it can damage the image of seoul...
the worst city, for sure is juliaca, in peru. it's dirty and really ugly. and what really bothers it's that anywhere you go by bus in peru you have to stop in this awful city.

I have to agree with Seoul - it's vile.
I'm in Daegu, which is lovely - not too big, easy to get around, very pedestrianised, reasonable prices, and much friendlier people than Seoul.
Seoul is too congested, dirty, ugly, and it has no heart. The Koreans you find in Seoul are horrible enough to anybody from the south of S. Korea (aka Daegu, Busan etc.) let alone to foreigners.
The current ads running for it which call it "Soul of Asia" are a joke - guess the Korean tourism board have never heard of or been to Tokyo, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai...to name a few...
And the Korean government wonder why it isn't a booming tourist destination, surely nothing to do with how racist Koreans tend to be, the fact that they won't let budget airlines run international flights so that Korean Air and Asiana retain a monopoly, or the fact that they promote their cuisine internationally with kimchi...

I’m also surprised that Seoul is in the top 9. Just come back from a week in Seoul and I was surprised that it had quite a few distinct historical districts and that it’s relatively green. Also loved the food and the fish market.
London – I can understand why travellers hate it but as a city it’s got to be one of the most interesting in the world. Perhaps, it’s a city to be travelled when you live there – there’s so much cultural diversity, history and unique places in London to keep anyone busy for a very long time.
The worst cities that I’ve been to have been in Central America, excepting Panama City, which has many saving graces. San Juan is grey, Tegucigalpa and Gualamala are uninviting and sound pretty dangerous - from reading the newspapers, bus drivers and gang member girlfriends had a low life expectancy in G city. I’ve stayed in El Salvador but it was in a nice district and didn't ventured much into the city, so it seemed ok.

Seoul is fabulously fun if you know where to go and what to do... it's open 24 hours, and has endless activities.
The problem is that Korea is not that touristique and the culture is pretty insular. So, you need a local if you want to really experience the place.
You might get a flavor if you watch a few Korean dramas and films.

This post has been edited by mytwocents: Dec 31 2009, 12:07 PM

[blackosama]

Is Seoul worse than Tokyo?

http://forum.japantoday.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4463

[samnang]

A lot of people, myself included, think concrete buildings are pretty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture


This post has been edited by samnang: Jan 1 2010, 03:19 AM

[Comatose]

This list is ridiculous, based off of the feedback of brain dead foreigners. If an Asian goes to a european or american city,they don't expect to be treated like royalty, who do these westerners think they are? I love how Bangkok could never be on any western list of worst cities. I wonder why?
Just look at how biased the comments are, "so oppressively bland the populace is driven to alcoholism?"
lolwut? I highly doubt level of alcoholism has anything to do with the blandness of architecture. That guy had something against Korea. Probably another worthless ESL teacher.

[blackosama]

This list is ridiculous, based off of the feedback of brain dead foreigners. If an Asian goes to a european or american city,they don't expect to be treated like royalty, who do these westerners think they are? I love how Bangkok could never be on any western list of worst cities. I wonder why?
Just look at how biased the comments are, "so oppressively bland the populace is driven to alcoholism?"
lolwut? I highly doubt level of alcoholism has anything to do with the blandness of architecture. That guy had something against Korea. Probably another worthless ESL teacher.

what's wrong with bangkok?

[Skim8441]

lol this list is ridiculous

[Comatose]

what's wrong with bangkok?

It is well known that Bangkok girls fulfill the desire of every ugly balding western man. It doesn't matter whether the city had "oppressively bland architecture" or if it was full of unattractive freeways, the city is full of little asians to treat white men like noblemen in a land of serfs. But Seoul? Koreans refuse to act like little b!tches to western civilization, so yup, let's find ways to bring it down
soviet style buildings? check.
no heart or spirit? check.
oppressively bland? check.
all in an appalling repetitive sprawl? check.
All of these are such dubious accusations you could make to every city in the world. What is a heart or spirit of a city supposed to be anyway? Talk about a load of bull$hit.
I love how one of those comments said that Koreans are xenophobic. Come on. Just because they wouldn't lick your boots or whore themselves to you? Fkn white people.

[mytwocents]

It is well known that Bangkok girls fulfill the desire of every ugly balding western man. It doesn't matter whether the city had "oppressively bland architecture" or if it was full of unattractive freeways, the city is full of little asians to treat white men like noblemen in a land of serfs. But Seoul? Koreans refuse to act like little b!tches to western civilization, so yup, let's find ways to bring it down
soviet style buildings? check.
no heart or spirit? check.
oppressively bland? check.
all in an appalling repetitive sprawl? check.
All of these are such dubious accusations you could make to every city in the world. What is a heart or spirit of a city supposed to be anyway? Talk about a load of bull$hit.
I love how one of those comments said that Koreans are xenophobic. Come on. Just because they wouldn't lick your boots or whore themselves to you? Fkn white people.

"newbie" with all of 6 posts. Please don't anyone respond to this person.

[ensoninoue]

this is a ignorant pole by bunch of uneducated posters and bloggers.

Seoul is one of the most high tech cities in the world.
Have they ever heard of "Songdo".
That will be the most futuristic city built when completed.

[mytwocents]

this is a ignorant pole by bunch of uneducated posters and bloggers.

Seoul is one of the most high tech cities in the world.
Have they ever heard of "Songdo".
That will be the most futuristic city built when completed.

Well it's ironic when you say "uneducated". The correct spelling is "poll", not "pole".

[Comatose]

"newbie" with all of 6 posts. Please don't anyone respond to this person.

You're not much better, you've only been around since november.
So now you are going to discriminate against newbies?

[kaizen]

This is the reason why this entire article and the list is a complete joke:

It’s an appallingly repetitive sprawl of freeways and Soviet-style concrete apartment buildings, horribly polluted, with no heart or spirit to it. So oppressively bland that the populace is driven to alcoholism.

Then the official site introduces Seoul as this:

Nothing is permanent in this fashion-filled, helter-skelter city that completely rebuilds itself every decade and vibrates with energy night and day. Every evening a tsunami of Seoulites sweeps into entertainment districts, where smoky barbecue restaurants, goblin-sized teashops, plush mugwort saunas, DVD mini- cinemas and more are stacked up 10-storeys high along narrow alleys. Seoul spreads a virtually unknown culture and cuisine at your feet.

Basically, the article and the site itself is a contradiction to itself.

[rvsp]

Seoul is the 3rd worst city in the world to live?
I wish I could say the same thing.
It's been only two months since I returned from Seoul and I already miss it so much. Too bad that I have to wait another 10 months to go back.

It's amazing how the view can be subjective from person to person.
Sure, Seoul has ugly freeway and faceless concrete building but which cities in the world that have more than 12 million population don't have these?
Pollution? Have these people ever been to Bangkok or Mexico city?
The air quality in Seoul is actually much better than Bangkok or Manila because Korean cars use unleaded gas (petrol).
Yellow dust coming from Gobi desert, China in March makes air quality bad but still can not compare with LA.

Seoul is one of the few cities in the world that you can walk at midnight without fear.
You will be dead if you do the same thing in Washington DC and Baltimore.
Based on my extensive travel experience, very few cities in the world can match with Seoul in terms of clean subway(underground) and efficient public transportations.
It even has the world's best airport.

http://www.worldairportawards.com/Awards_2...Airport2009.htm

This post has been edited by rvsp: Jan 1 2010, 12:28 AM

[mytwocents]

Seoul is the 3rd worst city in the world to live?
I wish I could say the same thing.
It's been only two months since I returned from Seoul and I already miss it so much. Too bad that I have to wait another 10 months to go back.

It's amazing how the view can be subjective from person to person.
Sure, Seoul has ugly freeway and faceless concrete building but which cities in the world that have more than 12 million population don't have these?
Pollution? Have these people ever been to Bangkok or Mexico city?
The air quality in Seoul is actually much better than Bangkok or Manila because Korean cars use unleaded gas (petrol).
Yellow dust coming from Gobi desert, China in March makes air quality bad but still can not compare with LA.

Seoul is one of the few cities in the world that you can walk at midnight without fear.
You will be dead if you do the same thing in Washington DC and Baltimore.
Based on my extensive travel experience, very few cities in the world can match with Seoul in terms of clean subway(underground) and efficient public transportations.
It even has the world's best airport.

http://www.worldairportawards.com/Awards_2...Airport2009.htm

People shouldn't get offended so much. It was just a poll done by the Lonely Planet. Of course, Seoul is not the third worst city to live in, not even close. Especially when we have such fabulous cities like Baghdad Iraq and Lagos Nigeria.

But what this poll tells us that we have a lot of western foreigners in Korea who are not really impressed with the city. That's because Korea has a huge and possibly the largest ESL industry in the world, and it attracts a big number of Western ESL teachers who enter Korea to WORK. These teachers depend a lot on the Lonely Planet to help them get around the country. They are not here to travel and they certainly are not here to tour. When your main purpose in the country is to work for pay for day in and day out, and are under constant work stress and culture shock, all of a sudden everything around you becomes twice as grey, twice as glum, and twice as ugly.

Don't take this poll too seriously.

This post has been edited by mytwocents: Jan 1 2010, 06:31 AM

[Captain Corea]

I personally like Seoul.

There are a lot of good things:
-restaurants everywhere.
-cheap public transportation
-effective public transportation
-decent amount of jobs
-higher income than in other areas
-cheap cabs
-a number of good foreign restaurants

But there are some bad as well:
-bad air quality
-dangerous roads
-traffic
-limited parking
-odd zoning
-a lot of homeless people

[mytwocents]

I personally like Seoul.

There are a lot of good things:
-restaurants everywhere.
-cheap public transportation
-effective public transportation
-decent amount of jobs
-higher income than in other areas
-cheap cabs
-a number of good foreign restaurants

But there are some bad as well:
-bad air quality
-dangerous roads
-traffic
-limited parking
-odd zoning
-a lot of homeless people

Actually I think the air quality in Seoul has improved quite a bit over the years, as more polluting industries just packed up and moved off shore. Now those countries' air pollutions are getting worse.

[kaizen]

Traffic is ONE of the worst quality of Seoul. Seriously, we should do something about that $hitty traffic.

[mytwocents]

Traffic is ONE of the worst quality of Seoul. Seriously, we should do something about that $hitty traffic.

That could be solved with the coming hybrid and electric cars revolution. The air quality should improve significantly in the coming decades.

[foi2]

Is Seoul worse than Tokyo?

http://forum.japantoday.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4463

Lol, while I've never been to Seoul, I doubt Tokyo's any worse. Tokyo just lacks landmarks, but the city itself, especially at night, is beautiful.

[rvsp]

I wish Seoul could get rid of all the ugly looking concrete buildings. I can never understand why and how this came about. Korean construction companies are world famous for building some of the most famous land marks like the Taipei 101, the Dubai Tower, the Petronas Tower in Malaysia, and on and on. So many structures were built by hands of Korean workers in the Middle East and Asia. Therefore it's obvious that it's not that Koreans lack any expertise or technology in construction. So why in hell Koreans end up with the second and third best at home? That makes me wonder and scratch my head. There's something seriously wrong when you can build great looking buildings for foreigners, but can't do the same at home.

Here's the answer to your question:

In order to build great looking buildings, !) you need open spaces or 2) the existing ugly buildings have to be demolished.

As Seoul does not have any open space, the only possibility is to demolish the existing buildings and rebuild the new ones.
If there are any disputes between the landlords, city and construction companies, the court have to get involved and the cases can take several years to get judgement.
The land price in Seoul is outrageously expensive. Who knows how many more years it takes to pay all the compensation to all the landlords.

The bottom line is: It's because of money not because of lack of technology in construction.