I Want to Build a City

Since the beginning of the year, as my rank has changed, so has the role the company expects of me. To put it in a metaphor, in the past I was like a team captain who played directly in a soccer match, but now it feels like I’ve been appointed as the manager who has to lead the club to a championship.

I’m keenly feeling how completely different the two roles are. As a captain, even if there’s a player on the team who isn’t performing well, I could make up for the gap by running hard myself. A manager can’t do that. A manager can’t suddenly be sent onto the field as a substitute player…

How can I do better in the role of manager—that’s been my recent concern, and architecture and urban planning offer a bit of a hint. A city is too large in scale even at the district level, so it can’t be completed by my strength alone. I have to complete the city together with the people who live there, coexisting with them.

I hold the master plan for the entire city and present a clear image of what life here should look like. I divide the city I’m in charge of into several land districts and allocate them, designing the dynamism within the area. I bring in a chief architect to erect a landmark building. I sketch out the look of the commercial facilities on the building’s lower floors and screen the tenants who will move in.

I want to complete a splendid cityscape that leaves a mark in Korea. I want to build a wonderful city that, even 100 or 200 years from now, people around will love, remember, and use as a benchmark.