Busan-news

Busan Welcomes Tourists but Loses Residents

Busan’s international content targets visitors rather than residents, investors, researchers, or entrepreneurs, limiting the city’s long-term international capacity.

6 min read

The End of Expansion as Busan Becomes a Shrinking Port City

Busan’s shift from growth to shrinkage exposed a planning system unable to adapt to demographic and industrial decline.

12 min read

Busan Modernized Its City, but Lost Its Industry

Redevelopment reshaped the city, but industrial substitution never arrived. The next decade will test whether maritime innovation and physical AI can anchor a second industrial turn.

12 min read

Busan Museum of Art to reopen in 2026 as the city’s cultural landscape shifts

Closed since late 2024, the Busan Museum of Art will return amid rising competition from public and private venues, with plans that test how a municipal museum defines its public role in a changing art ecosystem.

5 min read

Busan–Gyeongnam Administrative Merger Returns as Structural Pressures Mount

Support for a Busan–South Gyeongsang administrative merger has risen sharply ahead of local elections. Evidence across housing, industry, and mobility suggests consolidation alone may not resolve the region’s underlying economic and demographic pressures.

12 min read

The Decoupling of Housing Prices and Urban Life in Busan

Housing prices in Busan have stabilized in select districts, even as the population and income base required to sustain urban life continues to erode.

12 min read

Busan’s Metropolitan Capacity Continues to Erode

Busan appears to be recovering as visitor numbers and participation metrics rise. Beneath these indicators, however, the city’s capacity to retain workers, sustain stable employment, and function as a metropolitan center continues to erode.

6 min read

Why Housing Prices No Longer Reflect Urban Health in Busan

Busan’s housing market appears stable on paper, but rising prices increasingly mask weakening neighborhood economies and declining everyday consumption.

5 min read

Why Busan’s East–West Balanced Development Failed

Intended to reduce spatial disparities, Busan’s East–West balanced development instead redistributed population internally. Growth clustered in Gangseo-gu, while adjacent districts continued to lose residents.

5 min read

Busan’s Population Decline Is No Longer Reversible

The central challenge facing Busan is no longer how to restore growth, but how to govern a city in which demographic continuity can no longer be assumed.

13 min read

Busan Advances Gangseo Tram, Testing Western Growth

Ridership data show an existing commuter base at Daejeo Station, but the line’s success depends on operating speed and the pace of development in Eco Delta City.

6 min read

The Illusion of Tightening in Busan’s Jeonse Market

Recent signs of tightening in Busan’s jeonse market do not indicate a broad-based recovery. Instead, they reflect demand concentrating in a limited number of districts amid population decline, rising vacancy, and a gradual shift away from deposit-based leases.

7 min read