[Choi Jun-young's Urban Pilgrimage] The Forgotten Dream of a Rural Industrial City

At some point, local governments have all been working hard to attract businesses. Attracting businesses creates jobs and enables the growth of cities and regions. There are many companies in various industries, but if given the choice, what kind of industries would everyone want to attract? Perhaps attracting an automobile factory is the ultimate dream. Although much more automated than in the past, automobile assembly lines still require large-scale employment, and related parts and materials companies also need to be located near the final automobile assembly line, so the impact on employment and the local economy is very significant.

Detroit, USA: The Symbol of the Automobile Industry Where the Big Three Factories Were Concentrated
City Decline Due to Factory Relocation and Import Car Invasion in the 1970s

A representative city related to automobiles is Detroit in the United States. Detroit was home to the Big Three factories represented by GM, Ford, and Chrysler, symbolizing the glory of the American automobile industry. However, it is relatively well known that since the 1970s, due to the relocation of factories to the South and overseas, and the invasion of imported cars including Japanese cars, Detroit faced difficulties and eventually went down the path of urban decay and bankruptcy. The decline of a city that once led the way by building the world's first concrete-paved automobile road in 1908 is a prime example of how dangerous it is to depend on a specific industry and company.

While Detroit was a city dependent on the automobile 'industry,' Wolfsburg in Germany differs in that it is a city entirely dependent on Volkswagen, or rather, a city created for Volkswagen. Wolfsburg was established as a place to produce the 'affordable car for the general public' idea proposed by Dr. Porsche and accepted by Hitler. Before the Volkswagen factory was built, this place had no official name; Hitler and Porsche selected the factory construction site through aerial photographs, with its central location in Germany playing a major role, as it was accessible from anywhere. Since people who ordered cars had to go to the factory to pick them up, a location convenient for access from everywhere was advantageous.

Choi Jun-young, Senior Advisor at Yulchon LLC

Since it was about building a factory producing 800,000 cars annually on a barren land, the question of where the many workers employed there would live was answered simply yet ambitiously by Hitler, who was pushing for the factory construction at the time. The plan was to build a planned city for the people working there along with the automobile factory.

Architect Peter Koller was appointed to design this city, and Albert Speer, who later became the Minister of Armaments for Nazi Germany, was appointed as the supervisor responsible for the overall development. The 1933 design plan consisted of a city with four arms and two circular rings, composed of various scenarios ranging from a minimum of 30,000 to a maximum of 400,000 people, allowing for adaptation according to the factory's production capacity expansion. The factory and housing were located adjacent to each other to enable convenient commuting. In the center of the city, a complex of buildings intended for political activities and cultural spaces was planned. The roads entering the city were designed to handle the large traffic volume expected from the future spread of automobiles, some of which were up to 100 meters wide.

Wolfsburg, Germany: A City Built Solely for Volkswagen
Producing One Million Cars Annually, Volkswagen Pays One-Third of the City Budget in Taxes

To provide a pleasant living environment, large green spaces were planned in residential areas, and to showcase the ideal family based on National Socialist principles, all residences were equipped with central heating, flush toilets, central laundry services?unimaginable at the time?and each house had its own garden. This concept was introduced to attract excellent workers to the unfamiliar and new city.

The cost of building the city and factory was covered by the workers' money. After Hitler came to power, German labor unions were consolidated into the government-controlled labor organization DAF, and the 50 million marks fund originally held by the German Metalworkers' Union was transferred to DAF. The German government then used this to proceed with the factory and city construction. Although it was an excellent plan, construction only began in 1938, and due to the outbreak of World War II soon after, only one-tenth of the planned area was developed.

After Germany's defeat, the British army occupying the area judged that rebuilding and operating the factory would reduce the burden on the British military government, and they provided financial support and purchased the vehicles produced, enabling Volkswagen to experience rapid growth after the war. Through this process, Wolfsburg's population steadily increased from 25,000 in the early 1950s to 120,000. The Volkswagen factory here employs 72,000 people and produces nearly one million vehicles annually.

One-third of Wolfsburg's city budget is covered by taxes paid by Volkswagen, and as Volkswagen grew into the world's largest automobile company, Wolfsburg developed into the wealthiest city in Germany, with an average per capita income approaching $100,000. The plan to build a large factory and city together was also attempted in South Korea in the 1970s through Changwon and Ansan. Beyond simply creating spaces for factory workers to live, the goal was to build a pleasant and comfortable city, establishing a 'garden industrial city' plan that included ample green spaces, road and communication networks designed with the future in mind, educational institutions from elementary schools to universities, and sufficient parks and green spaces around residential and industrial areas.

South Korea's Attempt at Industrial-Integrated Self-Sufficient New Towns in Changwon and Ansan
Worth Trying Again to Solve Bedtown New Town Problems

However, at the time, the national capacity could not bear such investments, and due to changes in economic conditions, the projects were delayed and eventually, in the early 1980s, it was decided not to build such industrial-integrated new towns in the future. Subsequently, all new towns were built as bedtowns, which caused many problems including traffic network issues. Recently, new towns have been promoted as self-sufficient, but as residential-prioritized new towns, we have learned from past experience that there are limits to solving these problems.

We envy cities like Wolfsburg that are integrated with industry, but we often forget that we once made similar attempts. It is time to pursue the dream of planned cities integrated with industry once again.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.