Seoul Metropolitan Government Serves as Public Administration Case Study for SPAA Students

SPAA students join other graduate students from the United States and the United Kingdom in front of International Hall at the University of Seoul. The students are pictured wearing traditional Korean attire (known as "hanbok").

In May 2016, Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) Professor Jongmin Shon took his graduate class on a field trip thousands of miles east to Seoul, Korea, to study the policy cases of the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG).

The course, “Special Topics: Study Abroad in Seoul, Korea,” allowed students to explore public administration overseas and observe a large metropolitan area with a complex government structure. The students stayed with other U.S. and UK graduate students in Seoul from May 14 to May 21, touring various government facilities and cultural institutions as part of the 2016 Seoul Case Study Program. 

“Most U.S. graduate students do not have any international experiences, especially in Asian countries,” Shon said. “More diverse experiences help our SPAA students to expand their insights.”

With a population density of approximately 45,000 people per square mile, Seoul is one of the densest cities in the world. This high concentration of people accompanies a high supply and demand for public services, including transportation, housing, technology, and environmental services.

According to Shon, these challenges make the SMG an ideal case study for students by allowing them to observe urban management, and the policies and programs that cities like Seoul adopt to serve their residents.

“Korea had been focusing more on its economic development policies since World War II and the Korean War. After the early 2000s, [government officials] began changing their policy perspectives from economic development to ‘living well’,” Shon stated.

An example of these changing policy perspectives can be observed by the SMG’s steps in addressing public health and the environment. In recent years, South Korea has been adversely affected by increasingly poor air quality caused by pollution from neighboring China.

To control and reduce pollutants, the SMG began replacing buses that run on natural gas with hydrogen fuel-cell buses that produce clean water as a byproduct instead of harmful carbon dioxide emissions. This initiative is one of several aimed at improving the general living conditions and welfare of its citizens.

Field trip locations in Seoul were a whirlwind of destinations, including a water purification center, Seoul’s Transportation Operation & Information Service, and Dongdaemun Design Plaza – a landmark heralded as a global benchmark of innovative urban design.

After their return to the United States, the students were tasked with translating their studies into research papers with recommendations for the SMG about a key issue in urban administration. Selected papers will receive a plaque and an award of $500. The winning papers will then be forwarded to the appropriate SMG department for consideration in its policymaking.

Graduate student Bingqi Chen used his final paper to examine housing policies in South Korea that have excluded a majority of Seoul’s youth.

“Most of [Seoul’s young adults] are not able to afford an apartment,” Chen said. “Our group introduced some policies implemented in China, the U.S., and the UK, and suggested that the national bank in Korea may be helpful in reducing the interest of loans and down payments.”

Shon is confident that his students are now better equipped to succeed in their future careers as public administrators because of their newfound knowledge of public administration in an international context.

Photo: Courtesy of Jongmin Shon