CAN WE DEGENTRIFY?
 
Skills: Graphic Design, Editorial & Print Design, Cultural Storytelling
Format: Publication
8.3 x 11.7 inches
Year: 2023
* Presented at: Sticky Fingers Publishing Fair, London (Feb 2024) 
https://www.newexhibitions.com/e/62768
https://stickyfingers.cargo.site/Publishing-Fair

“Can we degentrify?”
This publication responds to the gentrification of Euljiro, a historic district in Seoul, by looking closely at lasting impacts of urban erasure.

The project began with the forced demolition of Eulji OB Bear— South Korea’s oldest pub, once designated as a cultural heritage site. Its removal by a rapidly expanding corporate franchise marked more than the loss of a building; it signified a rupture in the neighbourhood’s identity and collective memory. As a designer witnessing this shift, I began to reflect on how design could engage with such changes—not to preserve the past in nostalgia but to advocate for continuity, belonging, and care.

Rooted in these questions, the publication explores design’s potential to support local communities through alternative forms of resistance. It proposes community-led spatial redesigns, participatory workshops, and a mobile platform aimed at preserving neighbourhood narratives and strengthening local ties.

Prior to beautifying what’s being erased, the publication asks: How can we design to protect what matters, before it disappears?