The planning of microdistricts in post-war North Korea: space, power, and everyday life

In the 1950s, the Soviet Union and other communist countries developed a unique method for allowing socialist ideology to manifest in urban spaces. The theory of the microdistrict was invented to establish self-contained urban units that included both housing and public amenities and resulted in a tremendous change in the planning of communist cities. Because microdistricts satisfied the communities’ social requirements and facilitated mass-produced urban housing, the North Korean regime enthusiastically appropriated the microdistrict concept to fit its own reality. This theory has been applied to the country’s urban projects since 1955, a time when the urban population grew rapidly and construction boomed. The design and construction of microdistricts reflected North Korea’s power relation and substantially impacted everyday life. Thus, to more thoroughly understand post-war North Korean society and its urban planning principles, the microdistrict theory should be carefully examined. In light of this historical background, this paper analyses urban projects that were designed based on this theory and explores the impact of the microdistrict theory on the structure of large cities in North Korea.