Effects of multinational companies on urban development processes in Korea and Germany

01/01/2024 to 31/12/2025

As highly dynamic spaces and due to their importance as political, cultural, social and economic centres, cities have already become the focus of interest in many disciplines. At the same time, cities are constantly undergoing new development processes that are characterised by sometimes considerable changes in their functional structures, the city as a social space, power relations or simply aspects of the public and private spheres. Current discourses increasingly integrate the idea of the neoliberal in the city and identify in this context neoliberal urban development processes. According to this, urban development can no longer be considered purely regional or local, but takes place in the context of globalisation and it follows the logics of market economy processes.
In this context, the focus is on a group of actors in the urban transformation process that has gained considerable influence in the course of globalisation: multinational companies.
Both the effects of the chaebol on the urban and regional development of Korean city regions and the effects of individual multinational companies in German cities have repeatedly been the subject of public and political discourse, but have not yet been adequately analysed in a comparative manner. In this respect, the question of the impact of multinational companies on urban development is of fundamental importance, whereby the comparison between Korea and Germany in particular should provide new insights for the Korean and German sides, which can be of importance for urban planning processes.
Through intensive research cooperation in German-Korean research tandems and related on-site research in both Korea and Germany, the project aims to provide in-depth insights into the effects of multinational companies on urban development processes and the design of urban spaces. Individual aspects of the effects of multinational companies on urban development will be examined on the basis of selected case studies, which will be concretised during the preparation and the first workshop. Each research tandem will thus work on a sub-section of the impact areas.