The Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA), South Korea, is a region where two distinct types of suburbs
exist today, new towns developed by the public sector and suburban communities by the private. This article
comparatively analyzes Bundang, a state-led new town, and Suji, a market-led community, in the SMA in terms
of two key foci. The first is urban form characteristics, which include land use pattern, street pattern and circulation,
public open space, built form pattern, and control. The other is residents’ livability and satisfaction, which
include public transit service and use and neighborhood satisfaction. Findings suggest that Bundang outperforms
Suji in all aspects, demonstrating the benefits and effectiveness of planning in shaping suburbia, while Suji shows
many negative signs of sprawl.

• Shaping suburbia: A comparison of state-led and marketled suburbs in Seoul Metropolitan Area, South Korea