Video: Can Architecture Change Inter-Korea Relations?

In a follow-up to a Q&A with The Box, Dongsei Kim, M.Des., assistant professor in NYIT School of Architecture and Design, sat down with Stephen Noerper, senior director of the Korea Society, professor at Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asia Institute and fellow at Pacific Forum CSIS, to further discuss how architecture can impact the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

“We might want to also expand what role architecture, design, and design thinking have on other larger issues. It can be about politics; it can be about sustainability,” said Kim in a Facebook Live session on August 9. “I think architecture and urban design can really start to become a platform where public discussions can actually happen.”

As a political scientist, Noerper believes that something can be learned from architecture when it comes to issues of war and peace.

“We need to move the dialogue in a much broader way,” he said. “One of the areas where there is a lot of forward movement seems to be in people to people connections.”

Watch the full conversation.