Why Must the Next Busan Be Busan?
Busan will elect its next mayor in 17 days. Yet we only talk about who we're choosing, and rarely discuss what kind of Busan we're choosing.
AI Summary
With 17 days until Busan's mayoral election, PolyBusan launches a daily series posing fundamental questions about the city's future beyond typical campaign topics. The series asks why Busan matters as a city losing youth and businesses, and what kind of Busan—museum, builder's city, or port—it should become, organizing these questions into 17 daily themes leading up to the June 3 vote.
Before We Begin
Busan will elect its next mayor in 17 days.
Yet we only talk about who we're choosing,
and rarely discuss what kind of Busan we're choosing.
Debate questions always circle the same topics.
Real estate, jobs, transportation. Not that these aren't important.
But the bigger questions underlying them are never properly articulated anywhere.
For the next 17 days, PolyBusan will pose one question each day.
Not to provide answers, but to organize the questions.
Today is the first.
What the Numbers Say
Spring 2026, the facts Busan faces:
These numbers are sad. But sadness is not policy. You cannot run a city on sadness.
Haeundae, 11 Years Ago
In June 2015, people gathered at a penthouse in Haeundae. They were people who found Busan attractive, and no one there claimed they would determine Busan's future. It was simply an impulse to bring interesting people together.
The gathering was called Busanloop. The meaning was that once you're captivated by Busan, you keep coming back.
Eleven years have passed since then. Busan has changed, and so have we. Some people left and some stayed. Someone is preparing the next round at the BIFC2 22nd floor lounge, while someone else is converting an empty factory in Yeongdo into a studio. A new whisky bar opened in Gwangalli, and at a café in Seomyeon yesterday, someone was coding with Claude Code.
They don't think Busan is disappearing. They are building Busan.
Two Questions
"Why must the next Busan be Busan?"
This question has two meanings.
First: Why Busan, of All Places?
In a city youth are leaving, businesses are leaving, a city that's aging—why do people still try to create something here? In an era when Seoul absorbs everything, why does the coordinate called 'Busan' still hold meaning?
Second: What Kind of Busan Should It Be?
A museum built on yesterday's nostalgia, a city where today's builders work, or a port where tomorrow's newcomers arrive and stay? It could be all three.
But the priorities must differ. Honestly.
The Next 17 Days
PolyBusan will break these two questions into 17 and pose one each day.
Youth, business, the sea, gateway, BIFC, original downtown, food, film, aging, foreigners, design, education, AI, housing, urban design, and finally—who writes the next 10 years of Busan.
We're not trying to provide answers. We're trying to organize the questions. Because someone must answer them.
We hope these questions won't be buried with the ballot boxes on June 3.
One Request
Tomorrow we'll send the second question.
Why do youth leave, and who stays?
Please read and share with even one person. With someone who is building Busan.
Grey
Busan, May 2026
PolyBusan does not endorse any specific party or candidate. We only pose questions.
Corrections · Comments: busanloop@gmail.com
This article was automatically translated from the Korean original by AI. For the authoritative version, read it in Korean.
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