Coming Out of the Shadow: What Infill Development Can Tell Us about North Korea

Although cities can be likened to “mirrors” of society, North Korean urbanity still does not attract the attention it deserves from scholars, who focus almost exclusively on the grandiose residential districts of Pyongyang. In contrast, this piece claims that there is another important form of urban development in Pyongyang, namely infill towers, and discusses what they can tell us about this closed society. An analysis of historical satellite images has helped to identify infills, the emergence of which has been ignored by the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the main local propaganda mouthpiece. Further discussion claims that there is a high probability that these infill towers are the projects through which local developers and the nouveau riche gained early experience in marrying private investment and residential construction.