El "bang" coreano entre lo público y lo privado: una vivienda atomizada como emancipación de la vivienda normativa

This article presents the results of an ethnographic study based on a first-person experience of the Bangs in South Korea—interior spaces of a domestic scale but external to the home—in the city of Seoul. The main hypothesis is that these Bangs function as forms of emancipation against the Neo-Confucian doctrine, which has significantly influenced both the design of normative housing and urban planning. Far from the reductionist and antagonistic Western dichotomy of private vs. public, these Bangs define a third category, a third space between both concepts, in which seemingly everyday activities—watching television, singing, sleeping, bathing, studying, playing, etc.— are carried out both individually and collectively, but in any case, without the constraints imposed by the restrictive moral codes that govern social relations in South Korea. Thus, the Bangs are presented as atomized forms of housing that, precisely, aim to emancipate individuals from it. Finally, this article reflects on the validity, interest, and relevance of this strategy from a Western perspective.