Busan | Buildings

Busan

About Busan

Population

3,525,913 in city

Size

767.35 km² (296 mi²)

Altitude

1 m

Busan Metropolitan City, with nearly 4 million residents, is the second biggest in South Korea today. It is also the biggest and the most important port of South Korea located in the southeast corner of the Korean peninsula. Busan handles the vast majority of international trade to and from South Korea, making it one of the biggest trade ports in the world. In 2002, Busan was the third largest container port in the world, following only Hong Kong and Singapore. Although Busan's natural environment, a very mountainous region surrounded by the sea and the Nakdonggang river, is surprisingly unfavorable for such a mammoth city, it also gives the city a unique beauty. The sandy beaches and scenic hills within the metropolitan area (i.e. Haeundae beach) are crowded with hundreds of thousands of vacationers everyday during the summer. For that reason, Busan has many hotels and resorts compared to other cities in South Korea. Busan's history begins with the ancient kingdom of Gaya in the 1st century A.D. (today's Gyongsangnam-do region). The city was developed as a major port during Japanese colonial rule from 1910-1945, when resources from all over Korea were transported to Busan by railway for eventual shipment to Japan. Busan's close location to Japan was thought to be ideal. However, the city's exponential growth in the second half of the 20th century is largely due to its role during the Korean War (1950-1953), when Busan was declared South Korea's temporary capital and was forced to accommodate an overwhelming number of refugees and to become the gateway to other nations. Today, Busan is boasting ambitious visions, such as the Centum City project and additional port facilities, to become the "Ocean Capital" of international trade and transportation. The construction for one of the tallest skyscraper in the world, Lotte World 2 Tower (465m), has recently started and many residential complexes are either under construction or being proposed at a break-neck pace.

Zones

Centum City (7)

Boroughs

Busanjin-gu (14), Dong-gu (9), Dongnae-gu (2), Haeundae-gu (39), Jung-gu (2), Nam-gu (5), Seo-gu (1), Yeonjae-gu (1)

No. of Buildings

No.	Current status
6,457	All Buildings
6,426	existing
5	under construction
18	planned
7	unbuilt
1	demolished

Tallest Buildings

#	Building	Height	Year
1	Doosan Haeundae We've the Zenith Tower A	988 ft	2011
2	Haeundae I'Park Marina Tower 2	958 ft	2011
3	Busan International Finance Center Landmark Tower	948 ft	2014
4	Doosan Haeundae We've the Zenith Tower B	924 ft	2011
5	Haeundae I'Park Marina Tower 1	895 ft	2011

Building types

No.	Type
6,229	high-rise building
157	skyscraper
70	low-rise building
1	telecommunications tower