{"id":583,"date":"2007-07-30T20:23:30","date_gmt":"2007-07-30T19:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.randomwire.com\/2007\/07\/30\/megalopolis\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T23:14:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T22:14:41","slug":"megalopolis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/megalopolis\/","title":{"rendered":"Megalopolis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:9974,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Megacity&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Megacity&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:9975,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Urban_agglomeration&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Urban_agglomeration&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:9976,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Blade_Runner&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Blade_Runner&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:9977,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Ghost_in_the_Shell_%28film%29&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20251006045126\\\/https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Ghost_in_the_Shell_%28film%29&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-02 14:14:46&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-02 14:14:46&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:9978,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/The_Matrix&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20251011203527\\\/https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/The_Matrix&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-02 14:14:47&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-02 14:14:47&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:9979,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Megalopolis_%28term%29&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20250915104854\\\/https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Megalopolis_%28term%29&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-02 14:14:49&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-02 14:14:49&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:9980,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Cyberpunk&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20251011124401\\\/https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Cyberpunk&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-02 14:14:50&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-02 14:14:50&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:9981,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Ecumenopolis&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20250919100111\\\/https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Ecumenopolis&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-02 14:14:52&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-02 14:14:52&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">\u00a9 Trey Ratcliff<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m preparing for <a href=\"\/long-haul\/\">my trip<\/a> to <a href=\"\/south-korea\/\">South Korea<\/a> next month, and a <a href=\"\/south-bank\/\">recent exhibition<\/a> I saw got me thinking about the incredible urban structures out there&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/148637056_aed302a5ce_z.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-67741\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u00a9 Rob K.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1700\" src=\"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/298775173_d28679778e_z-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-68257\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u00a9 Trey Ratcliff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the big things that attracts me to East Asia is the urban architecture of its <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Megacity\">mega-city<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Urban_agglomeration\">agglomerations<\/a>. High-rise, densely packed, chaotic, futuristic, sprawling, and littered with incomprehensible (to the non-native eye) neon typographic advertising they certainly evoke an other-worldly feel. This has been widely reflected in popular culture through films like <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Blade_Runner\">Blade Runner<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ghost_in_the_Shell_%28film%29\">Ghost in the Shell<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Matrix\">The Matrix<\/a> (to name but a few) where the influences of these <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Megalopolis_%28term%29\">megalopoleis<\/a> are plainly evident. Indeed, some areas of Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing are very <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cyberpunk\">sci-fi<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some people theorise that eventually, cities will expand so far that they will fuse together and form an <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ecumenopolis\">ecumenopolis<\/a> at either a continental or worldwide level! The idea of never being able to escape the city sounds like a nightmare to me but in some ways, especially for the less well-off in some countries, it&#8217;s already a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the end, the question must be asked <strong><em>Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a9 Trey Ratcliff I&#8217;m preparing for my trip to South Korea next month, and a recent exhibition I saw got me thinking about the incredible urban structures out there&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1029,2,18],"tags":[491,904],"class_list":["post-583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-architecture","category-film","category-korea","tag-exhibitions","tag-megacities"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/300928932_3bf6d408df_o-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8506,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/japan-makes-peace-with-china-and-korea\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":0},"title":"Japan makes peace with China and Korea","author":"David","date":"2nd October 2012","format":"video","excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xwg2Hpf4ta8 \"Permanent Revolution\" by World Order \/\u00a0Genki Sudo","rel":"","context":"In &quot;China&quot;","block_context":{"text":"China","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/china\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/world-order.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/world-order.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/world-order.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/world-order.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/world-order.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6161,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/do-you-know-south-korea\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":1},"title":"Do You Know South Korea?","author":"David","date":"3rd June 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A friend of mine from South Korea sent me this video today by David Dutton which provides a wonderful perspective on a trip he made from Daejeon to Seoraksan to Busan to Seoul. I've visited many of the same places on my various trips to Korea over the past few\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Culture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/know-korea.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/know-korea.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/know-korea.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/know-korea.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":620,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/korea-train-express-ktx\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":2},"title":"Korea Train eXpress","author":"David","date":"20th September 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Public transport in South Korea is second to none that I've seen before, certainly on par with the likes of Switzerland. Buses, Trains and Subway systems are clean, modern, comfortable, and efficient with signs provided in both Korean and Roman characters so that hapless foreigners can get around without too\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Korea&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Korea","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/korea\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC_5530-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC_5530-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC_5530-scaled.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC_5530-scaled.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC_5530-scaled.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC_5530-scaled.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":555,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/south-korea\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":3},"title":"South Korea","author":"David","date":"29th April 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In case anyone's wondering where I am, I'm currently in Seoul, South Korea for a short holiday before heading back to London next week. The journey here on Friday afternoon from Beijing, unfortunately, turned into a big nightmare - the plane was delayed two hours (whilst sitting in it on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Korea&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Korea","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/korea\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/southkoreaflag.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":603,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/return-to-korea\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":4},"title":"Return to Korea","author":"David","date":"24th August 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a9 Topic Photo Agency\/Getty Images This time next week I'll be at Heathrow airport about to embark on a rather epic journey (for me anyway) to the other side of this small world of ours. My previous visit to South Korea only lasted 4 days so I decided another dose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Korea&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Korea","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/korea\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/seoul_night.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":103,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/korean-dvds\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":5},"title":"Korean DVDs","author":"David","date":"17th July 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"The DVD of \"A Tale Of Two Sisters\" (previously reviewed here) that I ordered from South Korea arrived today in perfect condition. Wonders never cease to amaze me how something can be shipped half way across the globe and still cost no more than it would to buy it on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Film&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/ttsdvd1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93642,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions\/93642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}