# The Korean Peninsula

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://paragraph.com/@brandondonnelly), 2018-06-13

density, korea, korean-peninsula, monocle-magazine, nasa, north-korea, residential-density, satellite-photography, seoul, south-korea, the-urbanist, transit, transit-network, uncategorized

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I just spent the last 7 minutes listening to [this brief historical overview of Seoul by The Urbanist](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fmonocle.com%2Fradio%2Fshows%2Fthe-urbanist%2Ftall-stories-110%2F&t=MGM3ZDk5M2UyNmIyMmVlNTZiYTAyODY1N2Q5MWU4MWZhYTAzNmVlYSw2M2E5OWExYTkxOGExMWVkOTk5ODc0Nzg4NmNmZTdlNzZkNzVhMDZk), while I bounced around the city on Google Street View, admiring the coverage of their transit network and the density of their low-rise neighborhoods. 

I love Street View and I love using it to explore cities.

One of the things I liked about The Urbanist episode –  beyond it being a good soundtrack while I explored – is that it talks, albeit briefly, about why Seoul is located where it is today. 

I am always curious about this when it comes to cities. I mean, who was it that decided, yup, this is going to be the spot. Because it’s generally a pretty sticky decision once it is made.

You may also find this [2014 NASA photograph of the Korean Peninsula](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fqz.com%2F1302948%2Ftrump-kim-summit-the-photo-that-shows-why-the-us-north-korea-talks-are-so-important%2F%3Futm_source%3Dcitylab-daily%26silverid%3DMzEwMTkyMjA5NTEzS0&t=ZTczZDY0N2QxMmVlZjM0MDUzNDM3ZGFjNzFhOWFhY2RjOWQ4OWVkZCw4MTFhYWUyNWQ1ZjM0ZDIwZmI2M2ZkOWE0YjU0ZTI2MjhlMzg0NWFm) interesting. The nighttime sky renders up a pretty stark contrast between North Korea and South Korea.

[According to NASA](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fearthobservatory.nasa.gov%2FIOTD%2Fview.php%3Fid%3D83182&t=ODQ5NDBhYTI3NTljMThkOWZiNGE2ZjkyMjNmYmQyYzE3M2M5ZjUxOCw1ZmU0MmJmYzdiYmUwYzZhYjllYTE4ZWU4YTZiMTU2M2IyNmM0YzEx), per capita power consumption in North Korea and South Korea is 739 kilowatt hours and 10,161 kilowatt hours, respectively. That’s why the satellite photo looks the way it does.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://paragraph.com/@brandondonnelly/the-korean-peninsula)*