Industrial agglomeration and transport accessibility in metropolitan Seoul

This study aims to reveal the relationship between industrial agglomeration and transport accessibility in the Seoul metropolitan area. Our study suggests that in spite of the rapid expansion of the Seoul metropolitan area, central business districts still function as centers of the industry and transportation system; the agglomeration of most industrial subsectors are occurring in central areas and only primary and manufacturing sectors’ clusters are located out of these areas; both of subway and road networks show higher level of accessibility in central Seoul and big cities. This implies a strong relationship between the industrial agglomeration and the transport accessibility, and such hypothetical relationship is tested for every industrial subsector using logit analysis. Our findings indicate that although there are industrial variations in the magnitude of impacts and the significance level, transport networks are, in general, positively associated with industrial agglomeration and this is especially true for service sectors.