Hyun Bang Shin awarded Leverhulme Research Fellowship for new project on speculative urbanisation in Seoul

Professor Hyun Bang Shin has been awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship for a new project titled “Speculative urbanisation, property hegemony and urban futures in Seoul.” The project is featured in the Leverhulme Trust June 2026 newsletter.

The project will begin in May 2027 and run for 20 months.

Focusing on Seoul’s evolving urban development landscape, the research investigates how speculative urbanisation and property-led redevelopment continue to shape housing systems, inequality, and urban futures.

Drawing on interviews with policymakers, developers, community organisations and activists, the project examines how long-standing patterns of redevelopment and new-build gentrification are being reshaped by housing affordability pressures, financialisation, and shifting political and demographic conditions.

Building on Hyun's established research on the urban political economy of the Korean (post-)developmental state, the project aims to theorise the future of speculative urbanisation under ‘property hegemony’ to understand how state policy, finance, and everyday aspirations combine to sustain speculative housing systems, even amid market slowdown and increasing contestation.