Researcher Bio
As a historical sociologist and urban sociologist, Baek Yung Kim has conducted diverse research on urban and community changes in Northeast Asian countries, including Korea. In particular, he is interested in analyzing the issues of space and place, territory and boundaries, and migration and settlement of the respective communities of Korea, China, and Japan by combining comparative and relational perspectives. Key topics of research include studies on urban changes in Korea during the colonial period, studies on changes in urban society in modern and contemporary Japan, studies on changes in Korean urban society and culture during the period of rapid economic growth, studies on the history of Korea’s highway construction and national land planning formation, and the metropolis of Seoul in the 1980s and 1990s. He has undertaken fieldwork on changes in urbanization and urbanity, studies on the Korean diaspora in Japan and the United States and the history of Koreatown formation, and studies on the history of maritime networks and port cities in the East Sea Rim region.