“Metaverse Seoul” will allow residents to visit famous tourist attractions, attend festivals and even submit documents in city hall offices in virtual reality.
The South Korean capital, Seoul, has announced plans to build its own twin in a metaverse.
Residents will soon be able to attend concerts, visit famous tourist sites or complain about road potholes (the real ones) with the municipality through virtual reality.
The city government has revealed its plans to build a Blade Runner-style “Metaverse Seoul” by the end of next year.
Seoul is a virtual twin to cross
The project will begin with a virtual launch event at the end of the year and will aim to initially build a virtual mayor's office and even a metaverse city hall.
Citizens will have a 3D avatar capable of managing complaints and questions at a "Metaverse Center", to avoid queues and carry out paperwork in VR.
A "virtual twin" with a different purpose from that of the models created to "test" urban planning solutions (I talked about it here).
In presence, but not in person.
The "metaverse" version of Seoul will also try to provide better services for people with disabilities, with immediate and preferential paths: but it will also think about citizens of other countries.
In fact, the city will also present a "virtual tourist area" which will include the main tourist sites. Even historic areas destroyed in previous wars, such as the Donuimun Gate, destroyed in 1915.
The famous Seoul Lantern Festival will also be open to the world in a metaverse version (but from 2023).
An “emotional” city: the vision of Seoul 2030
The project (which starts from a rather small loan, around 2 million euros) is part of the ambitious plans of the mayor of Seoul Oh Se Hoon to create an “emotional city of the future” by the end of the decade.
A city that builds its own offer of services and culture in the "metaverse".
