It will be Seoul , the capital of South Korea , the first city to enter the metaverse : this was announced by the government metropolitan, formalizing the entrance of the metropolis into that virtual universe that Mark Zuckerberg made “mainstream” by changing his name to Meta and announcing future expansion plans.
The news was released by the official website of the Seoul metropolitan government, the first of all world administrations to overcome the concept of metaverse proposed by Zuckerberg – a new social and connected environment in which users will experience new types of interactions – and to offer a new concept of public service: that provided in an entirely virtual ecosystem .
Renamed (in a not very original way) “ Seoul Metaverse “, it will begin to see the light towards the end of 2022 as part of a development plan lasting five years. The details on the concrete implementation of the project have not yet been disclosed, but the setting and the objectives are clear and you can already imagine what Seoul Metaverse will be like: the idea is to bring all the main administration and services for the citizens, from economic ones to personal ones, passing through culture, tourism and education. Citizens will only have to wear virtual reality headsets to meet municipal officials and employees and carry out the most disparate errands and tasks, and will also be able to participate in mass events: “We want to transform Seoul into a world-leading, safe city and exciting “, said Mayor Oh Se-hoon anticipating that if all goes according to plan, the traditional ceremony for the New Year's Eve of 2022 , with the sound of the bell hosted in Bosingak Belfry , will take place both in the real world and in the virtual world.
The program has already been drafted, and contains 20 promotional activities dedicated to seven areas: economic, educational, cultural and tourism, communication, urban development, administrative and infrastructural, “reflecting the trends and requests for metaverse services in the public and private sectors. “, the Seoul administrative government said announcing the project. The plans foresee that in the Seoul of the metaverse there will be numerous offices and services to citizens , including the mayor's office, and then the virtual versions of the Seoul FinTech Lab, Invest Seoul, Seoul Campus Town. In 2023 the Metaverse 120 Center should be inaugurated, a virtual service center in which avatars of public officials will be available to citizens for appointments and consultations, allowing them to complete tasks and duties that are currently possible carry out exclusively in person. The city administration also plans to develop services for the most socially vulnerable and for those with disabilities. Furthermore, the artificial intelligence will take care of welcoming the public by answering questions and complaints related to any type of problem, from violations related to parking and parking to covid-19 protocols.
Numerous city attractions, such as Gwanghwamun Plaza , Deoksugung Palace and Namdaemun Market will also be in the metaverse and will be part of of the “virtual tourist area”. Not only that: thanks to virtual reality it will be possible to recreate historic buildings and constructions that have been destroyed over time. This is the case of the Donuimun Gate , one of the four access gates to the city, destroyed in 1915. And again starting from 2023 many events and festivals will be organized in the metaverse – for example the Seoul Lantern Festival – allowing everyone to participate, at least virtually, regardless of where they physically reside.
The project is ambitious, and is the first to come from a public administration (in the private sector there are several companies that have announced expansion plans in the metaverse, after Facebook also Nike and Microsoft). The investment for the Seoul Metaverse is around 2.8 billion dollars, a figure that the city is ready to pay to become the first in the world to take a step towards what is a further evolution of the concept of “ smart city “, that” connected city “where everything can interact in an immediate and functional way.
In the Seoul of the metaverse everything will be within reach without even having to leave the house, and from every corner of the world, and it will no longer be necessary to worry about the restrictions related to the pandemic and where the language barrier (like many others) will be overcome thanks to technology. An ambitious plan that requires not only economic but also infrastructural investments to be able to build and support an entire city in the virtual world.
