Rabindra Asher Hayashi

2021 saw the rise of volatile interest in “metaverses” globally. Named for Neal Stephenson’s speculative cyberspace in the 1992 novel Snow Crash, “metaverses” are digital platforms defined by their reliance on virtual space for social interaction through avatars. While many metaverses market themselves as revolutoinary, they are often, in effect, software dedicated to libertarian imaginations of private enterprise. Yet part of this trend, the government of Seoul announced a rather different interpretation: Metaverse Seoul. With “twinned” locations like Seoul Square and imagined locations like “Tax City,” the platform is anticipated to include everything from digital touristic activities to civic service. Announced in 2021, partially released in 2023, and slated for completion in 2026, it has seen significant transformations with ongoing changes to city priorities. Diminishing interest in social distancing combined with a largely apathetic public response to Metaverse Seoul have led to reconsiderations of the potential futures the platform engenders. As software engineers, bureaucrats, and users iterate upon it, I ask: how do imaginations of a future Seoul manifest through the development of its digital public square, and how does its iterative production in turn transform imaginations for Seoul’s digital future?