Building on the work of Henri Lefebvre, this research introduces the concept of refractive spatialisation in describing and articulating the deep interconnections between urbanisation, online space, social practices, and the relational (re)making of place-images as a result of technological innovations in information, communications and vehicles. The concept is coined in reference to the process through which symbolic space (online blog spaces) and physical space (the built environment) become co-dependent and co-generative in terms of rapid urban transformations driven by the touristification of previously mundane spaces. In relation to Seoul, South Korea these processes are shown to alter the built environment and drive processes of gentrification in tandem with state-led infrastructure projects: Airport Railroad Express (AREX) and Gyeongui Line Forest Park (GLFP). Focusing on Yeonnam- dong (total population of 15,769), a neighbourhood of Seoul, the research shows how urban regeneration, the consumption tastes of competitive young urbanites, and the representation and rearrangement of place-images online (led by online influencers) interact in the re- making of place. This involves a transformation in the place-image of Yeonnam-dong from an everyday “hidden”, working-class neighbourhood to an Instagrammable space produced and re-valued in relation to other places. The thesis analyses urban regeneration efforts in Yeonnam-dong from 2010-2018, online blog data (2,425 posts)) over the same period, and qualitative interviews with 42 interviewees from six categories: 1) 20-30s millennials; 2) Business owners and artists; 3) Property experts and local agencies; 4) Blog influencers; 5) Local residents; and 6) Seoul Metropolitan Government officials. The research articulates a new process of the uneven production of contemporary urban space influenced by the reconfiguration of spatial characteristics, property values, economic systems, social practices, and online imagery and preferences, based on the symbolic and information economy in post-industrial cities. In the new process of gentrifying Yeonnam-dong, refractive spatialisation functions as a key driver for interconnecting spatial change with new practices (aesthetic tourism and the digital picturesque), flows (selective online data of translocal representations), and logic (capitalist dynamics of aesthetic and hyper-realistic space triggered by the gap between online images and physical spaces – the online-reality gap).
