Busan
Busan exhibits ecological succession like coral reefs: refugees in 1950 built atop cemeteries, creating infrastructure that now handles 24.4 million TEUs annually as Asia's transshipment hub.
Busan demonstrates ecological succession in urban form—a city rebuilt from war's destruction into Asia's transshipment hub. When the Korean War forced 500,000 refugees into the Pusan Perimeter in 1950-51, they colonized impossible terrain: the Ami-dong neighborhood was built directly atop a cemetery, hillside villages clung to slopes too steep for conventional construction. This desperate adaptation created path dependence that shaped the modern metropolis.
The infrastructure that sustained refugees—the port facilities that received UN supplies, the railways connecting to the defensive perimeter—became the foundation for industrial transformation. Today Busan handles 76.8% of South Korea's container cargo, processing a record 24.4 million TEUs in 2024 to rank as the world's seventh-busiest port. The city functions as a keystone species in Northeast Asian logistics: 55% of its throughput is transshipment cargo moving between China and global markets, making it indispensable to supply chains far beyond Korea's borders.
This trajectory from refugee haven to trading hub mirrors coral reef formation—successive generations building on accumulated structure. The $10 billion Jinhae New Port expansion, announced in December 2024, will add 66 berths to make Busan the world's third-largest port by 2045. The same geographic advantage that made it defensible in wartime—a natural harbor protected by mountains—now positions it to capture transshipment traffic as global trade routes shift. The Busan International Film Festival, launched in 1996, represents yet another layer of cultural succession, transforming wartime refugee culture into Asia's premier cinema event.