The Seoul, South Korea Dream Hub 21 project has been underway since 2007. There is a lot of future design concept and future design philosophy that uses the language of “Sustainability” in the following link. (pay particular attention to the presentations by the 5 competing architectural firms SOM, Jerde, Daniel Libekind, Foster + Partners, Asymtote in the Master Plan/History link - all are world leading design and innovation companies)
There is about 3 hours of viewing content (image, video, Flash) on the site and should be digested in several viewings.
International investment is supporting “Sustainability” now as a design theme in many Asian cities. These cities and those that live and work there will benefit from the work that is being done now. Whether it will be sustainable remains to be seen however.
I am in a unique position to be living and working in Seoul now and am involved in many ways (design/development, design teaching, design consulting) with DreamHub21 and projects similar to it. It is exciting and inspiring to watch this project unfold both in the conceptual phase online, as well as observing how the design will be implemented over the next 6 years.
One of the ancillary benefits of the project is the adjacent removal of the entire US Army Yongsan Garrison which has been an eyesore since 1945. I cannot think of a more positive sustainable design tenet than to remove a foreign occupying military from a city and its 20+million population.