Nayon Sung is a PhD in architecture from Seoul National University(Feb 2024), with her study on restructuring of post-war Seoul by architects, urban planners, and civil engineers with different social backgrounds. Sung is a scholar of architecture and urbanism whose research is anchored in a historical inquiry into the cultural power dynamics influencing the spatial imagination to transform the given environment. In particular, Sung has been interested in the international dissemination of urban planning theories and their regional adaptations since the mid-20th century.

Sung has conducted research on Seoul urban planning and architecture influenced by international intellectual trends during the 1950-70s, as well as changes in ideology and spatial imaginations in North Korea. Sung’s next research mission is depicting the distinctive patterns of modern urbanism and architecture on the Korean Peninsula, focusing on the contrasting external cultural influences that have emerged since liberation and division of North and South Korea, while considering the continuity of Japanese colonial influences.