OECD - The Governance of Land Use in Korea

How land is used affects a wide range of factors from day-to-day quality-of-life factors such as the availability of food and clean water and the length of daily commutes, to the long-term sustainability of urban and rural communities, including the possibility for climate change adaptation and mitigation. How governments regulate land use and address public and private investment, how competencies are allocated across levels of government, and how land use is taxed, are critical for all of these things and more. Korea has benefitted from comprehensive and well-structured, hierarchical land-use planning and urban regeneration frameworks. However, faced with a series of demographic and economic challenges, together with geographic factors and historical developments, it is time to re-evaluate land-use management and urban regeneration to leverage inclusive growth and boost competitiveness in Korean cities.

This report examines land-use trends, policies and practices in Korea, in particular in the city of Busan, through the lens of urban regeneration and citizen participation. Busan is the second largest city and the largest port city in Korea. Key economic sectors include shipbuilding and marine industries, machinery, steel, tourism, creative culture, bio-health and knowledge infrastructure services. Each of these sectors depends upon efficient land use and each has a direct relationship with urban regeneration and citizen engagement in the city. Busan was one of the first cities in Korea to pursue people-centred urban regeneration. All levels of government in Korea now use an array of engagement strategies and mechanisms in the agenda setting, formulation, implementation and evaluation of policies. This report argues that involving citizens in land-use planning and urban regeneration is essential to collect better quality information as a basis for plans, decisions and outcomes. It also argues that the Korean government has the opportunity to introduce more flexible and dynamic approaches to land use to strengthen the outcomes of its urban regeneration agenda.

The findings and recommendations of this report build on the discussions held with a diverse range of national and local policy makers, civil servants and researchers in Korea during an OECD study visit in June 2018. The report incorporates the experiences of other OECD countries where lessons have been drawn on land use, urban regeneration and citizen participation and may contribute to the discussion of these policy areas in other OECD member and non-member countries.

This is the 8 th report that is part of the OECD Regional Development Policy Committees programme of research on the governance of land use. It was approved by the Committee on 14 December 2018 under the cote CFE/RDPC/URB(2018)14]. The Committee seeks to enhance well-being standards from cities to rural areas, and to improve their contribution to national performance and more inclusive and resilient societies.