"Seoul's Last Dal-dong Neighborhood" Junggye Bon-dong Baeksamaeul Redevelopment Passes Seoul City Architectural Review

484 Low-Rise Residential Units + 1,953 Apartment Units Coexist
First Case of Preserving Working-Class Residential Life History in Redevelopment Area
Completion Scheduled for Late 2024 "Transforming into a Representative Home for Urban Working-Class"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] On the 15th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that the Baeksa Village Redevelopment and Maintenance Project, which involves constructing a total of 2,437 households including 1,953 multi-family housing units and 484 rental housing units on an 186,965㎡ site in 30-3 Junggye-bon-dong, Nowon-gu, passed the architectural committee review the day before.

Baeksa Village was formed in 1967 when demolition victims forcibly evicted from areas such as Cheonggyecheon, Changsin-dong, and Yeongdeungpo due to urban development relocated there. While other resettlement areas transformed into apartment complexes through redevelopment projects after the 1980s, Baeksa Village remained restricted from development as it was located within a military facility protection zone and a greenbelt area, preserving the original village’s terrain, plots, and alleyways to this day.

With the approval of this architectural review, the city stated that it will actively promote a new type of redevelopment project that preserves the characteristics of Baeksa Village, known as Seoul’s last dal-dongnae (old hillside neighborhood), by conserving the lives and living history of working-class people from the 1960s and 1970s, as well as maintaining some original features such as houses, alleys, and stairways.

The city has decided to preserve the unique atmosphere of Baeksa Village, which has been naturally formed over decades, including its terrain, plots, and lifestyle, in response to calls for conserving the disappearing residential living history.

To support this institutionally, in March 2018, the city amended the "Seoul Metropolitan City Urban and Residential Environment Maintenance Ordinance" to introduce a new type of project called the "Residential Area Conservation Project."

On a 40,832㎡ site designated as a residential area conservation project zone, a total of 484 rental housing units will be built, and various community facilities such as a museum, village restaurant, and village workshop will be arranged to preserve the local community. The city plans to select two houses that retain the original form from the early formation of the village among existing houses, remodel them, and use them as resident rest facilities, among other purposes.

On the 102,262㎡ site for multi-family housing, a total of 1,973 sale apartments will be constructed. This is an increase of 512 households compared to the 1,461 households initially decided in the maintenance plan in May 2009, improving project feasibility and expected to accelerate project progress, according to the city. The remaining 43,871㎡ will be developed into parks, green spaces, and public office facilities.

The project became feasible after the greenbelt designation, which had been applied to this area since 1971 to improve urban aesthetics, was lifted in 2008. However, in 2016, the Korea Land and Housing Corporation, which was the project implementer at the time, abandoned the project due to low profitability and intensified resident conflicts. In 2017, the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation was selected as the project implementer and resumed the project, but conflicts among residents arose over the design (plan) of the multi-family housing complex selected through an international public competition in 2018, continuing difficulties. The Seoul Metropolitan Government explained, "In May last year, through the city’s urban planning committee review, the height of the multi-family housing, which was highly controversial among residents, was approved with an average of 12 floors or less and a maximum of 20 floors or less, laying the groundwork for passing the architectural committee review this time."

Through the architectural committee review, Baeksa Village established a regionally specialized architectural plan by excluding or relaxing building law-related regulations such as sunlight rights, landscaping, and open spaces within the site, while maintaining the overall floor area ratio. Conditions were also imposed to prevent separation between complexes and to realize the social mix policy by opening resident community facilities and prohibiting the installation of blocking structures at complex boundaries.

The Baeksa Village redevelopment project is scheduled to proceed with the project implementation plan approval in the second half of this year, management disposition plan approval next year, relocation and demolition in 2022, aiming for completion in the second half of 2024. Kang Maeng-hoon, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Urban Regeneration Office, said, "The Baeksa Village redevelopment project will be the first chapter in the history of Seoul-style urban regeneration, maintaining regional characteristics and fostering neighborly coexistence. The Seoul Metropolitan Government will also provide active administrative support for the successful promotion of the project."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.