Seoul City to Accelerate Rapid Integrated Planning Review... Establishes Special Subcommittee

Establishment of a Dedicated Subcommittee for 'Rapid Integrated Planning' in the Urban Planning Committee
Introduction of Integrated Review for Architecture, Traffic, and Environmental Impact Assessments
Improvement of Rapid Integrated Planning Administrative Procedures... "Review Period Halved"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] The Seoul Metropolitan Government will establish a related organization to shorten the review process for 'Rapid Integrated Planning,' a private redevelopment and reconstruction initiative under Mayor Oh Se-hoon's administration. At the project implementation approval stage, an integrated review will be introduced to allow architectural, traffic, and environmental impact assessments to be conducted simultaneously. The goal is to reduce the urban permit period by nearly half.

Seoul announced on the 7th that it will begin full-scale institutional improvements for this purpose. This is a follow-up measure after Mayor Oh Se-hoon, during his visit last month to the first Rapid Integrated Planning project site, Sinlim 1 District, declared his intention to promote improvements in related administrative procedures and systems.

First, the city held the 13th Urban Planning Committee meeting the day before and resolved to establish a 'Special Subcommittee on Maintenance Projects' within the committee.

Currently, the Urban Planning Committee consists of 30 experts from various fields. While this allows for a comprehensive review of maintenance projects, it has been criticized for the complexity of opinion gathering and decision-making processes.

Accordingly, the city will form the Special Subcommittee on Maintenance Projects with 5 to 9 members from the Urban Planning Committee to focus on reviewing and deliberating maintenance plans for complexes where Rapid Integrated Planning is applied, enabling swift decision-making. The resolutions of the subcommittee will have the same effect as those of the full committee.

The city plans to expand the scope of the Special Subcommittee's reviews beyond Rapid Integrated Planning project sites to include public redevelopment and reconstruction projects promoted by the government.

Alongside this, at the project implementation approval stage following district designation, the city will improve the system by integrating the previously separate architectural, traffic, and environmental impact assessments. Redevelopment and reconstruction associations must undergo reviews stipulated by individual laws to obtain project implementation plan approval. However, since architectural, traffic, and environmental impact assessments have been conducted separately, this has been identified as one of the causes of project delays.

The city plans to operate not only integrated reviews but also sector-specific integrated reviews flexibly, allowing project implementers to choose according to the situation of each project site. Among sector-specific integrated reviews, architectural and traffic integrated reviews are currently only possible for maintenance projects under 50,000㎡ by law, so the city will prioritize projects under 50,000㎡ by revising traffic-related ordinances. Architectural and environmental integrated reviews will be operated without size restrictions through related regulatory revisions and institutional improvements.

Additionally, the city will propose amendments to related laws such as the Urban and Residential Environment Maintenance Act to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to apply integrated reviews to all project sites regardless of size. Currently, the city has proposed legal amendments to expand the integrated review regulations, which apply only to public redevelopment and reconstruction, to include private redevelopment and reconstruction maintenance projects.

The city aims to revise related ordinances and systems within this year and implement them in the first half of next year. It expects that these institutional improvements will reduce the review period for urban planning decisions and project implementation approvals by nearly half.

Ryu Hoon, Seoul's Deputy Mayor for Administration 2, said, "Through Rapid Integrated Planning, by supporting the entire process from urban planning decisions to project approval, the city will not only reduce the administrative and economic burdens on project implementers but also contribute to stabilizing the real estate market through revitalizing redevelopment and reconstruction."

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