Establishing Urban Plan to Meet Sejong's Projected Population of 814,000 by 2040

Lee Chun-hee, Mayor of Sejong City, is presenting the draft basic concept of the "2040 Sejong Urban Master Plan" at Sejong City Hall on the 24th. Photo by Sejong City

[Asia Economy (Sejong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Sejong City is setting its planned population for 2040 at 814,000 and is embarking on establishing an urban plan accordingly.

The city has released a draft of the "2040 Urban Master Plan" basic concept. According to the city on the 24th, the basic plan is based on the judgment that achieving the originally targeted planned population of 800,000 by 2030 is difficult, so the planning period has been extended to 2040 with the planned population increased to 814,000.

Accordingly, the city will also revise the plan for the five medium-scale living zones included in the 2030 Urban Master Plan. The existing plan to integrate the northern and central living zones and partially adjust boundaries will be changed to reorganize the medium living zones into four (Northern, Eastern, Western, Southern).

First, the city plans to set the planned population of the Northern medium living zone, composed of five towns and townships including Jochiwon, at 146,000 by 2040, assigning it the role of fostering new growth future industries and serving as a hub for urban regeneration.

The Eastern medium living zone will combine the five living zones of the new city with Yeondong and Bugang townships, strengthening functions centered on advanced industries and logistics, medical and welfare convergence, and smart city hubs. The planned population target for 2040 is set at 87,000.

The Western medium living zone, composed of new city living zones 1, 2, and 6 along with Janggun and Yeongi townships, aims for a planned population of 460,000 by 2040. It will attract the National Assembly Sejong Hall and central administrative agencies to perform a pivotal role as the administrative capital.

The Southern medium living zone, consisting of new city living zones 3 and 4 and Geumnam township, will serve as the core of industry-academia-research clusters centered on Sejong Tech Valley and the joint campus. The planned population target for the Southern medium living zone in 2040 is set at 121,000.

The city has also calculated the scale of additional housing supply to match the planned population size for 2040. The core plan is to supply an additional 100,000 housing units based on an average household size of 2.56 persons and a housing supply rate of 118%.

A plan reflecting the increased demand for healthcare due to population inflow was also presented. The key point is to increase the number of general hospitals from the current two to five by 2040. The city intends to meet medical demand and enhance infectious disease crisis response capabilities by expanding general hospitals within the region.

Additionally, the city is drawing a blueprint to strengthen lifelong learning systems in the community and establish a joint campus to guarantee education across life stages in line with the population increase, aiming to realize a specialized administrative education city.

Lee Chun-hee, Mayor of Sejong City, said, "The city will strive to fully complete the establishment of the Urban Master Plan, which embodies Sejong's future development vision," adding, "Through the completed Urban Master Plan, we will lay the foundation for a city where citizens can live comfortably and safely."

Meanwhile, the "2040 Urban Master Plan" released by the city will undergo legal administrative procedures such as public hearings with citizens, opinion gathering from the Sejong City Council, and consultations with related agencies and central administrative bodies, and is scheduled to be finalized through review by the city’s Urban Planning Committee in October.

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