Ministry of Land and Local Governments Hold First Urban Policy Council... Seeking to Strengthen Urban Competitiveness

On the 21st, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it will hold an Urban Policy Council involving 17 metropolitan cities and provinces on the 22nd.

The Urban Policy Council was established for the first time this year to enable the government and local governments to jointly respond to national issues such as population decline, climate change, and urban competitiveness, and to discuss institutional improvement tasks in urban fields including urban planning, urban development, and management, which are major areas of local administration.

At the first council meeting, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to announce the 'Urban Planning System Reform Plan,' and local governments will present proposals for institutional improvements in the urban sector.

First, the Ministry will announce measures to flexibilize the zoning system, including the introduction of 'Mixed-Use Planning Zones' that promote the convergence of urban functions such as housing, jobs, and leisure to respond to diversified spatial demands; 'Urban Innovation Planning Zones' where private developers can freely develop without regulations; and 'High-Density Residential Areas' designed to have high-density residential functions.

Next, the Ministry will present plans to improve the urban planning system, such as introducing living zone urban planning that divides urban space by living zones where daily economic and social activities occur, allowing spatial planning tailored to regional and urban characteristics, and measures to systematically manage indiscriminate development in rural and other areas.

Local governments will present proposals for institutional improvements, including region-customized zoning system operation plans, three-dimensional and complex urban planning facility plans, improvements to population estimation indicators, and flexible urban planning site measures for population decline areas, which they have identified individually.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will prepare an implementation plan for the institutional improvements decided through the council, share it with local governments, and report on the results and supplementary measures at the next meeting to achieve tangible institutional improvement outcomes.

Kim Heung-jin, Director General of the Land and Urban Office, said, "We plan to regularly hold the Urban Policy Council to strengthen communication between the government and local governments and continuously discover institutional improvement tasks across land and urban areas based on voices from the field."

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