26 Urban Regeneration Projects Selected Under New Government... 1.5 Trillion Won Investment by 2027

Hapcheon Video Theme Park and Cheongju Beauty Industry
Specialized Regeneration Utilizing Local Resources

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has selected 26 urban regeneration projects as the first under the new government and plans to invest 1.5 trillion KRW by 2027. The projects will utilize local resources such as the video theme park in Hapcheon and the beauty industry in Cheongju to promote urban regeneration.

On the 15th, the Ministry announced that through the 31st Urban Regeneration Special Committee's written review, a total of 26 sites including Hapcheon in Gyeongnam were selected as the new government's first urban regeneration projects.

The new projects focus on the 'New Government Urban Regeneration Promotion Plan' announced last July, emphasizing ▲urban space innovation through the creation of economic hubs in declining areas ▲strengthening urban competitiveness through region-specific regeneration projects ▲leading balanced regional development through active participation of local communities and the private sector. Among 76 applications received through central and metropolitan competitions, projects with high feasibility and validity were selected.

A total of 1.53 trillion KRW, including 266 billion KRW in national funds and 258 billion KRW in private capital, will be invested by 2027 to regenerate 3.31 million square meters of declining areas across the 26 selected sites.

Through this, 47 shared-use facilities, 15 startup support spaces, approximately 1,025 new housing units, and repairs for 1,433 old houses will be provided to improve residential environments that residents can directly experience, and about 8,800 jobs will be created. Notably, 23 of the 26 new project sites (88%) are outside the metropolitan area, with small and medium-sized cities (population under 500,000) accounting for 57.7% (42.3% in eup/myeon areas), contributing to national balanced regional development.

Until now, urban regeneration projects have been criticized for focusing mainly on supplying living SOC (social overhead capital) without reflecting local characteristics, resulting in one-off projects. Therefore, the new projects focus on actively utilizing unique local resources such as industry (organic farming in Gochang), startup support (beauty industry and SK Hynix in Cheongju), and culture (video theme park in Hapcheon) to establish a foundation for sustainable urban regeneration after project completion.

The government will also newly promote 15 region-specific regeneration projects that allow customized regeneration based on local resources and characteristics, different from existing competition types.

Gyeongnam Hapcheon plans to promote a region-specific regeneration project by branding video culture. Hapcheon is experiencing severe urban decline, ranking first in Gyeongnam for extinction index and aging rate, and lowest in youth population ratio. The government will invest 73.9 billion KRW (10.5 billion KRW in national funds) by 2026 in Hapcheon-eup, Hapcheon-gun, to promote an urban brand specialization project linked to local video culture content such as a video theme park. Additionally, the walking environment will be improved through renovation of old houses (60 units) linked to village woodworking shops and specialized alley maintenance in the video village.

Cheongju, Chungbuk, plans to activate beauty startup support. By 2026, 41.1 billion KRW (18 billion KRW in national funds) will be invested in the Mochung-dong area, Seowon-gu, Cheongju, to promote startup support projects linked to Chungbuk’s strategic industries such as cosmetics and beauty.

This project will be linked with the industry-academia collaboration project 'Youth Startup Park (SPARK) Creation Project' involving Seowon University and SK Hynix. As a result, the Mochung-dong area is expected to become Cheongju’s leading youth culture and startup district.

Ten 'Save Our Neighborhood' projects will also be promoted to improve residential environments in old residential areas. The newly selected area in Sinseon-dong, Yeongdo-gu, Busan, was removed from the urban redevelopment promotion zone in 2013 due to low project feasibility. It is located on a steep slope with low pedestrian safety and dense old houses, resulting in poor residential conditions. Therefore, 14.3 billion KRW (6 billion KRW in national funds) will be invested by 2026 to improve the old residential area.

The government also selected one urban regeneration innovation district with significant economic ripple effects to create new urban functions and jobs. Gochang, Jeonbuk, was selected as an urban regeneration innovation district, where a region-specific industrial hub will be established in the old downtown area of Gochang-gun (site area 8,400㎡) through public-led efforts, creating a small and medium-sized city-type urban regeneration innovation district model.

This project will create an organic farming processing industry innovation hub that provides one-stop support for research, processing, distribution, and startup support by utilizing Gochang’s abundant organic farming resources. A total of 166.1 billion KRW (25 billion KRW in national funds) will be invested by 2027, expected to generate an economic ripple effect of about 412.5 billion KRW and create approximately 1,289 jobs.

Kim Sang-seok, head of the Urban Regeneration Project Planning Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "These 26 projects are the first urban regeneration projects promoted by the new government. Since only projects with high completeness and differentiation from existing projects, such as urban branding using unique local resources, were selected, we expect results to be produced quickly."

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