Seoul City Selects 4 Areas Including Guro, Seokgwan, Mangu 3, and Muk 2-dong as 'Moatown'

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has selected four areas?Guro-dong in Guro-gu, Seokgwan-dong in Seongbuk-gu, Mangwoo 3-dong and Muk 2-dong in Jungnang-gu?as target sites for the low-rise residential area redevelopment method called ‘Moatown’.

Four low-rise residential areas in Guro-dong, Guro-gu, Seokgwan-dong, Seongbuk-gu, and Mangwoo 3-dong and Muk 2-dong, Jungnang-gu, have been selected as 'Moatown' target sites.
[Image provided by Seoul City]

On the 24th, the city held the ‘2023 4th Moatown Target Site Selection Committee’ and announced on the 26th that out of six sites applied for by autonomous districts through a rolling public contest, four were selected as target sites.

The four selected sites are characterized by dense clusters of aging multi-family and multi-household houses, causing chronic parking shortages and poor infrastructure, which have long caused inconvenience to local residents. Additionally, many semi-basement houses are distributed in these areas, making residential environment improvement necessary.

First, the area around 511 Guro-dong, Guro-gu (57,000㎡) is a typical aging low-rise residential area with an overall aging rate of about 88% and a single-family and multi-household housing ratio of 84%, suffering from chronic parking difficulties.

The area around 124-42 Seokgwan-dong, Seongbuk-gu (48,144.7㎡) has an aging rate of 78%. It has a history of having its existing housing reconstruction maintenance zone canceled, and compared to nearby areas, it has not been developed for a long time, leading to slum conditions.

The area around 474-29 Mangwoo 3-dong, Jungnang-gu (81,648.7㎡) has an aging rate of over 72%, with many single-family, multi-household, and multi-family houses, and the entire area suffers from chronic parking shortages.

The area around 243-7 Muk 2-dong, Jungnang-gu (62,681.7㎡) is located adjacent to Jungnangcheon Stream, with an aging rate of over 70%. It is densely populated with multi-family and multi-household houses and experiences inconveniences such as narrow roads and chronic parking shortages.

Once selected as a Moatown target site, each autonomous district will establish a ‘Moatown Management Plan,’ and after public inspection and committee review, the area will be approved and announced as a ‘Small-scale Housing Maintenance Management Area’ with legal effect as a Moatown, thereby officially promoting the Moahousing project.

The ‘Moatown Management Plan’ is a plan to promote Moahousing and secure necessary infrastructure in the area. It includes ▲land use planning ▲upzoning of use districts ▲plans for infrastructure such as roads and parking lots ▲building density plans such as building coverage ratio and floor area ratio, establishing the basic management direction for the target area.

The city plans to support 70% of the 380 million KRW per site for establishing the Moatown Management Plan through autonomous district contests and provide it to the districts. Once the management plan is established, the ‘Moatown designation’ is expected to proceed sequentially from around the second half of next year.

Meanwhile, Suyu-dong in Gangbuk-gu and Siheung 5-dong in Geumcheon-gu, which also applied this time, were excluded from selection.

The area around 219-1 Siheung 5-dong, Geumcheon-gu (97,824㎡) was not selected because securing access roads within the Moatown target site was difficult, and the boundary of the planned project area was judged to make future project promotion difficult.

The area around 141 Suyu-dong, Gangbuk-gu was put on hold because the target site contains a mixed area of residential and commercial buildings, reducing project feasibility. It was conditioned on additional review and adjustment of the overall Moatown zone and infrastructure plans such as access roads.

To fundamentally block speculative demand such as dividing ownership shares, the city plans to designate and announce June 30 as the standard date for rights assessment for the six sites applied for in this 4th target site selection committee.

Han Byung-yong, Director of the Seoul Housing Policy Office, said, “Moatown is a groundbreaking alternative that can improve chronic living inconveniences and residential environments in areas densely populated with multi-family and multi-household houses. We will spare no administrative support to ensure it is promoted swiftly.”

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