Allowing 'Iptae Park' in Seoul Redevelopment Areas and Introducing Preliminary Deliberation to Improve Project Feasibility

Application of Three-Dimensional Parks and Project Feasibility Adjustment Coefficient in 130 Mia-dong Area
Possible Increase of 80 Households Compared to Previous Supply
Consent Collection Timing Adjusted with Introduction of "Pre-Review System"
Rapid Integrated Planning Period Shortened by About Seven Months

In the future, when large-scale redevelopment projects are carried out in Seoul, a plan is being promoted to allow a portion of the mandatory parks to be created above buildings. By utilizing the upper part of buildings as parks and placing parking lots or community facilities underneath, it is expected that project feasibility will improve and progress will accelerate. The city will also implement a ‘pre-review system’ that changes the timing for securing consent rates during the redevelopment plan formulation from before the review application to before the announcement request.

On the 20th, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited the Mia-dong 130 area, where the Sintong Planning Redevelopment Project is underway, to inspect the site. Provided by Seoul City

Improving Project Feasibility by Applying Three-Dimensional Parks and Project Feasibility Adjustment Coefficients

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited the redevelopment site around 130 Mia-dong, Gangbuk-gu, on the 20th, where the sixth deregulation measure, ‘three-dimensional parks,’ will be introduced. Mayor Oh recently announced the deregulation related to three-dimensional parks and instructed to identify target sites, visiting the site on this day. Mayor Oh explained, "This deregulation provides economic benefits to those starting projects, allowing redevelopment to proceed faster, more efficiently, and without economic burdens."

The sixth deregulation measure introduced by Mayor Oh recognizes ‘three-dimensional parks’ as mandatory parks in redevelopment projects. According to the Park and Green Space Act, for large-scale redevelopment projects over 50,000㎡ or with more than 1,000 households, it is mandatory to secure at least 5% of the site area or 3㎡ per household as natural ground ‘flat parks.’ The city plans to relax this regulation to allow three-dimensional parks created on private land or artificial ground above buildings to be recognized as mandatory parks. Allowing three-dimensional parks enables the park area to remain private land while the space underneath can be used for parking lots or citizen convenience facilities. As the residential land area increases, the number of housing units that can be supplied also increases, improving project feasibility.

Mayor Oh said, "In the Mia-dong area, securing natural ground parks was mandatory, which reduced the number of households and inevitably increased the contribution fees. About 3,000 households are planned here, but by introducing the project feasibility adjustment coefficient, the number of households will increase by several dozen, and the contribution fee per household will decrease by tens of millions of won."

A panoramic view of the Mia-dong 130 area, where the Sintong Planning Redevelopment Project is underway. Provided by Seoul City

The area around 130 Mia-dong will be able to supply an additional 80 households due to this deregulation. Originally, the site area of about 71,000㎡ required securing about 4,500㎡ as mandatory park space. If 50% of this is planned as a three-dimensional park, the allowable building floor area increases by more than 5,000㎡. Additionally, the project feasibility adjustment coefficient, one of the redevelopment and reconstruction project feasibility improvement measures announced by the city last year, will be applied. If a 1.8 project feasibility adjustment coefficient is applied to the 130 Mia-dong area, the allowable floor area ratio incentive increases from a maximum of 20% to 36%. The Seoul city government explained, "Applying both three-dimensional parks and the project feasibility adjustment coefficient will secure green space, increase buildable floor area and the number of saleable units, thereby expanding housing supply and significantly reducing the contribution fees per union member."

The 130 Mia-dong area was selected as a candidate site for rapid integrated planning redevelopment in December last year. It is located within 500 meters from the subway station platform boundary, in a secondary station area, and has a resident consent rate exceeding 50% for redevelopment projects. However, due to terrain elevation differences and sunlight impact from the elementary school on the northern side of the project site, it was considered an area with low project feasibility due to height restrictions.

Perspective view of the three-dimensional park. Provided by Seoul City

Introducing Pre-Review System to Shorten Rapid Integrated Planning Period

Mayor Oh decided to immediately apply the ‘pre-review system’ to the 130 Mia-dong area to speed up the rapid integrated planning projects. The pre-review system changes the timing for submitting the consent form (over 50% landowners) during redevelopment plan formulation from before the urban planning committee review application to before the announcement request, allowing residents’ consent and review to proceed simultaneously. Introducing the pre-review system can shorten the designation period by more than seven months compared to before. A Seoul city official explained, "This can be applied to all areas where the redevelopment zone designation announcement has not been made yet but are awaiting urban planning committee review during rapid integrated planning."

In addition, the city plans to actively support the 130 Mia-dong area by reviewing measures to improve project conditions and overcome unfavorable development conditions. The deregulation measures will also be applied to other areas with poor project conditions such as low land prices, height restrictions, and excessive park space requirements. Mayor Oh explained, "Although I visited 130 Mia-dong in Gangbuk-gu today as a representative case, the same principles will apply to areas in the northwest and southwest regions, which are not in Gangnam but have poor residential environments and low land prices."

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