Seoul City and Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Form Practical Council for Educational Environment Impact Assessment of Redevelopment Projects

by Han Jinjoo

Published 17 Nov.2024 11:15(KST)

Cooperation to Protect Educational Environment Near Redevelopment Areas and Ensure Smooth Project Progress

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided to cooperate with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to prevent the infringement of the educational environment during reconstruction and redevelopment projects and to expedite the project implementation.

A ready-mix concrete truck is passing in front of a construction site in Seoul. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

On the 17th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it held the "Integrated Review Working Council on Educational Environment Evaluation for Maintenance Projects" with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. The city and the Office of Education formed a working council and held the first meeting on the 13th.

The educational environment impact assessment is mandatory for projects with schools located within a 200-meter radius of the maintenance project site. Until now, there have been cases where projects were delayed due to excessively strict standards during the educational environment impact assessment review or excessive support requests from schools and others.

Accordingly, the city and the Office of Education decided to form a working council to maintain continuous communication to prevent project delays. In particular, they agreed to actively cooperate so that the educational environment impact assessment review would effectively contribute to improving the actual learning environment for students.

At the first working council meeting, discussions were held on △ presenting general review items during the assessment and requesting focused reviews according to the characteristics of each project site △ continuous monitoring of the implementation of action plans △ holding regular meetings.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education stated, “Through this cooperation, we will continue to prioritize students’ safety and health and do our best to protect the educational environment.”

Since January, with the inclusion of educational environment evaluations in the integrated review of maintenance projects, overlapping matters such as sunlight rights, noise, and vibration?which significantly affect the educational environment?are comprehensively reviewed. This has shortened the review period and allowed for integrated consideration of conflicting opinions, thereby strengthening the learning rights and commuting safety of nearby schools.

In the past, project implementers faced difficulties such as extended project durations and increased costs due to multiple stages of reviews, including educational environment impact assessments and architectural reviews, during the maintenance project process. With the integrated review and the establishment of a cooperative system with the Office of Education, learning rights can now be protected more systematically.

Han Byung-yong, Director of the Housing Office of Seoul, said, “We are implementing various policies to expedite maintenance projects and enhance the public nature and transparency of projects. This city-education office working council is part of these policies, and Seoul will continue to strive for the creation of a safe educational environment along with the swift and smooth promotion of maintenance projects.”