Aging Industrial Zones in Southwestern Seoul to Transform into Complex Innovation Spaces Centered on Future New Industries

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The Seoul Metropolitan Government is moving forward in earnest with a plan to transform aging industrial areas in the southwestern part of the city into mixed-use spaces centered on future new industries.

The city announced on the 5th that the "2040 Seoul Industrial Area Master Plan" had been approved in its original form at the Urban Planning Committee meeting held on the 4th, the previous day.

Seoul's industrial zones, which have played a manufacturing-centered role since the 1960s, will be reborn as future-oriented industrial spaces where advanced technology and jobs coexist with residential and cultural functions.

The "2040 Seoul Industrial Area Master Plan" is a follow-up implementation plan to the "Southwestern Region Grand Overhaul" announced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. It is the highest-level statutory plan that focuses on the southwestern area, where aging industrial zones are concentrated, to reorganize quasi-industrial districts into future-oriented new industry hubs and to present a mid- to long-term management direction for industrial areas across the entire city.

In accordance with the "Special Act on the Management and Revitalization of Urban Industrial Areas," the plan sets out directions for managing each type of industrial area, fostering future strategic industries by region, and establishing criteria for designating industrial area renewal districts. It contains a balanced development strategy aimed at systematically managing industrial zones and promoting the creation of spaces for new industries.

By regional development direction, the Gayang-Yangpyeong area will foster mobility (UAM) and ICT-based advanced new industries in connection with Gimpo Airport and the Magok Industrial Complex. The Guro-Geumcheon-Yeongdeungpo area is slated to nurture advanced manufacturing industries related to robotics, ICT, and space. The Seongsu area will focus on developing new industries based on ICT, artificial intelligence (AI), and big data.

Going forward, the city plans to solicit applications for pilot project candidate sites, gradually establish industrial innovation districts, and expand them to industrial zones throughout Seoul. Ahn Daehee, Director General of the Urban Space Planning Bureau of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said, "We will reorganize industrial zones into complex innovation spaces where industry, housing, and culture coexist, thereby enhancing industrial competitiveness and urban vitality."

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