Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Seminar on "New National Balanced Development through Ultra-Wide Area Connectivity Cooperation"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will hold a seminar on the 25th at the conference room of the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRHIS) titled "New National Balanced Development Strategy through Ultra-wide Area Connectivity and Cooperation," with participation from related organizations and experts.

This seminar was organized to seek a new balanced development strategy amid growing concerns over the extinction of local areas due to concentration in the metropolitan area.

Yoon Jeong-ran, Senior Researcher at the Land and Housing Institute (LHI), diagnosed that the crisis in local areas stems from the outflow and concentration of talent and companies to the metropolitan area, and proposed a plan to create high-density innovation spaces that integrate industry, housing, and cultural projects tailored to the characteristics of local metropolitan centers.

Kim Eun-ran, Research Fellow at KRHIS, pointed out that during the growth of innovation cities as regional hubs, population outflow from existing regional centers and surrounding small and medium-sized cities intensified, and presented a win-win plan through linkage with nearby universities and companies, and the creation of living SOC (social overhead capital) in connection with old downtown areas.

Lee Gwan-hoo, Research Fellow at the Gyeongnam Research Institute, emphasized that to resolve regional imbalance issues represented by concentration in the metropolitan area, it is necessary first to establish a self-reliant economic community capable of responding to the metropolitan area, and announced a strategy for creating an ultra-wide area mega city that jointly promotes projects in various fields such as industry and economy, culture and tourism, transportation and logistics beyond administrative districts.

After the presentations, under the chairmanship of Kang Hyun-soo, President of KRHIS, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, KRHIS, the Korean Regional Policy Association, and private experts plan to discuss national balanced development strategies through connectivity and cooperation.

Park Mu-ik, Director of the National Land and Urban Office at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "In the era of low growth crisis and population decline due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), more creative and proactive new balanced development strategies are required," and added, "Based on the ideas of connectivity and cooperation presented at the seminar, we will continuously consider and policyize ways to strengthen regional competitiveness."