Seoul City Completes '2022 Sintong Planning Workshop'

Participants of the '2022 Rapid Integration Planning Workshop' held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza on the 30th of last month are taking photos. Photo by Seoul City Hall

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Seoyul] The Seoul Metropolitan Government held the '2022 Rapid Integrated Planning (hereafter Rapid Planning) Workshop' under the theme of paradigm shift in Seoul's urban and housing policy and the significance and development direction of Rapid Integrated Planning.

According to Seoul City on the 4th, about 50 urban and architectural experts, including Rapid Planners (MP) participating in the planning and related committee members, attended the workshop held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) on the 30th of last month and continued discussions.

Currently, Rapid Planning is being promoted in more than 50 redevelopment and reconstruction areas within Seoul, and through this, the redevelopment projects have begun to accelerate, with visible results expected in 2 to 3 years.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said in a video congratulatory message at the workshop, "Rapid Planning has changed the paradigm of Seoul's urban housing policy in that the city supports planning and approval procedures as an assistant to private development projects."

In the first part of the workshop, presentations were made on ▲ the flow of urban development in Seoul and the purpose of introducing Rapid Integrated Planning ▲ the current status of Seoul's redevelopment and reconstruction Rapid Integrated Planning, and in the second part, on ▲ the development direction of Rapid Integrated Planning and the role of the committee ▲ the operation procedures and major cases of Rapid Integrated Planning by city officials.

Following this, a discussion on the significance and development direction was held mainly among experts participating in Rapid Planning. Kang Byung-geun, Seoul City's chief architect, emphasized the need to improve the planning decision system through a keynote speech, stating, "The plan should be established through reviews by various experts, and the committee should verify whether the plan is being carried out as intended."

Advice was also given that balancing public interest and business feasibility is essential to correct residents' misunderstandings that Rapid Planning would demand excessive public contributions and rental housing.