Seoul Eases Semi-Industrial Zone Development... Floor Area Ratio 400% and Mixed-Use Development Allowed

Follow-up Measures to Realize Oh Se-hoon's Seoul Grand Renovation Plan

Seoul City will ease regulations in semi-industrial areas such as Yeongdeungpo and Guro, where development had been slow due to rigid systems. When building multi-family housing in semi-industrial areas, the floor area ratio (FAR) will be increased up to 400%, and mixed-use development will be more widely permitted. This regulatory relaxation is expected to accelerate development in the southwestern region, which accounts for 82% of the semi-industrial areas.

Seongsu-dong semi-industrial area, Seongdong-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

On the 7th, Seoul City announced the "Semi-Industrial Area System Improvement Plan" containing these details. This is a follow-up measure to concretely realize the "Southwestern Region Grand Renovation" announced last February. Semi-industrial areas were the centers of consumer and manufacturing industries in the 1960s and 70s, leading national growth, but most are now outdated and stagnant. In Seoul, a total area of 19.97㎢ has been designated, including Yeongdeungpo, Guro, Geumcheon, Gangseo, Dobong, and Seongdong.

Going forward, when establishing district unit plans (for sites over 3,000㎡) for building multi-family housing in semi-industrial areas, the maximum FAR will increase from 250% to 400%. The incentive for the upper limit FAR of 150% can now be applied not only to existing public facility donations but also to public rental housing supply and items under other laws such as the Building Act, diversifying its application.

For officetels and senior welfare housing, which do not require district unit plans, district unit plans must now be established to apply the 400% FAR. The standard and permissible FAR will also be raised by 20 percentage points from 210% and 230%, respectively. The increased rates will be applied to public pedestrian pathways, open complexes, and similar features.

Land use zones will also be upgraded. While maintaining semi-industrial areas to secure industrial bases, land use zones will be flexibly adjusted and operated considering current land use and plans. In downtown and metropolitan center areas, if sites of 5,000㎡ or more adjacent to arterial roads or commercial areas are developed for office, commercial, or research facilities, they can be upgraded to general commercial zones. Areas that have lost industrial functions, such as dense multi-family housing complexes, will be adjusted to residential zones and raised to third-class general residential zones. Station areas can also be upgraded to semi-residential zones.

Additionally, the previously complex maintenance types divided into strategic regeneration, industrial regeneration, residential regeneration, and industrial complex regeneration will be reorganized into industrial-mixed and residential-mixed types based on the factory ratio. Regardless of area size, project entities can freely choose the development method. Previously, when building multi-family housing on sites with a factory ratio of 10% or more, sites over 10,000㎡ had to strictly separate industrial and residential areas through site division, and sites between 3,000㎡ and less than 10,000㎡ could only be developed as industrial-residential mixed buildings.

This improvement plan will be implemented immediately upon announcement to expedite project progress. The city plans to operate a task force (TF) during the planning stage to promote district unit plan proposals after prior consultations between autonomous districts and developers.

Jo Nam-jun, head of Seoul City's Urban Space Headquarters, said, "Through this system improvement, development is expected to be revitalized, focusing on large-scale idle sites in the stagnant semi-industrial areas. We will once again unlock the growth potential of semi-industrial areas to secure future advanced industrial spaces and pleasant residential areas with close proximity to workplaces, supplying them to citizens."