Seoul City Implements Comprehensive Changes to 213 District Unit Plans Reflecting Regulatory Deregulation

Abolition of Non-Residential Criteria in Semi-Residential and Commercial Areas
Application of Revised Floor Area Ratio System

Seoul City has decided to collectively revise the district unit plans for 213 zones to reflect institutional changes such as deregulation.

On the 12th, Seoul City held the 4th Joint Urban and Architectural Committee and announced on the 13th that it had approved the amendment of the 'Urban Management Plan Decision Change Proposal.'

Yonhap News

This review proposal includes major issues related to the revision of the district unit plan system, which has been promoted as part of Seoul City's deregulation measures since last year.

Although the revised standards for establishing district unit plans, amended in January, are immediately applied to new zones, zones decided under the existing standards must undergo a separate change procedure to be applied.

Accordingly, to ensure the prompt implementation of the system and fairness in the timing of zone-specific redevelopment, the city decided to collectively promote the redevelopment work, which was usually carried out by each autonomous district, at the city level. A total of 213 zones are targeted.

First, the deregulation No. 1 task of Seoul City, the 'Abolition and Relaxation of Non-residential Facility Ratios in Semi-residential and Commercial Areas,' will be reflected in 178 zones including Yangjae District Center. The main content is a significant relaxation of the non-residential facility ratio in mixed-use buildings in commercial areas from 20% to 10% according to the Urban Planning Ordinance, and the abolition of the mandatory regulation of a floor area ratio of 10% or more in semi-residential areas.

According to this decision, semi-residential areas in the relevant zones will allow 100% apartment construction. In commercial areas, once the Urban Planning Ordinance is revised in the first half of the year, the non-residential ratio will be relaxed from 20% to 10%.

However, the city will maintain the existing plans for some areas where the non-residential criteria need to be preserved to revitalize commercial districts due to local conditions, and will decide on the abolition of the plans during future zone-specific redevelopment.

Additionally, the district unit plan floor area ratio system reform will be applied to 98 zones including Nonhyeon District. This includes expanding the application items for the maximum floor area ratio, increasing the scope of incentives for allowable floor area ratio, and raising the standard floor area ratio for semi-residential and commercial areas.

In these zones, when public open spaces, eco-friendly certification, special architectural district designation, and intelligent building construction are implemented, relaxation up to 120% of the maximum floor area ratio under the enforcement decree can be applied without separate district unit plan changes. Furthermore, if items aligned with Seoul City's policy directions such as carbon neutrality and green ecological urban centers are introduced, additional floor area ratio incentives up to 110% of the ordinance floor area ratio will be provided.

For semi-residential and commercial areas, the standard floor area ratio, which was previously set lower than the ordinance floor area ratio, has been raised by up to 300 percentage points.

This review also included the cancellation of 12 zones, including the Eungam-ro Special Planning Zone, which had been undecided for over 10 years, and a decision for a three-year temporary operation.

The district unit plans for each zone will undergo a re-examination process and are scheduled to be finally decided and announced in April.

Jo Nam-jun, head of Seoul City's Urban Space Headquarters, said, "We hope this decision will be a turning point to revitalize the stagnant construction economy of Seoul City."