Seoul City to Significantly Reduce District-Level Reviews... Architectural Committee Operating Standards Revised

From 216 to 78 Items Subject to Review
Prohibition of Excessive Review Conditions... Increased Transparency and Objectivity

Villa district in downtown Seoul as seen from Namsan, Seoul

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided to significantly reduce the number of cases subject to district-level review in order to alleviate inconveniences caused by excessive deliberation.

On July 16, the city announced that it would amend the 'Seoul Metropolitan Government Architectural Committee Operating Standards' to drastically reduce the scope of district-level reviews and enhance procedural fairness and predictability. With this revision, the number of items subject to review by district architectural committees will be reduced from 216 to 78, about one-third of the previous total.

This decision was made in response to the demand for "improving the unreasonable architectural review system," which was raised as Regulatory Reform No. 23 during the "Regulation Easing for Livelihood Recovery Grand Debate" held in January. Since February, the city has been consulting with district offices to partially reflect the unique circumstances of each district, while encouraging the exclusion of items from review unless they are intended to improve local landscapes or protect residential environments. In addition, the city has worked to revise items that had been routinely designated for review, such as "construction of buildings in areas released from redevelopment or other maintenance zones."

Furthermore, the objectivity and transparency of the Architectural Committee's operations will be strengthened. The city will prohibit the imposition of excessive review conditions without legal basis and will also reduce the submission of opinions that would alter matters already reviewed by other committees. Additionally, actions such as individually contacting designers to check whether committee-imposed conditions have been reflected will be banned.

This amendment will be finalized and implemented in September after review by the Regulatory Reform Committee next month.

Choi Jinseok, Director of Housing at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, stated, "This revision to implement Regulatory Reform No. 23 will increase trust in the architectural review process, reduce procedures and costs, and contribute to revitalizing private investment and recovering the construction market." He added, "We also expect positive effects on the protection of citizens' property rights and the smooth progress of business operations for companies."