Transition of a New Town Planning Paradigm

Experience and Achievements in New Town Construction

The surge in housing prices in Seoul in the late 1980s resulted in serious social problems such as housing shortages and an increase in suicide. The government proceeded with the development of the first-generation new towns in the metropolitan area, such as Bundang, Ilsan, Pyeongchon, Sanbon, and Jungdong as a means of stabilizing the housing market by expanding housing supply and suppressing real estate speculation. In the first new towns, Korea Land Corporation and Korea Housing Corporation became the development agents and suppliers with the establishment of the Housing Site Development Promotion Act and the Housing Construction Promotion Act. Since then, the government has turned its policy direction towards the decentralised development of small housing sites and small private developments. However, as the country’s urban sprawl became a social issue, it switched to a pre-planning and post-development system. Since the early 2000s, the government has implemented the second phase of new towns according to self-sufficient planning city concepts which improved upon the problems experienced by the first generation in 13 projects districts including 11 metropolitan sites such as Pangyo-Seongnam, Dongtan-Hwaseong, Unjeong-Paju, and Wirye and Asan and Doan-Daejeon in other areas.

In 2018, the government announced the 3rd Generation New Towns headlined by the main idea of ‘9·21 Housing Supply Expansion Plan in the Metropolitan Area’ to cope with soaring real estate prices.

The 3rd Generation New Towns are