Jeongeun Park, Director of Urban Regeneration Research Center, Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements
Reestablishment of purpose and object of urban regeneration
Since the 'Urban Regeneration Act' was enacted in June 2013, this year marks the 6th anniversary of its enactment. As it marks the 10th anniversary of the enactment of the law, it is necessary to reflect on whether the meaning and purpose of urban regeneration, which we have known and promoted so far, was correct. Then, by thinking about institutional improvements for the efficient promotion of regeneration projects, better urban regeneration systems and policies will be able to be reborn.
First, have we sufficiently understood the meaning of urban regeneration and reflected it in the system? To begin with, it can be said that urban regeneration has so far focused only on strengthening the capacity of residents and limited maintenance, excluding physical maintenance.
Urban regeneration requires multi-faceted efforts, including physical maintenance, to revitalize and revitalize the city, but it has been taken for granted that it has been separated from the system operation process to prevent conflicts and overlaps with the urban renewal system. It is necessary to correct the concept of urban regeneration to include physical maintenance beyond simple empowerment of residents and remodeling.
Second, what is the target area of the urban regeneration project? The reason why it is possible and necessary to include from urban regeneration to physical maintenance is that the target of the urban regeneration project and the target of the urban reorganization project are different. Since maintenance projects under the 'Urban Renewal Act' are private projects, they can be operated in places where business feasibility can be secured even though they are old, and redevelopment and reconstruction projects are typical examples. On the other hand, the urban regeneration project under the 'Urban Regeneration Act' mainly targets places where the level of deterioration is serious, but the location, infrastructure, and land size are poor, making it impossible to renovate by the private sector.
At the same time, however, urban regeneration uses the term 'decline' to differentiate itself from 'underdeveloped' areas. The intention to designate an urban renewal activation area in a relative concept, such as a place where the population has decreased compared to the peak, in the urban regeneration activation area designation criteria according to the law is not an absolute concept of 'underdeveloped' area, but a relative concept of 'decline' over time. It should be borne in mind that this was done to select regions. Therefore, a careful review of whether the target area to promote urban regeneration is not an underdeveloped area and whether the ripple effect is likely to spread to the surrounding area when creating a base using the innovation district system must be preceded.
Reorganization of the planning system for rapid project promotion and effect diffusion
The first step to transform the region in the long term through strategic public priming support in a 'second-tier area', where it is difficult to expect voluntary maintenance by the private sector, even though it is old, will definitely be project planning and discovery. To this end, an elaborate planning system was prepared, but recently, the project has been delayed due to a rather perfect (?) planning system.
Usually, the establishment period of urban regeneration strategic plan (hereinafter referred to as strategic plan) and urban regeneration activation plan (hereinafter referred to as activation plan) takes from 1.6 months to 2 years at the shortest. In principle, it is a structure in which urban regeneration projects can only be promoted after designating an urban regeneration activation area through strategic planning and establishing a revitalization plan, so at least three years or more are required to establish the plan. It is perhaps natural to point out that the pace of urban regeneration projects is slow.
Considering the purpose and instrumental characteristics of urban regeneration, the plan should be flexible and clear so that the project can be promoted quickly and its ripple effects can spread to the surroundings, as the basic principle is that the regeneration project is promoted in a consultative manner. However, the reality is that several abstract and unclear projects are included in the revitalization plan in the form of a department store, making it difficult to achieve any project promotion results.
And based on the planned revitalization plan, it is decided whether or not to support the government. Since it was designed in the form of establishing a comprehensive plan after setting a perfect blueprint from the beginning, it is possible to proceed with the project only after the plan is completed. However, the problem is that the specificity of the unit project plan is low, so the implementation plan is prepared along with the implementation of the unit project, and the entire plan is inevitably changed.
It is necessary to simplify and actualize the planning system so that urban regeneration projects can be promoted more lightly and quickly at the right time and place. First, it is necessary to deviate from the method of designating urban regeneration activation areas in strategic plans. Strategic plans should be established separately according to the needs of local governments or included in city/county master plans, and should include only the ideas for target areas that require urban regeneration projects based on the results of decline diagnosis.
Second, the revitalization plan is a comprehensive plan for the revitalization of the region, and it is necessary to reorganize the activation plan system and the method of government support so that local governments can establish as necessary and apply for government funding for unit projects that can be supported by government funding. In other words, the activation plan is not a government subsidy method based on the overall premise, but a method in which government subsidy is decided based on the necessity and feasibility of the project after limiting the projects that can be subsidized by the government.
Expansion of business system for physical environment improvement in declining areas
Third, considering the location or ripple effect, the innovation district system that enables physical reorganization by district should be actively used in areas where regeneration projects are urgently needed but cannot be promoted due to securing business feasibility. It should be noted that the premise of the innovation district project is to spread the ripple effect to the surrounding areas through this project. In addition, considering the sustainability and ripple effect of the project, various private participation is essential.
Fourth, the recognition project needs to be revived. Even if no revitalization plan has been established, a system that recognizes point-level projects as regeneration projects when the need for the project is recognized was introduced in 2019 and has been actively promoted. However, since the accreditation project is a system that solves the problems of declining regions most effectively and quickly, it is urgent to re-promote the government subsidy project. Rather, it may be reasonable to reorganize the structure of the regeneration project in a way that starts with the approved project and expands through the establishment of an activation plan only when necessary.
No. XNUMX contributor to opening the local era, urban regeneration
Although the population is continuously decreasing, there will be no system comparable to urban regeneration in local cities that have various resources and potential. In cases where economic revitalization is sought through the creation of regional bases, the innovation district system can be applied, and in other regions, the region is gradually changed in a bottom-up method based on the urban revitalization plan established by the local government. Because you can do what you want to do.
In the process, if various local industries are discovered and private businesses that can take root in the region are discovered and nurtured, it will not only become a truly unique city, but also ensure sustainability. When a project is overly standardized and promoted, regional specialization is inevitably farther away. Always remembering the purpose of introducing the urban regeneration system, now is the time to open a full-fledged local era through system reorganization so that the planning system can be used in the right place at the right time by lightening and specifying the planning system.
☞ [Source] Korea Policy Briefing (www.korea.kr)