Housing Regeneration and Low-income Community in Seoul

Traditionally, city governments had seen such ëinformal settlements' as illegal slums, lacking proper services or layout and damaging both to the health of the occupants and to the appearance of the city. They attempt hastily to push through settlement schemes, which are based on misconceptions and spurious assumption. Since the 1960s, Korea has achieved remarkable success in reducing poverty. But behind this picture of growth and progress, Korean housing has experienced serious problems. Nearly a quarter of all households in 2000 lived in accommodation that did not meet minimum standards in terms of floor space and basic facilities. New housing can be a driver of urban regeneration and decent housing stimulates both physical and economic improvement. In Korea, the housing regeneration projects tend to construct multi-family housing units and to pay less attention to rehabilitation of existing housing and community. The key issues covered in this paper are: (1) the characteristics of low-income community and housing poverty, (2) causal model of housing regeneration, and (3) policy implications and issues. The issue of housing insecurity and inequality arises most acutely in the case of urban redevelopment projects in low-income residential areas. The following questions are still raised here: what role has the government played in the housing regeneration process? Who has benefited directly from the redevelopment of substandard housing areas? The primary goal of housing regeneration should be given actively involving local residents and tenants in the planning and management of housing provision and redevelopment as a prerequisite to successful programme delivery; and experimentation with different models of housing construction appropriate to local needs and the achievement of ëbalanced' and sustainable regeneration.