LAND READJUSTMENT IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA: A CASE STUDY FOR LEARNING LESSONS Copyright © United Nations Human Settlements Programme, 2019 All rights reserved United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) P. O. Box 30030, 00100 Nairobi GPO KENYA Tel: 254-020-7623120 (Central Office) www.unhabitat.org HS Number: HS/013/19E ISBN Number:(Volume) 978-92-1-132834-9 DISCLAIMER The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers of boundaries, or regarding its economic system or degree of development. The analysis, conclusions, recommendations and views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the United Nations, or its Member States. 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Excerpts may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. Maimunah Mohd Sharif United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN-Habitat FOREWORD I am delighted to introduce this report, which documents (ii) creating conditions for successful provision of affordable the land readjustment experiences of the Republic of Korea. housing; and (iii) adopting urban regeneration programmes. Together with a wider public of urban practitioners, policy Land readjustment has been applied successfully in Europe makers and decision makers, we present this study, which (Germany and the Netherlands) and Asia (China, Japan, contains a number of key lessons learned as part and parcel of Nepal, the Republic of Korea, and Vietnam). the training programmes offered by the International Urban Training Center to the Asian public, in cooperation with UN- The report highlights nearly a century-long experience of Habitat. This report aims to contribute to the enhancement land readjustment in the Republic of Korea, where land of skills and knowledge required to address the shortage of readjustment has been prominent since the 1930s. I believe serviced land to support sustainable urbanization. that learning from practice, and through training, their experience offers much-needed support to local and national In the UN-Habitat World Cities Report 2016, we confirmed governments as well as urban practitioners and policy makers. that the world is urbanizing at an extremely rapid pace, with Through their experience, we may understand the physical, the land cover of cities expanding significantly more rapidly social, economic and cultural parameters of land reajustment than population growth. This results in the high consumption in similar contexts. This understanding is a pre-condition to of land and low density urbanization. In some parts of the designing and implementing successful urban development world, informal urbanization remains a prevailing pattern, projects which can use land readjustment as a basic tool leading to growing urban poverty, informal settlements, for urban development in rapidly growing cities of Asia and inequality, spatial segregation and environmental pollution. Africa. These challenges adversely and signifcantly affect the resilience of cities and their ability to cope with such stresses. I am confident that this report will contribute to enhancing existing knowledge and the development of training courses on Land, particularly serviced land, is a critical pre-condition land readjustment offered at the International Urban Training for planned and sustainable urban development. The lack Center. I further hope that these endeavours will strengthen of serviced land at scale is a challenge that many cities the capacity of a new generation of urban pracitioners for face, affecting the availability of affordable housing for successful land readjusment projects, including contributing to a growing urban population. We see this in cities across bridging the gap between the available knowledge and good Africa and Asia. It is in this context that the report provides practices generated in the Republic of Korea and elsewhere. opportunities for socially acceptable and financially effective ways of: (i) developing land for sustainable urbanization; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Hands-on Land Readjustment. How did we get here? This publication on Land Readjustment in the Republic The final draft was shared with experts from UN-Habitat and of Korea - A case study for learning lessons is the result of partners and was peer-reviewed by Barrie Needham, Professor, international training courses on land readjustment in 2015 Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Paul Rabé, organized by UN-Habitat and the International Urban Training Senior Land Expert, IHS/Erasmus University Rotterdam, Centre (IUTC). Through this training courses, UN-Habitat the Netherlands; Felipe Francisco De Souza (Ph.D.), The and IUTC tested land-based finance instruments and land University of Tokyo, Japan; Jihwan Kim, Senior Technical readjustment tools with a group of experts, city leaders and Advisor seconded from Ministry of Land, Infastructure decision makers from different Asian countries. It became and Transport to UN-Habitat; Kibong Lee, Senior Technical clear that the vast and rich experience on land readjustment Advisor seconded from Seoul Metropolitan Government to in Korea would provide important lessons for other places UN-Habitat, Jonghyun Yoon, Land Expert, Seconded from in Asia and elsewhere in the world and potentially could Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to UN-Habitat, become part and parcel of a training companion on the and Kim Yeonghoon, Coordinator, IUTC. The peer-review subject. This triggered the decision of IUTC and UN-Habitat to process provided excellent and insighful expert knowledge make a comprehensive compilation of the land readjustment which improved the final product that is presented herein. experience of Korea and make it available to a wider public in Their inputs and commitment to improving the publication is the urban development sector. greatly appreciated. This report is largely drawn from The Best Practice Catalogue Supervisor: Claudio Acioly Jr. on Korea’s Land Readjustment prepared in 2015 by Dr Jo Publication Coordinator: Trang Nguyen Jincheol of Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements Principal Authors: Banashree Banerjee in cooperation with under coordination of UN-Habitat and IUTC and funded Jo Jincheol, Trang Nguyen and Claudio Acioly through the Support Fund from Gangwon Province, Republic Editors: Banashree Banerjee, Trang Nguyen and Claudio of Korea. Dr. Jo delivered a number of training sessions and Acioly was responsible for the first compilation of content for the Peer Reviewers: Barrie Needham, Paul Rabé, Felipe Francisco full land readjustment programme. In addition to the original De Souza, Jihwan Kim, Kibong Lee , and Jonghyun Yoon texts, many cutting-edge publications and desktop reseach, Design and Layout: Hai Anh Nguyen especially those published recently in Korea and elsewhere Cover design: Hai Anh Nguyen have been added. The insights on urban development in Printing: UNON, Publishing Services Section, Nairobi, ISO Korea shared by Dr Young Hoon Son, Director of the Office 14001:2004-certified of Korea Land & Housing Corporation (Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport, Republic of Korea) are gratefully acknowledged. The publication is technically edited and revised by Banashree Banerjee with the support by Trang Nguyen and Claudio Acioly from UN-Habitat CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword ...........................................................................................................................................................................5 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................................6 Acronyms and Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................................12 Terms ................................................................................................................................................................................12 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................15 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................................21