As the Seoul Metropolitan Government expands the "Public-Open Facility" system, which mandates opening community facilities to the public in exchange for floor area ratio incentives during reconstruction and redevelopment projects, conflicts surroundi...
As the Seoul Metropolitan Government expands the "Public-Open Facility" system, which mandates opening community facilities to the public in exchange for floor area ratio incentives during reconstruction and redevelopment projects, conflicts surrounding the operational openness of these facilities have emerged as a major social issue. While the policy aims to mitigate the severance from local communities by securing public hubs within privatized complexes, in practice, external access is frequently restricted due to residents' concerns over security, privacy invasion, and management costs. Given the nature of these facilities where private ownership intersects with public obligation, residents adopt a defensive stance, and operators apply restrictive operational regulations, thereby deepening the privatization of public spaces. Therefore, this study defines these conflicts not as simple collective selfishness but as a structural mechanism operating within institutional uncertainties and operational limitations. It aims to analyze how operational conflicts evolve into "security logic" and subsequently materialize as exclusionary barriers in physical space and operational rules, ultimately deriving measures to enhance substantial publicness.
The research process involved, first, identifying the background of the system's introduction through a review of literature and administrative data, and establishing an analytical framework consisting of operational, spatial, and social publicness. Second, qualitative research—including in-depth interviews and field surveys—was conducted on "Acro River Park" and "Raemian One Bailey" as representative cases of operational conflict, and "WeStay Byeollae," a cooperative housing model, as a comparative case. Finally, by analyzing the patterns of conflict between operating entities and the resulting spatial modifications, the study examined the impact of differences in ownership and operational structures on securing publicness.
The results indicate that operational conflicts in public-open facilities stemmed from the absence of concrete operational plans during the licensing phase and the mismatch between ownership (residents) and operation (public duty). This structural contradiction fostered a "security logic" to justify controlling outsiders, which materialized as operational and spatial barriers. Operationally, accessibility was selectively controlled through high deposits and reservation systems. Spatially, structural limitations, such as concealing facilities, were compounded by post-conflict additions like physical barriers and warning signs, which functioned as mechanisms to block external access. Conversely, the comparison with the WeStay case demonstrated that when ownership aligns with operational authority, facilities are perceived as "shared assets," enabling open spatial configurations.
In conclusion, for future planning of public-open facilities in reconstruction projects, mandating standard operation agreements that clarify the authority and responsibility of operating entities and establishing public-private governance must precede mere physical installation. Spatially, design strategies such as designating "Public Zones" to clearly separate residential and public circulation paths are required to structurally prevent the intervention of security logic. Although this study is limited by its focus on high-end reconstruction complexes in Seocho-gu, necessitating cautious generalization, it is significant in interpreting the weakening of publicness as a structural problem resulting from the interaction of operational conflicts, security logic, and spatial constraints.