According to the "Act on Planning and Use of National Territory," urban development projects are defined as administrative plans for urban plan projects, among urban management plans. Once a region is designated an urban development area, any types of...
According to the "Act on Planning and Use of National Territory," urban development projects are defined as administrative plans for urban plan projects, among urban management plans. Once a region is designated an urban development area, any types of development activities are limited to promote the development plan proper for the purpose. This may lead to conflicts with the local residents whose property rights are restricted, and numerous disagreements can occur between the residents’ requirements and the local governments’ development directions when establishing development plans.
In order to solve resident conflicts, it is necessary to make administrative plans transparent, give local residents the right to be informed, and increase participation from the residents along with their empathy and understanding. However, projects ignoring these procedures have caused conflicts with residents and hiatus or abandonment of the development projects.
In order to explore improvement measures to resolve conflicts with local residents in the stage of designating urban development areas and establishing development plans, the study analyzed problems based on preceding studies, theoretical reviews and cases of a local government (A, B and C cases in Gwangju City). By doing so, the study suggested improvement measures from institutional and operational perspectives.
After comprehensive analysis on the preceding studies, theoretical reviews and cases of the local government, the results were divided into institutional and operational aspects: problems of the former include lack of public inspection and participation opportunities by the local residents, unclear period in designating the project operators, and absence of principles to designate the project operators. As for problems of the latter, firstly, the local residents lacked understanding of the urban development project. Secondly, it was difficult to communicate with the residents. Thirdly, the role of public organizations for reflecting opinions was limited.
For the problems from institutional and operational aspects drawn from the analysis, urban plan development theory and urban regeneration projects with residents’ participation were reviewed through top-down, bottom-up and Katalysator approaches to suggest institutional and operational improvement measures.
For institutional improvement measures: firstly, developing an institutional system for enhancing residents’ participation and understanding was suggested. Secondly, improving regulations related to residents’ agreement was proposed. Thirdly, revising the principle to apply project implementation methods was suggested.
As for operational improvement measures: firstly, providing information for improving residents’ understanding was suggested. Secondly, communication through a consultative group of residents was proposed. Thirdly, investigating and analyzing basic data through survey for residents was suggested. Fourthly, expanding the roles of public organizations was presented.
Although the urban plan development theory and the urban regeneration project with residents’ participation were reviewed to explore improvement measures, further efforts are required in the future: an in-depth analysis on actual cases of urban regeneration projects with residents’ participation. By doing so, the institutional system, law, regulations, etc. can be specified to be applied to the urban development project.
Moreover, considering that the process of urban development projects consists of target area designation and development plan, execution plan, replotting plan, and execution and completion, this study that focused on how to resolve resident conflicts during the process of development plan has limitations in estimating resident conflicts occurring after the development plan.