Deregulation should go with steps to prevent ill effects
Last Thursday, Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced the 2040 Seoul Plan, lifting the height limit for residential buildings. Since 2014, the capital city has capped the height of apartment buildings at 35 floors under former Mayor Park Won-soon's 2030 Seoul Plan. The new plan should ease the supply shortage of flats in the capital city and improve the capital's cityscape.
The previous plan, which also called for limiting apartment building heights to 15 floors along the Han River, was designed to protect the river view and curb uncontrolled urban development. However, it has failed to end the housing shortage in the city and made the skyline as monotonous as if two screens of matchboxes had been set up along the river.
That also explains why the National Assembly Research Service pointed out in 2017 that limiting the number of floors, in addition to regulations on building coverage ratio and floor area ratio, amounted to overregulation. Other large cities, including Busan and Incheon, have no height limits on residential buildings when making their basic urban plans. Builders, who have been expecting the relaxing of the regulation since Mayor Oh took office last April, have taken further steps by presenting design plans for 50- or 60-story apartment buildings.
The deregulation of the residential building height limit itself is welcome. However, the resulting redevelopment boom is expected to reignite speculative fervor, which may spread through the entire capital region. Residents near newly built high-rise apartment buildings will also see their rights to sunlight violated. No less worrying are safety concerns, as seen in the difficulties extinguishing a fire in a 33-story, mixed-use apartment building in Ulsan in 2020.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government should work out detailed measures to prevent such adverse effects and to succeed in actually easing the housing shortage, as well as to diversify the cityscape along the Han River. City Hall also ought to present detailed action plans to prevent a surge in home prices, not to mention improving fire safety systems and strengthening firefighting capabilities.
Last Thursday, Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced the 2040 Seoul Plan, lifting the height limit for residential buildings. Since 2014, the capital city has capped the height of apartment buildings at 35 floors under former Mayor Park Won-soon's 2030 Seoul Plan. The new plan should ease the supply shortage of flats in the capital city and improve the capital's cityscape.
The previous plan, which also called for limiting apartment building heights to 15 floors along the Han River, was designed to protect the river view and curb uncontrolled urban development. However, it has failed to end the housing shortage in the city and made the skyline as monotonous as if two screens of matchboxes had been set up along the river.
That also explains why the National Assembly Research Service pointed out in 2017 that limiting the number of floors, in addition to regulations on building coverage ratio and floor area ratio, amounted to overregulation. Other large cities, including Busan and Incheon, have no height limits on residential buildings when making their basic urban plans. Builders, who have been expecting the relaxing of the regulation since Mayor Oh took office last April, have taken further steps by presenting design plans for 50- or 60-story apartment buildings.
The deregulation of the residential building height limit itself is welcome. However, the resulting redevelopment boom is expected to reignite speculative fervor, which may spread through the entire capital region. Residents near newly built high-rise apartment buildings will also see their rights to sunlight violated. No less worrying are safety concerns, as seen in the difficulties extinguishing a fire in a 33-story, mixed-use apartment building in Ulsan in 2020.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government should work out detailed measures to prevent such adverse effects and to succeed in actually easing the housing shortage, as well as to diversify the cityscape along the Han River. City Hall also ought to present detailed action plans to prevent a surge in home prices, not to mention improving fire safety systems and strengthening firefighting capabilities.
