[Open Forum] The Urban Regeneration New Deal should stop wasting money on window dressing and raise competitiveness to new-town

Old downtown areas and city centers are declining. This phenomenon has accelerated with the construction of new towns and the development of innovation cities. Because development of older downtown areas was not pursued and the focus was placed only on new towns, slum conditions worsened more rapidly. The government is promoting urban regeneration to prevent urban slums, but this is leading to budget waste.

The 3rd-phase new town project and the development of local innovation cities cause the slumization of old downtown areas. If a new town is built near an old downtown, the population will move out, leaving the old downtown severely deteriorated or absorbed into the new town. Local innovation cities are a representative example. Because innovation cities were built nearby instead of redeveloping aging housing complexes, a hollowing-out of the population has occurred. In the end, this failed to prevent the slumization of old downtown areas, which then became merged with the innovation cities. If new towns are built indiscriminately without developing existing downtown areas, hollowing-out in old downtowns is inevitable.

The government pursued not only new town development such as Wirye New Town but also urban and residential environment improvement in old downtown areas. As a result, it began improving old detached houses and roads, which were major problems in old downtown districts, and as reconstruction and redevelopment gained momentum, these areas were reorganized and maintained their vitality. Through redevelopment, roads were improved so that people could use them more conveniently, allowing cities to maintain their competitiveness.

Aging streets are too narrow for cars and have complicated alleyways, reducing convenience and accessibility for people and making it difficult to revitalize commercial districts. That raises the question of whether landscape improvement can successfully achieve urban regeneration when road maintenance remains inadequate.

The government is investing an average of about 30 billion won in each site selected for the Urban Regeneration New Deal project. The purpose of the New Deal project is to reorganize deteriorating areas and give them new urban functions. However, residents of Seoul’s Changsin-dong, the first urban regeneration site, are strongly opposing it. This is because the government is obsessed only with landscape improvement—such as car-free streets and painting—without improving the narrow alleyways. Although 150 billion won was spent on the urban regeneration project, housing quality did not improve. An urban regeneration project that relies on landscape improvement rather than maintenance suited to the area can only be seen as a waste of budget.

The Urban Regeneration New Deal project, which has devolved into a showpiece administrative effort, has also been moving sluggishly, causing suffering for residents. Although large sums have been invested in the New Deal project so far, there have not been many successful cases. Landscape improvement alone cannot resolve the inconveniences residents have long experienced, and therefore it cannot improve their quality of life.

There is no longer any need for wasteful spending on cosmetic-style urban regeneration projects. If the goal is to solve the slumization of existing urban centers and attract population inflows, redevelopment on the scale of a new town and improved accessibility to surrounding cities are needed to enhance the city’s overall competitiveness. It is also time to promote people’s convenience and revitalize local economies while simultaneously improving the streetscape.

Jihyun Kim, Intern Researcher, Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: [자유발언대] 도시재생 뉴딜사업, 겉치레로 예산낭비 말고 신도시수준으로 경쟁력 높여야

Author: Ji-hyun Kim

Date: 2022-04-01

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=free_opinion&pn=9&idx=24642