Seoul's Jung-gu district, led by District Mayor Kim Gil-sung, is marking the fourth anniversary of its Urban Renewal Strategy Task Force — a dedicated body set up to tackle major urban deregulation and residential environment improvement.
As more autonomous districts have recently moved to establish their own redevelopment task forces, Jung-gu was ahead of the curve, forming its unit directly under the district mayor in August 2022.
Working alongside the existing Urban Renewal Division, the task force has set the overall direction for urban development across Jung-gu and taken charge of key pending issues. To that end, the district organized the body into three specialized teams: a community outreach team, an urban renewal planning team and an urban spatial planning team.
Over the past four years, the task force has laid the groundwork for transforming the district's urban landscape.
Chief among its achievements was spearheading the easing of height restrictions around Namsan — a long-held wish of local residents. Through public forums, surveys and expert consultations, the task force built consensus and proposed a rational height management plan reflecting changed urban conditions, helping to lift regulations that had been in place for decades.
The task force also developed area-specific development strategies. It mapped out high-density, mixed-use development plans for areas along Dasanno and around Yaksu, Cheonggu and Sindang stations, and helped secure selection of a public housing complex project near Yaksu Station, as well as the Hoehyeon New Village and Dasan Human Town 2.0 projects.
Alongside this, it laid the groundwork for new district office buildings in Euljiro-dong and Sogong-dong, which have since been completed, and is advancing plans for a mixed administrative complex in Hoehyeon-dong and public rental industrial facilities.
Strengthening community communication has been one of the task force's key strengths. Through 115 outreach briefings and community education sessions, it explained complex urban planning regulations in terms accessible to residents. It also served as a bridge between residents and the administration on major redevelopment projects — including the Sindang District 10 and Jungnim 398 schemes — helping to keep those projects on track.
Going forward, the task force plans to work closely with residents, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the central government to pursue projects that enhance the district's urban competitiveness. Plans include expanding major lifestyle infrastructure and building 1,000 units of Jung-gu-style public rental housing — branded "Naepyeon Jung-gu STAY" — for young people, newlyweds and non-homeowners.
Alongside this, the district will accelerate the reconstruction of aging office buildings and the development of the Hoehyeon-dong administrative complex, while pushing ahead with low-rise residential development linked to the eased Namsan height restrictions.
"Centered on the Urban Renewal Strategy Task Force, we have spent the past four years setting the broad direction for Jung-gu's urban future, lifting outdated regulations and building the foundation for change together with our residents," District Mayor Kim said. "In the ninth elected term as well, we will work with the task force to steadily advance projects that strengthen Jung-gu's urban competitiveness, so that residents can feel the difference in their daily lives."
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