Yeongdeungpo-gu has launched a push for regulatory reform to protect residents from data centers spreading unchecked through residential neighborhoods.
Data centers have become essential infrastructure as the AI industry expands, but concerns are mounting over electricity shortages caused by their massive power consumption and water scarcity driven by excessive cooling demands. The United States and China have recently moved to restrict data center construction for the same reasons.
Within Yeongdeungpo-gu, eight sites are currently in various stages of data center development — one completed, two under construction, one planned, and four with building permit or review applications pending.
Should additional applications come in beyond those already in progress, the district's seven substations would be unable to meet the resulting power demand, potentially disrupting electricity supply to ordinary buildings as well as redevelopment and reconstruction projects across the area.
Under current law, however, data centers are classified as broadcasting and telecommunications facilities and face no construction restrictions outside first-class general residential zones. Local governments have no legal basis to deny building permits by weighing local power conditions or residents' concerns.
In response, the district is moving forward with regulatory reforms that would make architectural review mandatory for data center construction projects affecting large numbers of residents, and would restrict data centers from being built in residential zones.
As a first step, the district proposed the reform at the Seoul District Mayors' Council's 203rd regular meeting on Wednesday, where it passed unanimously. Building on that vote, the district plans to ask the Seoul Metropolitan Government to revise the operating guidelines of the Seoul Metropolitan Architecture Committee to include data centers among the projects subject to district-level review.
The district also plans to push for amendments to the Seoul Metropolitan Government's urban planning ordinance to extend construction restrictions to second- and third-class general residential zones.
Over the longer term, the district intends to call for revisions to the Building Act that would allow local governments to deny building permits for data centers even in quasi-residential, quasi-industrial and commercial zones.
"Residents have serious concerns about data centers moving into densely populated residential areas," district mayor Cho Yu-jin said. "Given the climate crisis and the issues around power and water supply, it would be best to urgently amend the relevant laws and ordinances so that local governments can decide whether to grant building permits at the district level."
Residents can share everyday inconveniences, policy suggestions or ideas related to Yeongdeungpo-gu directly with the district mayor through the dedicated public communication hotline.
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