Revamping the 44-Year-Old Capital Region Plan: Key Proposals for Sustainable Growth

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Yongin Mayor Lee Sang-il said on the 25th that the Metropolitan Area Readjustment Planning Act, enacted 44 years ago, no longer reflects today’s industrial structure or urban environment and demands a comprehensive revision.

Speaking at the second Han River Love Forum in Meeting Room 4 of the National Assembly Members’ Office Building, Mayor Lee warned that regulations based on outdated criteria now impede regional development amid intensified global competition and a shift toward advanced industries.

In a presentation titled “Rationalizing Activity Restrictions in Nature Conservation Zones,” he argued that limits on the size of industrial parks and housing sites in conserved areas have steered development toward small-scale projects, producing haphazard construction, dispersed pollution sources and difficulties in coordinated management.

He proposed increasing the minimum industrial park size from the current 60,000 m² to 300,000 m² to encourage planned, site-centered development, and making shared wastewater-treatment and pollution-control facilities mandatory.

He also recommended moving away from predominantly small housing projects under 60,000 m² by permitting developments of 60,000–100,000 m², provided developers secure essential infrastructure — roads, green space, schools, and water and sewer systems — and adopt mandatory eco-friendly design and systematic management standards.

Lee said these measures aim to balance environmental protection with responsible development.

He stressed that, as circumstances change, authorities should replace one-size-fits-all rules in the Metropolitan Area Readjustment Planning Act with sensible regulations that enable each city in the capital region to plan for a future tailored to its local characteristics.

The forum brought together Han River basin local leaders — including Mayor Lee; Gwangju Mayor Bang Se-hwan; Icheon Mayor Kim Kyung-hee; Yangpyeong County Chief Jeon Jin-seon; and Gapyeong County Chief Seo Tae-won — along with Rep. Song Seok-jun and co-chairs Kang Cheon-sim and Shin Yong-baek of the Special Measures Area Water Quality Conservation Policy Council to discuss regulatory reform and regional cooperation.

Participants concurred that current controls have become excessive and no longer achieve the law’s original goal of balanced development across the capital region.