Urban Containment Policies and the Protection of Natural Areas: The Case of Seoul's Greenbelt

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Countries around the world have responded to the problems associated with rapid urban growth and increasingly land-consumptive development patterns by creating a wide range of policy instruments designed to manage urban growth. Of the array of growth management techniques, urban containment policies are considered by some to be a promising approach. This paper focuses on greenbelts, the most restrictive form of urban containment policy. The long-standing greenbelt of Seoul, Republic of Korea is examined as a case study. Seoul's greenbelt has generated both significant social costs and benefits. Costs include higher land and housing prices in the urban area surrounded by the greenbelt, additional costs incurred by commuters who live beyond the greenbelt and work in Seoul, and increased congestion and related quality of life impacts. Benefits include the amenity value of living near the greenbelt, recreational resources, bequest and heritage values, fiscal savings due to increased efficiency in the provision of public services and infrastructure, and a wide range of life-supporting ecosystem services. After standing virtually unchanged for almost three decades, Korea's greenbelt policy is currently being revised and weakened, largely due to pressure from greenbelt landowners and developers. Although there is no definitive answer to the question of whether Seoul would be a more or less "sustainable city" today without the greenbelt, it is certain that in the absence of the greenbelt, Seoul would have lost much of its rich natural heritage and essential ecosystem services.

Land-Use Structure and Urbanization-Driven Land Fragmentation: Revisiting the Monocentric Model in a Sprawling Region

“…In some European countries, land-use plans prescribe the design of greenbelts seen as physical boundaries separating urban and rural areas. In many cases, greenbelts have proved to be effective in the containment of sprawl (Bengston and Youn, 2006). However, most of those policy strategies -when applied -have revealed only partly effective in northern Mediterranean cities because of the lack of explicit goals (Bengston et al, 2004;Koomen et al, 2008;Salvati et al, 2013).…”

Greening metropolitan growth: integrating nature recreation, compactness and spaciousness in regional development planning

“…Research also shows that where state control and planning authority is diminishing and market forces take over, previously protected green belts, such as those in post-Soviet Russia, are developed by "elite suburban housing" (Boentje & Blinnikov 2007). Similar development is ongoing in Beijing (Yang & Jinxing 2007), Hong Kong (Tanga et al 2007) and Seoul (Bengston & Youn 2006). However, when looking at the city cores in heavily sprawled cities such as Detroit, Atlanta, and Dallas, there seems to be a relation.…”

“…This will actually enhance negative consequences of sprawl, such as automobile dependency and low levels of public transport for those living outside the UGB. Also differences in housing prices increase creating patterns of social segregation (Bengston & Youn 2006). Research also shows that where state control and planning authority is diminishing and market forces take over, previously protected green belts, such as those in post-Soviet Russia, are developed by "elite suburban housing" (Boentje & Blinnikov 2007).…”

“…The outcomes of green belts and UGBs have been heavily debated, and research shows that these land use policies could compact city cores preserving prime farm and forest lands from urban encroachment (Nelson & Moore 1993, Nelson 1999, leading to benefits from the amenity value of living near the greenbelt, recreational resources, bequest and heritage values, and biodiversity (Bengston & Youn 2006). On the other hand, green belts mean that fast growing cities leap-frog over the boundary and actually develop low density sprawl (Nelson 1994, Kelly 1993).…”

A methodology to determine the potential of urban densification through roof stacking

“…The UGB boundary may also be reassessed and extended based on current need to accommodate additional population (Bengston & Youn, 2006). The third type of urban containment policy is the urban service boundary, which is more flexible than the UGB.…”