Operation Improvement Plan for the Central Urban Planning Committee

Research Fellow Joong Eun Kim, 

Associate Research Fellow Yujin Bae

Summary

1. (Functional aspect) ① The majority of the approval authorities for urban planning have been transferred to local governments, and the type of deliberation agenda of the Central Urban Planning Committee* is focused on the cancellation · management of development restriction zones and the designation of public housing districts, ② The role of the Committee is concentrated in the deliberation of this type of agenda, and therefore investigation · research or advisory functions are relatively overlooked, ③ It is pointed out that it is difficult to maintain consistency in deliberation due to the absence of deliberation criteria by type of agenda

* As the top deliberation body in the area of urban planning, the Committee conducts deliberation, investigation, and research on matters belonging to the authority of the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in accordance with Article 106 of the ⸢National Land Planning and Utilization Act⸥

2. (Operational Aspects) ① Sectional committees and subcommittees which are set up to efficiently review committee agendas are not properly utilized, ② Concerns on the weakening of professionalism of the Committee due to the distribution of majors, genders, and regions in the selection of committee members, and objectivity in the selection process of committee members due to lack of evaluation procedures · standards may be raised, ③ Administrative hierarchies and limitations on manpower and budget for the dedicated organizations supporting the operation of the Committee have been pointed out

3. Based on the operating cases of the Urban Planning Committee in metropolitan municipalities such as Seoul and Gyeonggi, and the operating cases of similar organizations in the UK, Japan, etc., the plans to strengthen the deliberation · advisory functions and to improve the operation methods of the Central Urban Planning Committee are proposed

Future Tasks

① (Strengthening the deliberation · advisory functions of the Committee) ① Management by converting the deliberation standards into bylaws or guidelines, ② Necessity to operate separate rules that determine the agenda for advisory items and to conduct investigation · research directly by the Central Urban Planning Committee, ③   Coordination of works by sectional committees in order to shorten the deliberation time and to conduct in-depth and professional deliberations and activation of subcommittees for preliminary investigation

② (Strengthening Support for Committee Operation) ① In order to improve fairness in the process of organizing private committee members of the Central Urban Planning Committee and to objectively evaluate the professionalism of the committee members, ‘Private Committee Member Selection Committee (tentative name)’ is organized and operated, ② Establishment of an archive on the results of the deliberation and publication of annual reports for promoting consistent deliberation, ③ Enhancement of the status under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport organization to expand the manpower of the operation support department and to ensure independence