Measures to Connect Land/Urban Plans to Plans for Coastal Areas

Park Jongsun, Associate Research Fellow, Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements

Summary

1. (Current issue) With growing demand for development, the coastal areas in Korea have witnessed intensified conflict between development and preservation, suffered damage to the coastal landscape, and are faced with a risk of coastal erosion and flooding. Thus, measures are urgently needed.  

2. (Cause of the problem) In the coastal area, coastal land is managed under land law, and coastal waters under coastal law. 

3. (Proposed measure) A land/city plan should consider social, economic, and environmental conditions of the coastal area, and a complementary relationship should be built between the coastal plan and the land/urban plan. 

- The conflict between development and preservation of the coastal areas can be mitigated by conducting a land suitability assessment that reflects characteristics of the coastal areas. 

- Support planning by setting and sharing common survey items for the coastal land areas and coastal waters, maintain consistency between urban plans and coastal plans, and plan and perform projects considering characteristics of the coastal areas

Policy Implications

① Prepare a comprehensive survey and an information sharing system: Build a comprehensive survey system that handles all basic survey items used by various laws and organizations. Share the system through an information sharing system.

② Create a communication channel between the plans: In the pipeline phase of the city and coastal plans, the following actions are needed: create an official channel through which each party can participate in drawing up of the other’s plan; write up a city/county (gun) basic plan including parts of the coastal management area plan; and perform a land suitability assessment considering characteristics of the coastal area. 

③ Introduce a system such as strengthening the land planning assessment: In the evaluation phase, perform a land planning assessment considering characteristics of the coastal area. It is also needed to introduce a cumulative and mutual effect evaluation system and Germany’s environmental damage adjustment system.