Measures for efficient use of idle public facilities for innovation and inclusive growth

Lee Seung-wook, Associate Research Fellow

Summary

1> In many small and medium-sized cities across the country, the number of idle public facilities in downtown and old districts is increasing due to expanding scope of lands, population decrease, and decline of small towns. Idle public facilities are left unused as they fail to find new functions for operation 

2> Using those idle facilities within cities can contribute to creating jobs and realizing urban regeneration and inclusive policies of the government such as provision of public rental housing units and securing living infrastructure (SOC)

3> It is noteworthy that many countries use idle public facilities to build community-based clusters along with local resources, introduce flexible multi-purpose system, and pursue urban regeneration projects as an integrated management system

4> As for the government policy concerning the use of idle public facilities, separate acts and regulations are applied to their use and management depending on the entity of owner, and the meaning of idle public facility is not defined by National Land Planning and Utilization Act. Namely, measures for efficient use of idle public facilities or the government support for such activities are insufficient

5> Hence, we need to provide a legal definition of such facilities and check their status mainly led by local governments. Also, there is a need to support the efforts for innovation and inclusive growth by altering the given functions of less used public facilities or providing them with multiple purposes

Policy proposals

① Define innovation and inclusive growth as core values of idle public facilities and set regional innovation, satisfaction of basic public needs, contribution to balanced national development as the policy objectives

② To make idle public facilities contribute to regional innovation and promote their inclusive use, their meaning and concept should be clearly defined in relevant acts, and criteria to define idle public facilities and related procedures should be provided as well 

③ Idle public facilities in local governments should be identified first for efficient use of those facilities from mid- to long-term perspectives and strategies for using those facilities should be developed in advance 

④ Encourage urban regeneration project providers to actively use idle public facilities for job creation, securing of living infrastructure, and improvement of housing environment while implementing the projects

⑤ To establish a system for local governments to use idle public facilities, guidelines for developing management plans of cities and provinces should be revised and there is a need to seek the amendment of State Property Act to promote flexible use of idle administrative resources 

⑥ Establish an integrated system for the management of state-owned/public land and to identify the status and support the decision-making process, and install national/public land research center (tentative name) to develop action plans for their use