Date: November 30 – December 4, 2015 

At: WB and IDB headquarters in Washington D.C. 

The Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS) held an annual workshop and meetings with international organizations from November 30 to December 4, 2015. Through collaboration projects with major international organizations, such as the World Bank (WB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), KRIHS has been making efforts to share Korea’s experience on land and urban development. It has been holding annual seminars with WB and IDB since 2012 and 2013, respectively, to share knowledge in the fields of city, housing, and infrastructure. 

KRIHS held the “KRIHS-WB 4th Annual Workshop on New Paradigm of Korean National Urban Policy” on November 30, 2015. At the opening ceremony, Acting Director Anna Wellenstein of WB delivered an opening address, followed by a welcoming speech by Executive Director Eun Sung-soo of WB and appreciation remarks by Managing Director Chung Ilho of the Global Development Partnership Center (GDPC) of KRIHS. After that, President Kim Dong-ju of KRIHS introduced Korea’s urban development experience for the last 60 years through his presentation “Urban Policy Evolution of Korea: From Input Driven to Innovation Driven”, and he presented what efforts we should make to address Korea’s major urban issues. Three sessions followed, and they were about metropolitan city management, urban regeneration and redevelopment, and Korea’s experience and challenges in the housing sector. WB also presented and discussed the same topics. During the closing ceremony, President Kim Dong-ju wished for the establishment of stronger cooperation between KRIHS and WB through today’s discussions. 

KRIHS held the “KRIHS-IDB Urban Workshop” on December 1. During the opening ceremony, Chief Vicente Fretes of the Fiscal Municipal Management (FMM) had opening remarks, and Managing Director Chung Ilho of GDPC had appreciation remarks. After that, President Kim Dong-ju introduced how we could address major urban problems Latin American countries face through Korea’s experience in addressing urban problems. This workshop, which was in connection with an overseas expert cooperation program jointly held by KRIHS and IDB since June, consisted of various discussions by professionals from the two institutes. The workshop offered a venue to actively discuss how to apply Korea’s development experience in the field of new city, housing, and land to Latin American nations.