Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) said on the 5th that the Gunpo Dangjeong industrial innovation zone and urban innovation zone have begun related procedures, including collecting residents' opinions.
LH is pushing the "Gunpo Dangjeong industrial area maintenance project" to transform an aging industrial district of about 77,000 square meters in Dangjeong-dong, Gunpo, into a future-oriented mixed-use complex that blends advanced industry with housing and culture.
Under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT)'s "Phase 1 new town relocation support plan," announced in Dec. 2024, 2,200 dwellings are slated to be supplied by 2029, and the area is expected to accommodate relocation demand stemming from the maintenance of the aging planned cities of Sanbon and Pyeongchon.
LH completed proposals in Dec. last year and Jan. this year to designate the Gunpo Dangjeong industrial area as an "industrial innovation zone and urban innovation zone" with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Gunpo, respectively. The proposal to designate an "industrial innovation zone" under the Urban Industrial Areas Act and an "urban innovation zone" under the National Land Planning and Utilization Act marks the first planning case nationwide for each.
In particular, the recently revised National Land Planning and Utilization Act's use district "urban innovation zone (K-White Zone)" greatly relaxes floor area ratio and building-to-land ratio compared with existing land-use restrictions, making more creative, vertical, high-density mixed-use development feasible. The "urban innovation zone" is a use district that supports creative planning by removing restrictions on land use and density (floor area ratio, building-to-land ratio), among others, to enable high-density mixed-use redevelopment of aging areas within city centers.
Following LH's designation proposal, Gunpo will hold a public inspection for residents from the 5th to Mar. 26 on the industrial innovation zone plan and related matters. Once the public inspection concludes, LH plans to complete consultations with related agencies, impact assessments, and review by the urban planning committee, finalize zone designation and plan approval within the second half of this year, and aim to break ground in the second half of next year.
Kang O-sun, head of LH's regional balance headquarters, said, "The start of these permitting procedures is the first step in rebirthing the Dangjeong-dong industrial area as an 'innovation growth hub' that will lead Gunpo's future," adding, "We will enhance the project's completeness through active communication with residents and concentrate administrative capacity so Gunpo can make a fresh leap forward as a future industrial city."