Housing Policy and Urban Sustainable Development: Evaluating the Process of High-rise Apartment Development in Korea

In Korea, housing shortages have been a high-level social problem for decades. Since the late 1980s, a significant number of housing units (mostly high-rise apartments) has been constructed, with the goal of resolving this issue. In spite of the positive effects on housing supply, many undesirable socioeconomic consequences of urban housing development, such as social exclusion and polarization of housing affordability, etc., have been largely overlooked. Moreover, at this point, the number of high-rise apartments is arguably excessive, leading to particular concern with regard to their need for redevelopment after deterioration. The massive quantities of deteriorated high-rise buildings will be ubiquitous at a certain point in time. Due to changes in social and economic circumstances in Korea, many homeowners of high-rise apartments could be incapable of proceeding with redevelopment based on their own financial resources. The problems facing the present generation will be most likely to be passed on to future generations, further impeding such development efforts. This pervasive and mounting housing and development issue is directly antithetical to the definition of sustainable development proposed by the Brundtland Report.