Resident participation in urban renewal: Focused on Sewoon Renewal Promotion Project and Kwun Tong Town Centre Project

Abstract

This study aimed to identify problems related to resident participation by analyzing urban renewal projects. It attempted to draw specific measures to promote participation of residents that can be applied immediately and suggested practical ways to make use of resident participation at each stage of aproject.

The study, by closely examining the cases of Seoul and Hong Kong, is expected to help diversify ways to encourage residents participate in urban renewal projects and stimulate their active engagement. In light of its contribution to building up a constructive communication platform among administrations, experts, project managers, and residents, this study can serve as the basis material for carrying out projects effectively.

In this study, resident participation methods were classified according to the frequency of application in four items, namely, administration-led, expert-led, resident-led, and complex-led participation.

Improvement measures were suggested regarding resident participation based on leading entities. The measures suggested in this work willcontribute to the realization of “urban renewal projects for residents and communities and byresidents,” where residents actively engage in the overall project processes and, as the proponents of urban renewal, gradually be familiar with it; express their opinions regarding the project; and fully enjoy the benefits from the project.

Key words： Urban renewal; Administration-led resident participation; Expert-led resident participation; Resident-led participation; Complex entity-led resident participation