Busan is good

Busan Metropolitan City Explores Intergenerational, Age-Friendly Housing Strategies Through the “2025 Busan Housing Forum”

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that it will host the “2025 Busan Housing Forum” today (27th) at 2 p.m. in the Main Conference Room of Busan City Hall.

The “Busan Housing Forum,” launched in May to advance Busan’s housing policies and promote expert collaboration, held its inaugural general meeting on June 24. This forum marks the first official, regularized event since its establishment.

At this event, approximately 100 participants—including forum members, experts in housing, urban planning, and architecture, public officials, and citizens—will engage in wide-ranging discussions on the theme “Intergenerational, Age-Friendly Housing Policies for Busan: Vision and Tasks.”

The program will begin with a keynote presentation by Han Young-sook, CEO of Siteplanning Co., Ltd., titled “Transitioning to a Living-Care City: The Potential of Public Rental Senior Housing.” This will be followed by:
• A presentation by Yoon Young-ho, Director of the Housing Research Institute of the Korean Housing Society, on “Origins and Future Prospects of Domestic Intergenerational Housing Complexes,” and
• A presentation by Lee Ji-hye, researcher at the Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC), on “Toward a Happy Residential City – Singapore’s Integrated Urban and Housing Strategies.”

In the subsequent comprehensive discussion session, Shin Byung-yoon, Professor at Dong-Eui University, will serve as moderator. The panel will include Kwon Hyun-joo, Professor at Pusan National University; Jung So-yi, Researcher at the Land & Housing Institute of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH); and the three previous presenters. Together, they will exchange diverse perspectives on “the feasibility of intergenerational, age-friendly housing complexes based on domestic and international case studies and strategies for applying these concepts in Busan.”

The “Busan Housing Forum” consists of around 100 experts from various fields—including housing, architecture, urban planning, welfare, and finance—who voluntarily participate. The forum selects and examines key annual topics linked to the city’s major housing policies, such as the “2032 Busan Comprehensive Housing Plan” and the “Five Priority Tasks for Happy Housing.”

It is organized under a structure that includes Co-Chairs (City–Busan Architects Association), an Operating Committee, a Secretariat, and general members.

Building upon this first forum, the city plans to significantly expand regular forum operations moving forward. Beginning next year (2026), it will diversify discussion formats through ad-hoc forums and workshops.

Seong Heui-yeob, Vice Mayor for Future Innovation, stated, “Intergenerational housing strategies represent a strategic task that presents a new standard for cities amid the profound demographic shift toward a super-aged society.” He added, “We expect this regularly-held forum—the first since the forum’s foundation—to serve as a starting point for shaping Busan’s housing future in concrete terms and usher in the first year of housing innovation that citizens can truly feel.”