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Busan Metropolitan City Launches Full-Scale Living Area Plan to Revitalize the Original Downtown and Improve Residents’ Quality of Life

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that it will establish a living area plan to address various urban challenges in the original downtown and enhance the city’s competitiveness. This is the second customized living area plan, following the Western Busan–Gangdong area.

The term “living area” refers to a spatial range in which citizens’ everyday activities—such as commuting, shopping, leisure, community activities, work, and public services—take place.

The city aims to proactively respond to the diverse urban issues escalating in the original downtown area due to rapid urban change—including deteriorating residential conditions, transportation challenges, and stagnant commercial districts—and to restore the functional roles of the region and promote balanced development.

The original downtown has long faced urban vitality decline and widening regional disparities caused by population outflow, an increase in vacant houses, and shortages in infrastructure. Recognizing the limitations of fragmented approaches, the city will work with local residents to develop a community-based strategic response plan grounded in the spatial scope of their actual daily lives (living areas), identifying solutions for original downtown revitalization.

The planning area includes Jung-gu, Seo-gu, Dong-gu, Yeongdo-gu, Busanjin-gu, and Nam-gu, which correspond to the central living area under the Busan 2040 Urban Plan.

According to the Busan Urban Master Plan 2040, the “large living areas” consist of the Western, Central, and Eastern Busan regions.
Within these, the “central living areas” are divided into Gangseo, Gangdong, Dongnae, the original downtown, Gijang, and Haeundae.

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The city launched the planning consultancy on the 25th of last month and will begin baseline surveys and analyses of living area conditions starting this month. Based on these investigations, the city will formulate a comprehensive plan tailored to the characteristics of the original downtown.

The city will conduct detailed analyses of local characteristics and population scale in the original downtown to devise measures for effective urban spatial management, forecast sustainable urban growth, and revitalize the region. Through this work, the city intends to establish detailed, customized strategies for each district, enabling residents to feel tangible improvements in their daily living environments.

Key planning components include development strategies related to high-altitude residential environments and the utilization of coastal and marine cultural resources.

More specifically, the city plans to develop strategies tailored to regional characteristics by:
• improving infrastructure in high-altitude residential areas,
• considering the relaxation of height district regulations,
• enhancing housing environments,
• revitalizing the area through projects such as the redevelopment of North Port and the relocation of railway facilities,
• managing coastal resources systematically,
• advancing new industries that utilize marine cultural assets, and
• fostering the region as a hub for international finance, business, and trade.

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In particular, the city intends to actively engage with local youth, residents, and district governments throughout the development of the living area plan for the original downtown. By doing so, Busan Metropolitan City will refine its policies to reflect residents’ lifestyles and real needs, and establish strategies to build and expand 15-minute cities.

Beginning in the first half of 2026, the city will form and operate a resident participation group, enabling diverse communication with younger generations and gathering insights from residents who best understand the local community. The city will incorporate these perspectives into a citizen-led, bottom-up planning process to derive a future vision and development direction tailored to each area.

Furthermore, the city will adopt resident proposals as a core value, developing a refined 15-minute city strategy alongside a living social overhead capital (SOC) plan that reflects residents’ opinions.

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Meanwhile, to address the long-standing imbalance between the eastern and western parts of the city and explore development strategies for Western Busan, the city previously initiated the Gangdong-area living area plan in December 2023. The city is currently establishing detailed development strategies and management measures for each living area, and plans to finalize and announce the plan in the first half of 2026 after conducting public hearings and related procedures.

Mayor Park Heong-joon stated, “We will establish a resident-centered, on-the-ground plan that revitalizes the original downtown and enhances citizens’ quality of life. We will also promptly advance the living area plans for the remaining four regions. By crafting policies aligned with each area’s characteristics, we will address regional disparities, achieve sustainable urban development, and do our utmost to realize a global hub city.”