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Busan Metropolitan City Completes Lifting of Development Restriction Zone (GB) for West Busan Integrated Industrial Complex: A Leap Toward an Innovative Future City

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced today (29) that it has completed the official announcement lifting the Development Restriction Zone (GB) designation for approximately 1.3 square kilometers (㎢) of the “West Busan Integrated Industrial Complex.”

Following the Development Restriction Zone (GB) lifting approval by the Central Urban Planning Committee under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) on October 23, the City finalized the announcement procedures in about two months, sounding the starting gun for full-scale project implementation.

This lifting marks a major achievement accomplished through the City’s proactive efforts, eight years after the proposal was rejected by MOLIT in 2017 due to insufficient public interest.

To strengthen public interest, the City decided to involve Busan Metropolitan Corporation and addressed complex procedures step by step over five years, including consultations on agricultural suitability, strategic environmental impact assessment, public inspection, and inter-ministerial consultations. A long-standing project long desired by Gangseo-gu residents for eight years has finally come to fruition, further raising expectations for a new future city in West Busan.

In addition, on December 4, lifting of the Development Restriction Zone (GB) designation for approximately 2.3 square kilometers (㎢) of the “Daejeo Public Housing District” was approved by MOLIT’s Central Urban Planning Committee. With this, West Busan’s triangular belt—“R&D → Industry & Logistics → Housing”—is now complete.

The Busan R&D Special Zone (R&D-based specialized industries), the West Busan Integrated Industrial Complex (industry and logistics), and the Daejeo and Gangdong Public Housing Districts (housing) will be connected as one, forming a West Busan revitalization belt of “R&D → Industry & Logistics → Housing.”

This signifies the realization of a “job–housing proximity self-sufficient city,” where workplaces and residences are close together. Residents of the West Busan area will no longer need to commute long distances, and they will experience a 15-minute city where jobs, housing, and essential living infrastructure are all available in one place.

For the “Northeast Asia Logistics Platform (Tri-Port Integrated Logistics Industrial District),” selected in February this year as a MOLIT regional strategic project, the City launched a service in October with the goal of lifting the Development Restriction Zone (GB) designation for approximately 2.3 square kilometers (㎢) next year.

Together with the Second Eco Delta City, also selected as a regional strategic project, the West Busan area is transforming into a core hub where Busan’s future new growth engines are concentrated.

Including areas where lifting has been completed and those scheduled for lifting, the City has been pursuing the lifting of Development Restriction Zone (GB) designations totaling approximately 19 square kilometers (㎢) over the course of this year, accelerating a full-scale reconfiguration of the city’s spatial structure. This scale—equivalent to about 30 percent (%) of the area of Geumjeongsan National Park and about 3.5 times the size of Haeundae Green City—is the largest in the nation.

This year, the City pursued the lifting of Development Restriction Zone (GB) designations at four sites in West Busan and one site in East Busan.

In particular, the City played a leading role in securing the maximum possible volume even under the total cap on GB lifting, by directly planning and coordinating demanding processes such as selection for national and regional strategic projects under a central government competitive program, 대응 to deliberations by the Central Urban Planning Committee, and consultations with MOLIT. In effect, the City resolved long-stagnant issues related to Development Restriction Zones (GB) and compressed a generation’s worth of decisions to restructure the city’s spatial framework into a single year.

With sweeping deregulation of Development Restriction Zones (GB) that had long constrained Busan, major changes are expected across multiple areas, including addressing the shortage of industrial complexes, expanding housing supply, and creating jobs.

Mayor Park Heong-joon stated, “This year marks the year in which the greatest spatial constraints have been lifted since the designation of Development Restriction Zones in 1971, and it is a historic period in which we have reorganized the foundation for future growth,” adding, “Our goal is to remove the long-standing shackles of regulation and maximize Busan’s growth potential.”

He also emphasized, “Alongside the recently designated urban-type national park at Geumjeongsan, we will pursue the lifting of Development Restriction Zones (GB) on the largest scale in the nation, and elevate Busan into a ‘global green city where nature and innovation coexist,’ achieving a balance between conservation and development,” and added, “In particular, we will build an efficient urban foundation—housing, work, leisure, and education—to realize a sustainable 15-minute city model.”