Learning from Seoul: Public Rental Housing Development in South Korea and Its Implications for China’s Affordable Housing System Toward “Better Housing”

In the context of China’s vigorous promotion of “better housing” construction, transforming affordable housing into “better housing” has become an important practical task. Since the 1960s, when the public housing system was standardized, South Korea has established a diversified and high-quality public housing supply system. Therefore, this study takes public rental housing in Seoul as examples, summarizes the development experience of public housing in South Korea, with the aim of providing new inspirations for the development direction, concepts, and spatial optimization of affordable housing in China. The research examines the Korean public housing policies, housing history, and cultural background from a theoretical perspective, analyzes the formation background and supply types of public housing, as well as the evolution mechanism of the unit plan, and takes typical public rental housing completed in the 2010s as examples to analyze and explore the spatial composition and structural characteristics of the affordable housing unit plans. Finally, based on China’s national conditions, this study highlights the policy implications of South Korea’s public housing experience for the development of affordable housing in China and proposes a “policy-space-culture” tripartite guidance framework to support the realization of the goal of constructing “better housing” within the affordable housing sector. Specifically, (1) at the policy level, it is recommended to establish a multi-tiered supply mechanism and implement an early warning system for emerging affordable housing demands; (2) at the spatial design level, standardization and modularization of housing design are advocated; and (3) at the cultural level, it is suggested to enhance cultural adaptability by aligning housing design with local residential culture and residents’ living habits.