Reforming land expropriation and public participation in urban development: institutional challenges and policy directions in Korea

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This study examines the mechanisms and institutional determinants of citizen participation in Korea’s land expropriation process for urban public projects. While participation is formally embedded in hearings, consultations, and administrative reviews, its substantive influence on decision-making remains limited. Existing research has rarely investigated how participation opportunities evolve over different procedural phases of expropriation, or how institutional conditions shape transitions from government-led consultation to collaborative or citizen-initiated engagement. This study seeks to provide a coherent analytical explanation of why certain modes of citizen participation prevail at specific stages of the expropriation process and how procedural design can contribute to more equitable governance outcomes. Using legal analysis and process tracing of three Korean cases, supported by targeted international analogies, the research identifies how appraisal operates as a critical threshold that restructures power relations and constrains the scope of negotiation. The findings suggest that when information asymmetry decreases and remedy costs rise, participation tends to shift from administrative consultation to quasi-judicial arbitration or litigation, reproducing institutional asymmetry. The paper contributes theoretically by extending Arnstein’s ladder into a dynamic, phase-based framework and empirically implying Fung and Wright’s concept of Empowered Participatory Governance (EPG) reveal how institutional design can promote earlier, more substantive engagement. Policy implications include establishing prior-conference systems, multi-agency appraisal mechanisms, and public arbitration platforms to enhance procedural justice and democratic accountability in land governance.