Housing poverty and the role of urban governance in Korea

This paper describes how South Korea’s rapid economic growth failed to produce solutions to housing problems in urban areas. In 2000, nearly onequarter of all households lived in accommodation that did not meet minimum standards in terms of floor space and basic facilities. Many households live in single rooms in illegal or sub-standard lodgings, or in houses built of vinyl and thin wooden boards; most such accommodation lacks basic facilities. Very few housing options are available to low-income households in Seoul. This, combined with democratization and the increasing gap in housing conditions between the rich and the poor, has contributed to an increasingly vocal civil society, making the governance of settlements a major political issue over the last decade. The ineffectiveness of past and current government policies suggests the need for a conceptual change in government’s approach to improving housing conditions for lower-income groups. In the Korean context, since the late 1990s, the enabling approach has begun to be seen as more important than other approaches, in part because it conforms with, but also requires, democratic participation.