Seoul's height easing turns 18 planned homes into 291 in Changsin-dong

Subtract the increase from the total and the earlier plan for the Changsin site allowed 18 homes ^[11]. The revision allows 291 ^[5]. That is roughly 16 times as many ^[12]. The easing on its own does not get there: 1,200 percent against the permitted 880 is 36 percent more floor area, and 139 meters against about 90 is 54 percent more height ^[13]. The revision also names multifamily housing as the site's primary use ^[6].

The developer pays at ground level. An open green space of 1,122 square meters goes on the north and west sides of the site ^[7], and Exits 4 and 5 of Dongdaemun Station move inside it ^[8]. Seoul's "green ecological urban center" approach relaxes height and floor area limits for buildings that are tall and slim and leave green space at grade. It also lets developers raise density in return for providing public space ^[9]. The three named incentives come to 260 points ^[15], and the 1,200 percent cap discards 33.96 points the site has already earned, about 2.8 percent of the calculated total ^[14].

"Projects in northern Seoul had barely progressed because they were not financially viable, but applying the green ecological urban center approach and easing height limits has made them viable," a Seoul city official said ^[17].

The incentive also fixes the shape of the building. Spread 291 units over roughly 49 stories and it comes to about six apartments a floor ^[16]. Floors that small put more of each plate into the core and wrap more facade around each sellable square meter, and against that the developer holds 320 extra points of floor area ratio ^[24]. Neither the site area nor a construction cost appears in the report ^[23].

Sedaily reports that policy for northern Seoul's city center, which had emphasized preserving and regenerating existing buildings, is shifting toward supplying housing and offices by raising height and density in return for green and public space ^[22]. The same report says the city's "golden age for northern Seoul" initiative is now moving redevelopment projects in aging districts that had little development potential ^[18]. The pipeline in the report is three sites. Changsin is out for public comment. Beomseo is conditionally approved, with a right-turn lane added on Tongil-ro to widen it to seven lanes from six and a condition attached for more public open space ^[20]. The third is Districts 58-1 and 58-2 of the Mapo-ro 1st Zone around Sinchon Station on Line 2 ^[21]. In my view the easing is doing at Changsin what the city says it does, and the wider claim runs ahead of the evidence. Two other readings sit alongside it. Height was never the binding constraint and construction costs still decide. Or the formula pays best on larger plots, where 1,200 percent of a bigger site covers the same fixed cost of moving a station entrance. If Changsin keeps its 49 stories on paper and no builder bids, the stall lies somewhere other than the height cap.