Zoning for city center urban design : a comparative study of Korean and American cities

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study focuses on zoning for downtown urban design. It examines whether the zoning is responsive to urban design issues and by comparing zoning within downtown areas of American cities and Korean cities. While two Korean cities – Seoul and Incheon - are selected to study because they recognize issues in downtown areas and put planning efforts, two American cities - New York and San Francisco – are selected to study because these two cities solved their planning issues and achieved high urban design quality.

Analyzing size, shape, number, and contents of zoning by each layer, this study will provide implications for Korean cities how to prepare a downtown plan that achieves high urban design quality.

This study proves that it is common that four studied cities have plans that addresses downtown urban design issues, but the zoning of Seoul and Incheon do not address downtown urban design issue while the zoning of New York City and San Francisco recognize downtown as a planning unit and achieved high urban design quality through downtown planning.

The zoning of San Francisco and New York City identify downtown area at the base and the first overlay zoning layer, and the downtown zoning districts state planning goals and objectives contain urban design elements to achieve their planning goals and objectives. The downtown zoning is divided into various subareas that contain detail urban design elements to address complicated planning issues in downtown areas.

The zoning of the Korea cities do not identify downtown rather it treats the area as a single entity. The contents of the zoning districts are not area-specific but area-blind and do not include detail urban design elements.

The intent of this study is not for arguing that the Korean cities should follow American downtown zoning system but is to prove that zoning in the Korean downtowns is less responsive to the downtown regeneration plan than zoning in the American downtown. Responsive downtown zoning implies zoning that identifies downtown as a special planning unit with its own planning goals and objectives, subdivided into various areas and districts to address complex issues, and includes urban design elements in the zoning contents.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• I. Introduction 1
• 1.1. Research Purpose 2
• 1.2. Methods 4
• II. Downtown Urban Design 9
• 2.1 Overview: Classification of Downtown Plans 10
• 2.2. Overview: Speration of Zoning Districts 18
• III. Downtown Identification 20
• 3.1. Downtown Plans 21
• 3.2. Zoning Districts 22
• 3.3. Summary 23
• IV. Characteristics of Zoning Districts 25
• 4.1. Layer 1: Base Zoning Districts 26
• 4.1.1. Spatial Characteristics 26
• 4.1.2. Regulating Contents 29
• 4.2. Layer 2: Overlay Zoning Districts 33
• 4.2.1. Spatial Characteristics 33
• 4.2.2. Regulating Contents 36
• 4.3. Layer 3: Overlay-II Zoning Districts 39
• 4.3.1. Spatial Characteristics 39
• 4.3.2. Regulating Contents 42
• 4.4. Summary 45
• V. Conclusion 46
• Biblography 48