Korea, within its small territory, should make the best of the
available space. Land and housing policies have proposed to mitigate
social problems, such as speculation in real estate in the process of rapid
economic growth and polarization between haves and have-nots. The
land use related questions have been an incessant theme of discussion
people continue to talk about. For this reason, even the statesmen are
very sensitive to these questions. In fact, Korea achieved an exceptional
economic development during the past six decades after the Korean War.
It is true that any similar cases are very hard to find in other society.
However, discussions on social value related issues were not sufficiently
made. So, there are still some dichotomous controversies contrasting two
different orientations, for example government intervention vs.
protection of private property, territorial development vs. protection of
environment, growth vs. redistribution of wealth, and so on. In order
to accelerate public discussions on these issues and to manage consensus
building process in an effective manner, it is necessary to study the
experiences of the countries that went through these situations earlier
than Korea.
The reasons why France was selected as country of reference for
Korea in this report are as follows; First, France has a tradition of a strong
central government. Even though its territorial planning system was
decentralized in early 1980s, basic orientations of the land use policy
are still at the hands of the central government. Second, France adopted
the continental legal system which values are stipulated in laws. It makes
it distinguished from Anglo-Saxon legal system emphasizing precedents
and custom. Third. France succeeded in reconstructing its territory after
the World Wars in the 19 century.
The French territorial development policies can be looked into from
three angles : institutional, operational and individual. From the
institutional view-point, it is primarily municipality's responsibility to
make local land use plan. Municipality knows local situation better than
any other geographical entities. Therefore, it takes initiative to make local
city planning documents like SCOT, PLU, and carte communale. The
State intervenes when municipalities do not have such an ability or when
some regulations need to be imposed to promote public interest in
general. This is a supplementary and residual intervention. The
documents prepared by municipal government should be compatible
with legal documents of upper level. So, a lots of actors including central
government agency participate in the elaboration process.
When it comes to the operational aspect, there are some coercive
measures which limit property right to secure land for public needs.
Expropriation, preemption right, and land banking for reserve of land
are some examples. In addition, some special tools are utilized to
supplement general planning system. These include ZAC, secteur
sauvegard, and actions for restoring the degraded areas in city.
Finally concerning the individual aspect, authorization system can
be the main tool. The most common examples are construction permit,
rehabilitation permit and demolition permit. Authorization is an
administrative action which makes possible what is generally forbidden.
It is basically based on the premise that private property right is more
or less limited. Historically it was introduced to prevent disordered development. And it constitutes an important axe of French territorial development policy. Along with this, certificat d'urbanisme which contains project information given by public bodies and declaration pravailable, a form of less regulatory than authorization, were also put into practice.
To back up these three aspects of the French territorial development system, it is also important to be equipped with an efficient task processing capability, financial measures and effective control mechanism for legality and responsibility. Especially, various types of taxes are used to coordinate different policies. They can be categorized into three types according to the phase of project : development phase, transaction phase, and acquisition and possession phase.
The French system evolved over a long period of time. So, it shows its complex characteristics. However, it provides some important implications. Above all, municipal government leads the decision making process for local land use planning and central government makes supplementary interventions. Especially, when a municipal government can not take up responsibility for the whole concerned area, cooperation between municipalities is encouraged. And, regulation on space is combined with the objectives of social policies. This shows a multi-dimensional approach of territorial development system, reflecting the notions of sustainable development, social mix, etc., now discussed worldwide. Under this reality, it is necessary to take various approaches in consideration. And for this, a consensus-building process through much discussion should be preceded.