ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a development history at the urban, regional, and national levels and discusses policy issues in urban and regional development in Korea. A modern form of the metropolitan city of Seoul was established in 1949, a year after the foundation of South Korea. The paradigm shift in urban development practice in Seoul reflects greater changes in a social atmosphere that prefers quality to quantity and places more emphasis on people than on physical space. The significant expansion and its surrounding areas in Gyeonggi Province caused over-concentration of population as well as social, economic, and education institutions in the capital region. The traditional approach for regional development policy focuses on quantitative growth. Policy debates have centered around whether concentrated or balanced regional growth is more effective for further growth. The government has adopted the new approach and highlighted happiness and the quality of life issue in regional development policy.
