Effects of Volume Regulation on Urban Spaces in Seoul, South Korea

Abstract

Zoning regulations are largely represented by land use, the floor area ratio (FAR), and building coverage ratio (BCR). Changes in the FAR and BCR directly affect the formation of urban space, making it likely that volumes of building space will be regulated. Volume regulation becomes a significant factor influencing the planning of urban space. Also, it is currently being utilized as one of the most powerful means of regulating zoning, which also affects the formation of urban space. This paper analyzes the characteristics of volume regulation and how volume regulation and changes in regulations, are influencing urban space in terms of a unit of land, suggesting several ways for government to use volume regulation as a means of spatial management. To do this, this study uses a vector autoregressive (VAR) model to analyze the effect of volume regulations on urban spatial factors in residential and commercial areas. The fields to be studied are the Seoul area and five individual life zones. The results show that the impacts are differentiated in an each individual zone. Intensity of regulation and degree of influence, used to represent urban density indicators, are found to be oversimplified, necessitating a conceptualization of the classification of volume regulation and use. In addition, the FAR, which is a useful means of controlling urban space, more strongly affects volume. (C) 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.