Urban growth pattern and sustainable development: a comparative study of municipalities in the Seoul Metropolitan Region

摘要

The main purpose of this study was to obtain a better understanding of the impactof urban growth and change on sustainability based on a comparative study ofmunicipalities comprising Gyeonggi Province within the Seoul Metropolitan Region,Korea over the 1990-2000 period. To examine the impact of urban growth and change onsustainability, this study selected 38 sustainability indicators (population density, wasterecycling rate, time spent commuting, etc.) and then measured progress towardssustainability in 31 study areas for the years 1990, 1995 and 2000. Data for this study weredrawn from the 1990-2000 censuses and local government publications. Statistical methodssuch as t-test, analysis of variance and factor analysis were used to answer the researchquestions.This study led to five major findings. First, the study areas with higher densitiesshowed the lower mean values of sustainability. This result implies that increased densitydoes not necessarily result in improved sustainability. Second, the level of sustainabilityhas increased over time in urban areas with green belt, but the mean differences were not statistically significant. On the contrary, the level of sustainability continued to decline intheir surrounding areas over the study period. In particular, there was a significant declinebetween 1995 and 2000. Third, for the entire region, the overall level of sustainability hasnot improved over the study period. However, different trends of sustainability haveemerged within different parts of the region. Fourth, there were significant differences inthe mean values for the level of sustainability among three zones within the region. Overall,the level of sustainability was much higher in the nature preservation zone (wheredevelopment projects are strictly controlled to protect natural resources) than in the growthmanagement zone (where urban development consistent with the planned land use isallowed) and the over-concentration control zone (where further development isdiscouraged to control population growth) during the study period. Fifth, although therewere some variations in elements affecting the pattern of sustainability for each year, keyelements influencing the pattern of sustainability remained relatively stable over the studyperiod.