Penn IUR's Research for South Korea

Penn IUR is working with the Urban Sustainability Laboratory at the Washington-based Wilson Center, a convenor of comparative research with U.S and South Korean scholars and practitioners involving the Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) and the Land and Housing Institute (LHI) of South Korea. The Center has assembled a team of knowledge partners including Penn IUR, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and American University to develop U.S. case studies that inform specific research questions on housing development and financing practices and policies posed by South Korean sponsors. In late October, Penn IUR presented research findings at the Korea City Renaissance Industry Expo (CRIEXPO).

Penn IUR has been working with this partnership for three years. First efforts have included an exploration of Business Improvement Districts and their investments in public space (see “Comparative Study of Urban Regeneration in the United States and South Korea: Business Improvement Districts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania”) and partnerships financing large-scale housing projects in the U.S. such as Pacific Park (formerly Atlantic Yards) in Brooklyn New York (Comparative Study of Urban Regeneration in the United States and South Korea: Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn, NY). Eugénie Birch, Penn IUR Co-Director, and Amanda Lloyd, Penn IUR Program Director, Global Research Initiatives, presented the findings of these projects to HUG in Seoul and Busan respectively in September 2019 and 2020. Along with their Korean and other knowledge partners, they presented the results of the whole project at the World Urban Forum in February 2020.

This fall, Penn IUR is involved in two projects. The first is an examination of models to finance affordable moderate-to-middle-income rental housing. The second project examines urban regeneration and disaster resilience focusing on the use of vacant land. Penn IUR is contributing case studies on Greater Miami and Philadelphia. Ms. Lloyd presented initial research findings at CRIEXPO on October 28, 2021. The report will be available in early 2022.

Penn IUR’s interest in comparative urbanization research between U.S. and South Korea dates back to 2014, when Penn IUR hosted, as part of its 10th anniversary event series, “The Future of Urbanization: What Can We Learn from Asian Cities?” an event that included a presentation by Dr. Kyung-Hwan Kim, former President of the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements. Kim, now Professor of Economics at Sogang University, is a Penn IUR Scholar.