Enhancing Sustainable Urban Regeneration through Smart Technologies: An Assessment of Local Urban Regeneration Strategic Plans in Korea

This study develops multiple evaluation indexes in the context of sustainable urban regeneration through introducing smart technologies/infrastructures and assesses 63 local urban regeneration strategic plans by using the content analysis method. A total of 107 indexes are developed based on the four aspects (economy, society and culture, environment, and livability) of sustainability. From our findings, the average plan quality score of 54 local governments’ plans is 17.5 out of 50, with the metropolitan governments’ plans averaging 16.8, which indicates that the plans currently sampled do not sufficiently reflect the basic concepts of sustainable and smart urban regeneration. The contents of most of the plans generally focus on specific sectors, such as society, culture, and housing, whereas smart technology-related information and policies are relatively deficient. Among the five plan components (factual bases, goals/objectives, policies/strategies, implementation, coordination) reviewed, the implementation component receives the highest score, while indicators related to action strategies are mentioned least often. In particular, the results reveal that indexes relating to the energy and transportation sectors are not frequently mentioned; as such, each municipality is recommended to work to increase awareness of smart technologies and policies. For urban regeneration projects to be sustainable, multi-faceted policies must be implemented by various stakeholders with a long-term perspective. The results of this study can be used as a base for local planners and decision-makers when adopting and supplementing existing regeneration plans, and can contribute to promoting more sustainable urban regeneration through actively adopting various smart technologies initiatives.