Since Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) were introduced into the Korean Building Act in 1991, Seoul has seen a steady increase in installations. Key policy milestones include Korea’s first POPS Design Guideline in 2015, the introduction of indoor POPS in 2022, and strengthened installation standards in 2024—raising the minimum required area (90 m²) and width (9 m) while expanding FAR incentive eligibility within district-unit planning zones. Despite this quantitative growth, qualitative performance has not kept pace. Concerns persist over insufficient eco-friendly design, inadequate maintenance, and limited citizen activation. This study aims to reposition POPS from legally mandated installations into meaningful open urban spaces, establishing comprehensive standards for sustainable, citizen-centered design and management.
Internationally, New York City—where POPS originated in 1961—maintains the most detailed guideline system, covering space dimensions, orientation, circulation, seating types and quantities, lighting levels, standardized signage, and planting criteria. A publicly accessible POPS map, developed collaboratively with the Municipal Art Society in 2018, further supports transparency and citizen use. Toronto, Singapore, and Hong Kong similarly provide quantitative design standards tailored to local conditions. Seoul’s 2015 guideline has served as a reference for other Korean municipalities, but its predominantly qualitative approach allows significant design variability and limits quality assurance. Introducing minimum quantitative standards aligned with leading global practice is therefore necessary.
As of August 2024, Seoul has 2,719 POPS sites totaling 1,467,707 m². Sites are concentrated in Gangnam-gu (327 sites, 12%), Gangseo-gu (295), Yeongdeungpo-gu (267), and Jung-gu (213), while districts such as Gangbuk-gu, Nowon-gu, and Dongjak-gu have relatively few. By scale, 73.5% are small (under 500 m²), and only 12.4% exceed 1,000 m². Aging is a significant concern: 61.3% of sites are more than 10 years old, and 19% of those in Gangnam-gu are over 20 years old. More than half of all sites (52.4%) are located in commercial zones, with 57.1% attached to office buildings. Field assessments reveal common maintenance problems—overpruned or dead trees, failing shrubs and herbaceous plants, poor sunlight access in pilotis and permanently shaded areas, damaged or missing signage, deteriorated benches, soil erosion from planter overflow, and unauthorized smoking areas. Because maintenance responsibility rests with individual building owners, management quality varies widely, underscoring the need for a more structured and enforceable maintenance framework.
User interviews conducted at nine POPS sites indicate that, while citizens visit these spaces two to three times per week, awareness that they are publicly accessible spaces remains very low. Most visits last under 10 minutes, with users citing unclear access, insufficient seating, and a perception that the spaces feel private. Indoor POPS, introduced by Seoul in 2022, receive strong public support (73.2%) for their climate-controlled comfort and weather protection; however, concerns include restricted operating hours, difficult-to-find entrances, and closed spatial configurations. Additionally, 59.8% of survey respondents support allowing limited commercial activities—such as small cafés or pop-up stalls—subject to conditions on area, operating hours, noise, and cleanliness. Overall, citizens most strongly prioritize comfortable seating, shade structures, and enhanced greenery.
Based on these findings, the study reorganizes Seoul’s POPS typology to better reflect actual use patterns and climate conditions. The underperforming “plaza type,” characterized by low utilization and high heat exposure, is eliminated. The “street-side rest type” is consolidated into a “rest type,” and park and garden types are merged into a “garden–green type.” Pilotis, sunken spaces, and indoor POPS are redefined as special structural types with dedicated design standards. This restructuring aligns Seoul’s system more closely with international practice, with greater emphasis on comfort, microclimate quality, and ecological performance.
The proposed Design Guideline introduces stepwise quantitative standards. Key criteria include: minimum area of 90 m², minimum width of 9 m, at least 75% contiguous usable area, a minimum of two entrances directly connected to the sidewalk, barrier-free access with level differences under 0.6 m, and clear separation of circulation and seating zones. Seating must provide at least 25 m per 100 m² (20 m for garden–green type), with at least 50% located within shaded areas. Planting standards specify green area ratios of 20–40% by type, tree density of at least 0.1 trees/m², shrub density of 1.0–3.0 shrubs/m², and a minimum of 25 herbaceous plants/m² for garden-oriented types. Lighting and safety requirements include uniform nighttime illumination, CCTV coverage, emergency call buttons, and ecologically sensitive light controls. Paving must ensure permeability, anti-slip performance, and heat island mitigation. Type-specific standards are also established for pilotis (three-sided openness, no elevation gaps), sunken spaces (enhanced lighting and ventilation, level access), and indoor POPS (minimum 50% transparent façade, 20% green ratio, integrated HVAC systems).
To support practical application, the guideline is accompanied by checklists for use in design and planning review. A common POPS checklist covers five planning criteria—accessibility, convenience, comfort, landscape and design quality, and sustainability—while supplemental checklists address the specific requirements of indoor, pilotis, and sunken types. These tools translate guideline requirements into verifiable items suitable for architectural design review, building permit evaluation, and post-construction inspection.
On the maintenance and operations side, a formal maintenance agreement between the building owner and the district office is proposed, clarifying responsibilities for inspections, repairs, reporting, and citizen engagement. A revised POPS management ledger supports integrated documentation of maintenance status, inspection outcomes, improvement histories, and citizen reports. Permitted, approved, and prohibited activities are clearly defined. Limited small-scale commercial uses are proposed for conditional allowance, subject to a maximum area of 30%, restricted operating hours, noise and hygiene obligations, full restoration after use, and partial reinvestment of revenues into maintenance costs. Temporary events follow a standardized four-step process—application, approval review, pre-event inspection, and post-event verification with public disclosure—to ensure transparency and accountability.
Overall, this study presents a comprehensive framework for advancing Seoul’s POPS policy, integrating enhanced design standards, a strengthened maintenance structure, and a clearer operational system. Together, these measures aim to transform POPS into high-quality, climate-responsive, and publicly meaningful spaces that enrich everyday urban life across the dense and diverse neighborhoods of Seoul.