Gangnam-gu teams up with Seoul to accelerate reconstruction of four Suseo complexes

Gangnam-gu is joining forces with the Seoul Metropolitan Government to accelerate the drafting of improvement plans for four reconstruction complexes in the Suseo land development district.

The district held an on-site joint advisory session Tuesday under Seoul's fast-track integrated planning program, covering the Suseo Dongik, Suseo Sindonga, Suseo Samik and Suseo Hanarum complexes.

The four complexes — Suseo Dongik with 330 units, Suseo Sindonga with 1,162 units, Suseo Samik with 645 units and Suseo Hanarum with 498 units — were completed between 1992 and 1993, bringing the combined total to more than 2,600 units. All are more than 30 years old, and Tuesday's session was their second advisory review, following first-round consultations held in April and June this year.

Unlike previous sessions held at Seoul City Hall, this advisory took place entirely in the field. Urban planning, architecture, transportation and landscape experts, along with officials from Seoul and Gangnam-gu, walked through all four complexes to assess conditions on the ground. They examined pedestrian paths along Gwangpyeong-ro, internal roads, central walkways, the boundary with Sejong High School and connections to nearby facilities including Mongnyeon Children's Park, before moving to the Suseo-dong community center to continue the advisory meeting.

Gangnam-gu invested considerable effort in preparation to ensure the on-site session would yield concrete results. On Oct. 1, the district convened a "one-team" meeting with urban planning and architecture experts and officials from both Seoul and Gangnam-gu to review key issues at each complex in advance. The district then mapped out a walking route and designated briefing spots to cover all four complexes efficiently, and coordinated a detailed schedule with Seoul. On the day of the advisory, the district's reconstruction project division briefed participants directly on the status and key issues at each complex.

Gangnam-gu District Mayor Kim Hyun-ki also attended the session to lend his support. He urged advisory committee members and Seoul officials to "review the plans with the speed that the fast-track integrated planning program's name demands, while carefully examining on-site conditions, since these are residential spaces where residents will live for a long time," adding that he hoped they would "actively offer opinions so that a plan residents can truly feel emerges."

The district is focused on ensuring the session's findings feed quickly into formal improvement plans rather than remaining a one-off site inspection. Gangnam-gu plans to continue coordinating with Seoul to resolve outstanding issues at each complex and will channel administrative support through its "Gangnam Reconstruction Acceleration Task Force," established when the current district administration took office, at each stage of the project.

The Suseo area is slated to host a K-Tech Valley linked to the development of a robot industry zone, and demand for improved residential environments in the area is expected to grow accordingly. The district said it intends to work with Seoul to ensure the broader Suseo Station area is redeveloped in a coherent manner — looking beyond individual complex reconstruction to consider roads, pedestrian corridors and connections to nearby schools and parks.

Early-stage reconstruction procedures are also being advanced in parallel. Using public-support funding secured this year, Gangnam-gu is simultaneously organizing promotion committees for Suseo Hanarum, Suseo Sindonga and Suseo Samik alongside the fast-track advisory process. The aim is to reduce the time lost at the start of each project by preparing improvement plans and resident organizations at the same time.

"The four complexes in the Suseo land development district are places where residents have waited a long time for reconstruction," Gangnam-gu District Mayor Kim Hyun-ki said. "We will provide close support all the way through so that the advisory results translate into actual improvement plans and project momentum, and residents can feel the change."