Land value uplift for infrastructure in land readjustment: a case study of Yeongdong (Gangnam) in Seoul, South Korea

This paper reviews the economic rationale of Land Readjustment (LR), investigating the (full-)cost recovery principle from the lens of the Henry George theorem in Korean contexts. This research articulates how land value uplift was used for infrastructure in LR. South Korean LR is explored due to the manifestation of the tight link between land value uplift and infrastructure. In Korean LR, a portion of land by private owners should be surrendered for new urban infrastructure. Nevertheless, the LR scheme was accepted by Korean landowners because serviced land converted from un-serviced land is more valuable. This research carries out a case study of the largest Korean LR project - Yeongdong (YD) - a central part of Gangnam in Seoul, on a land area of 26.8 km2 implemented in the period 1967-1991. YD experienced drastic land value uplift as high as almost 13,000 times over twenty-six years after the conversion from farmland. Local-level infrastructure was fully funded by LR by virtue of land value uplift, without other public funds, demonstrating the land value-infrastructure nexus.