With the enactment of the Special Act on urban regeneration in 2013, urban regeneration policy of South Korea has begun in earnest. Furthermore, it was designated as one of the government’s major projects in the Moon administration and is expected to be promoted extendedly. Over the course of institutionalisation, Korean urban regeneration was highly influenced by the UK’s urban regeneration policy, which resulted in large degree of similarities. Yet, the existing literature on the urban regeneration policy of the UK was strongly focused on regeneration techniques(e.g.
case studies of specific cities, funding methods, and principal agent of regeneration). The political, social and philosophical background which gave birth to the current urban regeneration of the UK has been rarely studied.
Given this, this study aimed for an in-depth study of the UK urban regeneration policy’s development and its background, especially the political philosophy of the administrations. Neighborhood regeneration policy of 1979-2010 was the main focus of this study. In particular, urban regeneration policy of the Major administration, which put much weight on partnership, integrative approach, community, participation, cooperative governance, etc., and the Blair administration, which generally accepted the Major administration’s approach and added extra emphasis on the community restoration and participation, were the main concern of this study. This study enabled thorough reflection on UK’s urban regeneration policy, including what circumstances and from which rationale the Thatcher administration facilitated urban regeneration centered on private real estate development; why partnership and integrative approach was emphasized in the Major administration; and why the Blair administration stressed the participation of the communities and their rights and responsibilities during urban regeneration processes.