All rights reservedCastro, José CaléiaReschilian, Paulo2024-09-032024-09-032016978-85-7785-551-1https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14235/1923Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the southAs developing countries have undergone rapid urbanization in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, more than half of the world’s population live in urban area today. However, onethird of the global urban population resides in slums and squatter-type settlements. As such, many developing countries suffer from a shortage of urban housing and infrastructure and the ensuing poor residential environment; Access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation is limited while mass transit is rarely available in most cities. Korea also faced the same problem of housing and infrastructure shortage as it experienced an unprecedented rural-to-urban migration. However, it has largely overcome the problem: Today, the housing stock exceeds the number of households. Almost all population is served by water supply and sewerage systems. Mass transit, such as subway and bus, absorbs a large portion of traffic every day. From an international comparative point of view, this paper explores unique characteristics of Korean urban development which have successfully contributed to coping with rapid urbanization over the last half century. The Korean way of urban development, or ‘Korean model’, is different from the Western model, of which many developing countries follow the example. Notably, in its physical form and appearance, Korean cities are characterized by high density and high-rise multi-family housing development as they are often cynically called ‘republic of apartment (multi-family housing of more than five stories)’.EnglishopenAccessconferenceObject1536-1540