Why the capital region keeps growing: Urban accounting and spatial policy implications

Sunham Kim

No 150, KDI Focus from Korea Development Institute (KDI)

Abstract: Population concentration in the Seoul Metropolitan Area has continued unabated since the 1970s. In the 2010s, diverging productivity drove this trend-gains in semiconductor and knowledge-based sectors in the capital region versus losses in manufacturingoriented regional cities. Planned city projects, including Sejong, heavily prioritized infrastructure provision, yielding limited productivity growth and only modest population inflows. To achieve balanced development, spatial policy should move beyond infrastructure investment to boosting regional productivity. Furthermore, narrowing the divide between the capital region and outer regions may necessitate accepting some disparities within outer areas.

Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:kdifoc:340048

DOI: 10.22740/kdi.focus.e.2026.150

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