Building structures are basic elements comprising urban landscape and a major source of landscape impairment at the same time. Accordingly, much effort is being put into building height, colors, shapes
and materials. However, the public is limited in intervening in the management of individual buildings since they are private. Despite that, it is imperative to include private buildings in the discussion on urban landscape although they are private properties.
Currently, building height is managed in a uniform manner under regulations for individual buildings within individual lots of land in the nation. While local governments are making much effort for landscape improvement, a majority of them are forced to plan and permit building construction case by case under current laws, unintendedly causing landscape impairment.
A city is comprised of a great many of lots of land which locate building structures. Therefore, it is advisable to approach building height management at the city level, employing city-specific measures,
instead of an approach to each individual building. In this point of view, it is necessary to provide a comprehensive plan from the urban perspective, rather than unilateral and uniform regulations. Only through this three-dimensional approach can the entire landscape of a city be enhanced.
In brief, it is necessary to establish directions and principles for building height management which take into account what characterizes a city, instead of approaches and principles unilaterally suggested by central government agencies or local governments. Then, it is required to build consensus and reach an agreement on those directions and principles among the entire stakeholders including public workers, builders and local residents.
With this backdrop, the study is intended to argue for the need and suggest directions towards a city-specific building height management, which is required for improvement and conservation of urban landscape. Based on this, the study intends to alter people's perception on building height management and formulate a consensus. To achieve the research objectives, the study reviews the current status and issues in the nation's building height management, along with laws and regulations involving building height management. Also, the study performs case studies on related issues of foreign cities. Based on this, the study provides directions towards policy and system improvement aimed at a city-specific building height management.

Keywords : Building Height, Skyline, View Management, City-Specific, Three-Dimensional Approach