Appointment of Landscape Master Planner for Gangdong-gu

Proactive Response to Changes in Urban Structure and Park Green Space Paradigms for Early Realization of Green Welfare

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jeong-hoon) is operating the first-ever landscape chief planner among Seoul’s autonomous districts as a new challenge to create a high-quality park and green space environment where residents’ lives harmonize naturally, realizing the vision of “Gangdong, a city where life flows.”

Gangdong-gu is the autonomous district experiencing the greatest changes in urban spatial structure and park and green space paradigms due to large-scale urban development projects such as redevelopment and reconstruction.

In particular, systematic connections based on new strategies to resolve the imbalance of park green spaces between the old and new downtown areas, and the assignment of new themes and specialization to park green space hubs are necessary due to changes in urban structure.

Furthermore, reflecting the increasing demands of residents who have moved in due to urban development and providing comprehensive and systematic overall advisory from the planning stage of park and green space projects, encompassing specialized advice for each unit project by the currently operating Gangdong-gu public landscape architect, is urgently needed.

Accordingly, to promote consistent park and green space strategic projects over the next 10 years and actively respond to changing paradigms, on the 7th, the district appointed Choi Sin-hyun (61), CEO of Sitophos, as the landscape chief planner for a two-year term and held a conferment ceremony at Gangdong-gu Office.

The landscape chief planner will serve as a private expert overseeing and advising various policies and projects carried out in Gangdong-gu to promote the park and green space strategic projects established last year and to innovatively improve the level of parks, green spaces, and landscaping.

The advisory scope includes public facility projects under the “Act on Urban Parks and Green Areas” and the “Act on the Creation and Management of Forest Resources,” landscaping projects applied to urban development, housing site development, urban regeneration projects, park and green space creation in residential environment maintenance projects such as redevelopment and reconstruction, citizen participation green infrastructure projects such as village-making projects, and other park and green space-related projects currently underway or planned in Gangdong-gu.

CEO Choi Sin-hyun is a landscape expert with over 40 years of experience, having served as chairman of the Seoul Urban Park Committee and currently acting as an advisory member in various fields including Jeonju City, SH Corporation, and Incheon Airport Corporation.

In 2019, he also won the design competition for the park above the National Assembly Boulevard.

Going forward, the district plans to establish four strategic directions with the landscape chief planner to realize “Gangdong, a city where life flows,” aiming to achieve a harmonious life where residents and nature coexist and thrive together.

The four strategies are ▲expansion of street green spaces and urban greening of the old downtown ▲creation of fine dust blocking forests ▲specialization of ecological circles and major green spaces ▲creation of wildlife habitats and wise forest management.

Lee Jeong-hoon, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, said, “With the completion of the Gangdong-gu park and green space strategy and the appointment of the landscape chief planner, we can actively respond to changes in the urban structure and park and green space paradigms caused by large-scale urban development projects such as redevelopment and reconstruction. We expect that a distinctive and high-quality park and green space environment unique to Gangdong-gu will be created, significantly enhancing residents’ quality of life.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.