Gwangju City Selected for University Competition to Train Urban Regeneration Specialists

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 16th that Gwangju University was finally selected in the ‘Urban Regeneration Professional Workforce Training University Competition Project’ hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, securing 950 million KRW in national funding.

The Urban Regeneration Professional Workforce Training Project is a program that supports the operation of master's and doctoral courses related to urban regeneration for five years from this year to 2024, aiming to continuously and systematically cultivate convergent and interdisciplinary urban regeneration talents encompassing economy, culture, welfare, urban planning, architecture, and governance.

Along with Gwangju University, six universities nationwide were selected, including Korea University, Inha University, Chungbuk National University, Kyungpook National University, and Kyungsung University.

Gwangju University plans to establish the Department of Urban Regeneration aiming to become a representative urban regeneration hub educational institution in the Honam and Jeju regions by composing a convergent interdisciplinary curriculum (education), operating an urban regeneration collaboration testbed (research), running region-customized living labs (academics), and building cooperative systems with local governments and public institutions (network), thereby cultivating field-oriented urban regeneration professionals with creativity and expertise.

Last month, Gwangju City signed a memorandum of understanding with Gwangju University to operate a specialized urban regeneration education program and to promote the discovery of inter-institutional cooperative projects. The city also confirmed municipal funding support to establish a foundation for talent development and plans to provide full administrative and financial support for the overall project implementation.

Lee Sang-bae, Director of the Urban Regeneration Bureau of Gwangju City, said, “The Urban Regeneration Professional Workforce Training Project is an important initiative that will determine the outcomes of the urban regeneration projects worth about 1.6 trillion KRW currently being promoted by Gwangju City, as well as future New Deal projects. We expect it to play a pivotal role in Gwangju’s development by systematically cultivating professionals who will lead the urban regeneration field.”

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