Yeongdeungpo-gu Creates 'Saenghwal Gongjakso' in Apartment Vacant Spaces

Two Complexes Selected Among Over 150 Multi-Family Housing Units in the Area, Utilizing Idle Spaces... Projects to Solve Living Issues Discovered, Residents Participate as Service Providers and Beneficiaries... Care Education Provided for Residents... Support for Shared Childcare at Apartment Book Cafe

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Yeongdeungpo-gu (District Mayor Chae Hyun-il) is promoting the ‘Apartment Living Workshop Project’ to transform idle spaces within apartment complexes.

The Apartment Living Workshop Project supports residents in jointly addressing apartment living issues by enabling them to think about and solve these problems themselves through ▲supporting the activation of resident communities ▲discovering living issues and turning them into resident-driven hopeful projects ▲operating programs and supporting space design for providing living services ▲consulting support for establishing social economy organizations, and other necessary aspects for community problem-solving with residents.

The district selected two apartment complexes with more than 150 households and idle communal facilities in the area as the project sites.

Additionally, the ‘Korean Art Psychology Counselor Social Cooperative’ was chosen as the project executing organization to support smooth project implementation together with the Yeongdeungpo Social Economy Network.

The project executors investigate and discover projects desired by residents in the idle spaces of each complex and help systematically promote these projects by linking them with various social economy enterprises.

Furthermore, by having residents take on both the roles of living service providers and beneficiaries, the project aims to realize social economy in daily life.

For example, in a shared facility such as a book caf? within the apartment, basic education is provided through consulting by a specialized social enterprise in childcare for residents who want communal childcare.

Along with this, a curriculum covering reading, cooking, origami, and other subjects necessary for operating childcare programs within the apartment is developed in cooperation with various education-related companies and offered to residents.

Moreover, the project plans to develop beyond simple resident community activities into social economy organizations such as social enterprises and cooperatives, enabling residents to continuously enjoy living services within the apartment.

Last year, the district was recognized for its efforts and achievements in revitalizing the social economy by winning the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s ‘Best Local Government Award for Social Enterprise Promotion’ and the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s ‘Excellence Award for Social Economy Activation in Regional Welfare Project Evaluation.’

Also, the number of social enterprises in the region increased approximately 1.6 times from 43 (as of January 2019) to 71 (as of May 2020). This indicates a steady increase in social enterprises based in the area and a higher social economy awareness among residents.

Yeongdeungpo District Mayor Chae Hyun-il stated, “Through the Apartment Living Workshop Project, I hope that idle spaces in apartments will become open communication spaces for residents,” and added, “We will actively introduce social economy models where residents directly solve daily life problems.”

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