[Interview] Kim Su-young, Yangcheon District Mayor, "Improving Residents' Quality of Life through Customized 'Smart Urban Regeneration'"

Utilizing streetlights along main roads with public parking lots, installing charging stations capable of smart mobility charging... 'Smart Crosswalk' displays real-time vehicle photos and license plates on full LED screens when crosswalk stop line violations occur in school zones, strongly promoting awareness and driver vigilance to ensure children's pedestrian safety

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] “We will lead the leap to a smart city that residents can feel through lifestyle-oriented smart regeneration projects such as expanding smart mobility charging infrastructure, distributing the KakaoTalk educational robot ‘Riku’ for the elderly, and installing educational kiosks.”

Kim Soo-young, Mayor of Yangcheon-gu, recently met with reporters and stated, “We will realize the vision of Yangcheon as a smart city that changes residents’ lives through region-tailored smart urban regeneration.”

Along with rapid urbanization, complex urban problems such as environmental pollution, traffic congestion, housing issues, disasters, and social inequality are accelerating.

To solve these problems, it is necessary to promote urban regeneration policies that incorporate smart solutions to improve living environments and introduce projects suited to the characteristics of each region.

Since Yangcheon-gu was designated as the ‘Seoul Smart City Testbed Special Zone’ in 2019, it has started projects such as monitoring electricity consumption with ‘Smart Plugs,’ analyzing the lives of elderly living alone to prevent solitary deaths, the ‘Parking Guardian Service for the Disabled,’ and smart security projects adding illegal dumping prevention and fine dust sensors.

Urban regeneration projects are also actively underway.

Areas such as Sinwol 3-dong, a designated urban regeneration activation project area, along with Sinwol 6 and 7-dong, have secured momentum for improving living environments through lifestyle SOC public projects; Sinwol 1 and 5-dong and Mok 2-dong are engaged in residential environment management projects; and Mok 3 and 4-dong have been selected for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s New Deal project for alleyway regeneration. Throughout Yangcheon-gu, efforts to improve living environments through urban regeneration are gaining traction.

Yangcheon-gu plans to implement lifestyle-oriented smart urban regeneration projects in these areas, applying various smart solutions.

The ‘Nearby Smart Electric Vehicle Charging Station’ utilizes streetlight poles on main roads with public parking lots to install charging stations capable of smart mobility charging, providing convenience for eco-friendly transportation.

To bridge the digital divide among the elderly in the information age, an educational robot project will also be introduced.

Forty units of the KakaoTalk educational robot ‘Riku,’ equipped with facial and voice recognition, will be distributed to three senior welfare centers. Educational kiosks that teach how to order at fast food restaurants, purchase train tickets, and use unmanned issuing machines will also be introduced, along with related courses.

The ‘Smart Crosswalk’ displays real-time photos and license plate numbers of vehicles violating the stop line at crosswalks in children protection zones on a full electronic display, strongly educating and raising drivers’ awareness. It also immediately cracks down on illegally parked vehicles to ensure children’s pedestrian safety.

Mayor Kim Soo-young stated, “Yangcheon-gu’s new attempt to combine urban regeneration and smart cities will be shared nationwide, and through this, Yangcheon-gu will take the lead as a smart city that creates genuine urban innovation and future growth engines.”

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