Gwangju Dong-gu, Resident-Led 'Alley Regeneration Local Lab 2.0' Contest Promotion

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Dong-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Im Taek) announced on the 14th that it will conduct the ‘2020 Alley Regeneration Local Lab 2.0’ contest project for resident-led alley creation to recharge the vitality and future of alleys.

Now in its second year, this project is a specialized initiative unique to Dong-gu that promotes alley-level regeneration projects to preserve the meaning of alleys that contain the history, culture, and residents’ lives of Dong-gu, and to create residential conditions with new attractions close to residents’ daily lives.

The project targets alley commercial districts and pedestrian-centered alleys within a 50 to 100-meter radius from an alley center point selected by the residents themselves, supporting alley regeneration with a project budget of 30 million KRW.

The application period is until the 27th, and eligibility includes communities, organizations, or corporations capable of project execution, composed of 15 or more residents or merchants, such as ▲resident (merchant) councils ▲merchant associations ▲social enterprises ▲village enterprises.

Dong-gu will select organizations through document and on-site evaluations and a review by a judging committee based on the submitted proposals, and after design workshops and expert consulting, plans to officially start the project from September.

Through the alley regeneration project, Dong-gu plans to improve residents’ living and pedestrian environments, as well as promote various alley regeneration projects that form resident communities through active communication among residents mediated by alleys.

Last year, through the ‘Alley Regeneration Local Lab 1.0’ project, Dong-gu established the foundation for creating happy alleys by developing Dokkaebi Alley in Chungjang-ro 5-ga and Sotong Kkotdam Alley in Jiwon 1-dong.

In particular, Sotong Kkotdam Alley in Jiwon 1-dong was selected for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s ‘2020 Resident Proposal Small-scale Regeneration Project’ and secured a project budget of 400 million KRW, actively promoting regeneration projects.

Chungjang-ro 5-ga is also steadily preparing an implementation plan to be selected for the small-scale regeneration project in the second half of the year.

Im Taek, Mayor of Dong-gu, said, “This project is meaningful in that residents of the original downtown Dong-gu themselves regenerate the value of alleys that fully reflect their lives,” and added, “We will add new meaning to alleys that regain vitality through urban regeneration in the traditional sense of alleys and promote branding of each distinctive alley.”

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