Gwangju City to Create 25 Urban Forests This Year with 2.6 Billion Won Investment

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 14th that it held the ‘2021 Urban Forest Creation Site Selection Committee’ on December 15 last year, selecting 25 sites out of 39 project sites surveyed and submitted by autonomous districts, and will invest a budget of 2.6 billion KRW to create urban forests.

The urban forest creation sites include ▲15 sites for increasing green space per pyeong such as Chungjang-dong Administrative Welfare Center ▲2 sites for tearing down fences and planting trees such as Geumho Siyoung 1st Apartment Complex ▲2 sites for green road creation projects such as pedestrian-only roads in Wolgok District (681-9 Wolgok-dong) ▲1 site for street forest road creation project on Seogwangju-ro (Geumho Reservoir to Seogwangju Station) ▲5 sites for future forest (meditation forest) creation projects within schools such as Daedong High School.

The selection committee was composed of experts and civic group members among the members of the Urban Forest Creation and Management Committee, and comprehensively evaluated the effectiveness of greening projects, appropriateness of project scale, and convenience of post-management for each site.

Going forward, each autonomous district plans to create urban forests through on-site surveys and design preparations for each selected site.

Shin Jae-wook, head of the city’s Parks and Greenery Division, said, “We will do our best to create urban forests so that citizens exhausted by COVID-19 can rest in their living areas and pass on a better environment to future generations,” adding, “We expect urban forests to also help solve fine dust and heatwave problems.”

Meanwhile, Gwangju City is promoting projects such as increasing green space per pyeong in leftover urban spaces, tearing down fences and planting trees to create open green spaces, creating green spaces along pedestrian roads, establishing street forest roads along major roads, and creating school forests to mitigate urban heat island effects, reduce fine dust, and secure green spaces.

In particular, this year marks the fourth year of the ‘30 Million Trees Planting Campaign,’ and the city plans to accelerate the creation of urban forests around living areas to comfort citizens exhausted by COVID-19.

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