Gwangju City Establishes Public-Private Cooperative Administration as a 'Democratic Model'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] The public-private cooperative governance administration of Gwangju Metropolitan City is establishing itself as an efficient and democratic model for deciding major policies.

According to Gwangju City on the 21st, since the 7th local government, it has adopted a direct approach of asking citizens' opinions through public discussions on key issues that have been drifting for a long time or where policy decisions are difficult, achieving results in resolving many issues.

The starting signal was fired with the Urban Railway Line 2. It was a representative regional conflict project that wasted as much as 16 years, with proponents arguing for its urgent construction as a future transportation means and opponents claiming that a subway is unnecessary in Gwangju.

In response, the city took a gamble with a citizen-led public discussion method, and after various forms of debate and learning, the citizens' opinions were sought, resulting in a majority approval that untangled the complicated knot.

The public discussion method for Urban Railway Line 2, resolved through dialogue and rationality, became a successful model of cooperative governance and was benchmarked nationwide, with many subsequent issues normalized by applying this method.

The issues actively resolved by Gwangju City reflecting citizens' intentions include ▲ Gwangju-type jobs through a grand compromise among labor, management, government, and civic groups ▲ operation of public-private governance for private park special projects ▲ decision on hospital bed solidarity ▲ designation of Jangnok Wetland as an urban national wetland through public discussion ▲ operation of the COVID-19 public-private joint countermeasure committee ▲ operation of the Mudeungsan mountain indiscriminate development prevention council involving public, private, government, and academia ▲ RE100 Promotion Committee ▲ operation of the Welfare Cooperative Committee, among others.

The Gwangju-type jobs, the world's first attempt at a local government-led grand compromise among labor, management, government, and civic groups, faced numerous crises due to conflicts of interest and differences in positions, but narrowed disagreements through patient discussions in various frameworks such as the Labor-Management-Government-Civic Council involving representatives from all sectors and citizens, ultimately achieving the construction of a domestic complete car factory after 23 years.

The designation of Hwangryonggang Jangnok Wetland as the country's first urban national wetland is also cited as a model case of resolving conflicts through social consensus. When development and protection claims sharply clashed, deepening the conflict, in 2019, a working committee composed of local residents, city and district councils, civic groups, experts, and central and local government officials held a total of 19 discussions and meetings, confirmed the intention to proceed through a citizen opinion survey, and reached the final designation conclusion in December last year.

Recently, regarding the development of the Mudeungsan Shinyang Park Hotel site, Gwangju City also reached the conclusion of "shared use" through the Mudeungsan indiscriminate development prevention council involving public, private, government, and academia.

In addition, under the policy of realizing the heavy and challenging grand goal of a "2045 Carbon Neutral Energy Self-Reliant City" together with citizens, various cooperative governance bodies such as the Carbon Neutral City Promotion Committee have been formed to advance discussions and implement actions.

The city plans to further strengthen public-private cooperation by forming a Public-Private Cooperation Council to reach agenda agreements on city administration issues and regional development directions. The council will be organized and operated with 10 divisions including autonomous communication, environment, welfare, social economy, autonomy and village communities, women, youth, adolescents, culture, and human rights education.

Kim Yi-gang, the city spokesperson, said, "As opinions and demands from various sectors become increasingly diverse, differences in perspectives on issues are inevitable. However, the model of public-private cooperation governance, which recognizes differences, reaches rational conclusions through healthy discussions and debates, and accepts the results, aligns with the direction of the democratic city that Gwangju pursues."

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