Urban Parks Turned Eyesores Instead of City Lungs... "Time for Reorganization"

Broken Trees and Neglected Facilities
"Focused Only on Quantitative Expansion... Now It's Time for Qualitative Management"

Aged children's park posing safety risks (left), a dangerous tree with a severely rotted center likely to break

It has been claimed that the renovation of urban parks is urgently needed, as 34% of urban parks nationwide and 69% in Seoul have been established for more than 20 years. So far, Korea's urban parks have focused only on quantitative expansion, resulting in a decline in citizens' qualitative satisfaction.

On the 17th, the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (President Lee Jae-young) analyzed the aging status of urban parks and proposed ways to renovate parks by utilizing various public and private resources in its report titled "Measures for Renovating Aging and Underutilized Urban Parks in the Era of Mature Cities."

Many urban parks in Korea are experiencing aging problems. As of 2018, 34% of parks were established more than 20 years ago, and 66% were more than 10 years old.

Many people think that parks are better the older they are because of the high proportion of trees, but in reality, due to aging issues, large-scale renovations beyond routine maintenance and management are necessary.

Changes Before and After the Renovation Project of Neomundeul Park in Yangcheon-gu

Basically, as time passes, there is a demand for the installation and replacement of park facilities. In particular, children's playgrounds often require renovation due to safety issues arising from the aging of play equipment.

Also, when parks were created in the past, there was often a lack of available resources or design technology, so the potential value of the location was not fully realized. There was insufficient planning related to tree planting at the time of establishment, and many places have not been systematically managed even after creation. As a result, many dangerous trees (such as those prone to breaking) have been left unattended.

Associate Researcher Lee Tae-hee said, "The biggest factor affecting park user satisfaction is not simply the area but the quality of the park," adding, "However, until now, Korea's park policies have focused on quantitative expansion, while qualitative improvement of existing parks has been considerably neglected."

Changes Before and After the Jungnang-gu Kkotpiul Children's Park Renovation Project

To renovate parks classified as public goods, it is inevitable to increase public budget input. To this end, the institute suggested expanding park improvement projects based on systematic park performance evaluations and actively utilizing related projects.

Furthermore, the institute urged active use of private funds. In fact, countries like Japan and the United States actively use private funds for park renovations.

In the UK and the US, there are many cases where local residents raise project funds using crowdfunding platforms and social media, pressuring local governments to secure additional budgets and leading the renovation of parks.

In the current atmosphere emphasizing ESG management, corporate CSR funds can be used for park renovation projects. It is necessary to secure corporate participation incentives by allowing the installation of facilities for corporate promotion within parks.

Associate Researcher Lee said, "To improve parks as public goods, it is fundamentally necessary to expand public funding," adding, "At the same time, it is also necessary to consider ways to actively utilize private resources."

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