"98% of Seongdong Residents Want to Keep Living There"...Why?

Seongdong-gu Announces 3rd Anniversary Public Survey Results of the 7th Elected Term... 84.3% Say "Seongdong-gu's Status Has Improved"... 7th Elected Term Seongdong-gu Gains Attention for Administrative Innovations Including Gentrification Prevention Law, Essential Worker Protection Law Legislation, and 'Smart Shelter' Initiatives

A waterfront city, Seongdong-gu, along the Han River

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] It has been found that 8 out of 10 Seongdong-gu residents believe that Seongdong-gu is rapidly developing. In particular, the proportion of residents who said they want to continue living in Seongdong-gu reached 97.9%, indicating that residents highly appreciate Seongdong-gu’s changed status and development potential.

On the 25th, Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jung Won-oh) announced the results of a public opinion survey conducted among Seongdong-gu residents to mark the 3rd anniversary of the 7th local government administration.

In this survey, conducted to evaluate the major projects of the 7th local government and to implement resident-centered administration, 88.0% of respondents answered that Seongdong-gu has been rapidly developing recently, and 84.3% responded that Seongdong-gu’s status within Seoul has risen compared to the past.

The background of this positive evaluation is interpreted as the efforts of the 7th local government of Seongdong-gu, which has been promoting a total of 160 projects across seven major areas under the vision of a “Happy Smart Inclusive City Together,” while creating various administrative innovation cases.

Currently, the implementation rate of the 7th local government’s pledged projects in Seongdong-gu stands at 85.6% (as of June), with the economic and safety sectors having already achieved a 100% implementation rate.

Seongdong-gu’s ordinances to prevent gentrification and to support and protect essential workers, which were the first of their kind nationwide, were legislated this year into the “Local Commercial Area Act” and the “Essential Workers Protection Act,” respectively, becoming leading examples of policies initiated by local governments that have been institutionalized into law.

Moreover, the “Seongdong-type Smart Shelter,” equipped with various functions inside bus stops, attracted significant attention from foreign media such as the UK’s BBC and The Guardian, as well as the US’s CNN and Newsweek last year. Recently, it was also selected as an “Excellent Case of Resident Life Innovation” by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. In addition, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport named Seongdong-gu a “Lighthouse City” in May for its leading role in making our lives more convenient through smart city technology.

In this survey, 92.3% of residents expressed satisfaction with Seongdong-gu’s administration, and especially, the response to the question “Will you continue to live in Seongdong-gu?” showed an overwhelming 97.9% answered “Yes.”

This is believed to be due to Seongdong-gu recording the highest growth rate (7.0%) among Seoul’s 25 autonomous districts in the “Seoul Regional Gross Domestic Product (GRDP) Report” released by Seoul City in February, and the sequential resolution of major issues such as the likely addition of Wangsimni Station as a stop on the GTX-C line.

The fact that residents chose images such as “friendly,” “bright,” “developing,” and “development potential” to describe Seongdong-gu in this survey is also interpreted as reflecting the high potential and development possibilities of Seongdong-gu in the future.

Seongdong-gu plans to actively reflect the opinions of residents contained in this survey to implement various policies that satisfy residents.

Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, stated, “The reason why today’s Seongdong-gu exists is above all because of the strong trust and support of our residents,” adding, “We will listen carefully to the vivid voices contained in the survey so that we can prepare a ‘tomorrow’ worthy of the status of Seongdong-gu that residents feel, and do our best to solve the remaining tasks of the 7th local government of Seongdong-gu.”

Meanwhile, the 3rd anniversary public opinion survey of the 7th local government conducted by Seongdong-gu was carried out from June 9 to 21, targeting men and women aged 18 or older residing in Seongdong-gu (a total of 1,000 households, 2,153 people), with a sampling error of ±2.11% at a 95% confidence level.

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