Gwanak-gu Establishes Master Plan for 'EVERY Smart City'... Expansion of 'Autonomous Patrol Robots'

[Seoul District News] Gwanak-gu Establishes 5-Year Mid- to Long-Term Roadmap for Systematic and Sustainable Smart City Projects... Yangcheon-gu Completes Acquisition and Development of Neomeundeul Garden on Site in Front of Neomeundeul Park (Sinjeong-dong 1287), Creating a Unique Garden Linked to Neomeundeul Park for Rest, Leisure, and Cultural Activities... Seongdong-gu Selected as National Best District in Ministry of Environment Waste Management Evaluation... Seodaemun-gu Chosen as Top Institution in Information Disclosure Comprehensive Evaluation, Ranking First Among All Districts Nationwide... Seongbuk-gu’s Vaccine Center Captures the ‘Beginning and End’ Journey...

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) has established a five-year master plan for the systematic promotion of smart city projects tailored to the characteristics of the region.

Under the vision of 'Every Smart City Gwanak,' the district pursues three goals: a smart city where everyone participates 365 days a year, a sustainable smart city where everyone is happy, and a hyper-connected open city, implementing six strategic objectives and ten promotion tasks.

Reflecting the results of the current status analysis, which showed that single-person households account for about 60% of all households and are particularly vulnerable to residential intrusion crimes, that detached and multi-family houses over 20 years old make up 43%, raising safety concerns for aging buildings, and the rapid increase in the elderly population, the district will proactively promote projects focused on safety and welfare.

Sensors detecting vibration and tilt will be installed on aging hazardous facilities to establish a system for continuous monitoring. The AI intelligent selective control system will be expanded annually by 2024 to secure the golden time for early crime response.

Selected as a Ministry of the Interior and Safety public contest project this year, the district will expand the 'Autonomous Patrol Robot,' the first of its kind implemented by a Seoul autonomous district, to create a special safety zone where residents can live safely and happily.

As the population aged 65 and over is expected to reach 20% of Gwanak-gu's total population by 2026, entering a super-aged society, the district plans to focus on realizing universal welfare for the elderly.

By 2025, 114 smart senior centers will be established, providing leisure welfare programs using remote video platforms, health management based on IoT healthcare, and emotional management through indoor smart farms, offering differentiated smart city services tailored to an aging society.

The district will build 'smart governance' that anyone can experience in real life without barriers of generation or class by hosting smart city policy forums, organizing smart city hackathons for prospective entrepreneurs in Gwanak S Valley, and establishing the '365 Metaverse Platform' where anyone can participate in district administration anytime and anywhere.

Through this mid- to long-term master plan, the district aims to lay the foundation for long-term development strategies for growth as a smart city hub by 2026 and to lead the linkage and integration of dispersed smart city services.

In particular, the district aims to raise the regional safety index in the crime safety sector to the highest level, Level 1, and improve the digital information level of the elderly to 90% by providing universal welfare services targeting the elderly.

A district official said, “All residents will receive customized smart city services based on the expanded smart city infrastructure throughout Gwanak-gu, and we plan to create an open city where residents can easily access and utilize the data they want anytime and anywhere.”

Yangcheon-gu (Mayor Kim Soo-young) announced that it has purchased private land (Sinjeong-dong 1287) in front of Neomeundeul Park, which had been left unattended with construction materials piled up, and transformed it into 'Neomeundeul Garden,' opening it to local residents on the 29th.

The site at Sinjeong-dong 1287, newly renovated this year near the entrance of Neomeundeul Park, had been cluttered with containers and construction materials, and the aging steel sheet barriers had significantly damaged the surrounding landscape.

The district had been exploring various ways to tidy up the privately owned site and finally completed the land purchase in October, officially starting the garden creation project.

Reflecting the spatial characteristics of the site located near the park entrance, the district aimed to create a garden where people can freely enjoy rest, leisure, and cultural activities while moving through the existing park.

To this end, all the severely aged steel sheet barriers surrounding the site were removed, and concrete stepping stones were stacked in their place to create a unique scenic resting area with aesthetic elements. The space, which had felt cramped and isolated due to the barriers, was reborn as a communication space where anyone can come and sit.

About 500㎡ of lawn was planted in the center of the garden to provide a place where children can run freely and small local cultural events can be held.

Additionally, 13,000 native flowers such as foxtail and clematis were planted throughout the garden to evoke seasonal feelings. Especially, by harmoniously planting small evergreen and deciduous trees such as yew, azalea, and lilac, the garden is expected to become a green space boasting freshness throughout the year.

Yangcheon-gu Mayor Kim Soo-young said, “Overcoming the limitation of being a long-neglected private land and transforming it into a space for local residents, Neomeundeul Garden is a model case of proactive administration and the path we should pursue.” He added, “We will continue to carefully inspect every corner of the district to check for any inconveniences or areas needing improvement for residents.”

Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jung Won-oh) was selected as the best institution nationwide in the '2021 Waste Treatment Facility Installation, Operation, and Status Evaluation' conducted by the Ministry of Environment.

Among 695 waste facilities nationwide, the district was selected as the best institution in the living resources sector in the operation evaluation of six facility fields including incineration and landfill, receiving the Minister of Environment Award.

This rigorous evaluation, based on objective data and on-site inspections, comprehensively assessed the operation status of waste treatment facilities, including recycling processing, energy consumption, recycling sorting rate and operation rate, operational revenue, environmental, technical, and economic aspects, as well as community contribution and household waste recycling rates.

This achievement is attributed to the district's diverse resource circulation policies and the efficient sorting system operation of the Seongdong Resource Recovery Center.

In particular, the 'Seongdong Purumi Recycling Station' (hereafter Station), which expanded to general residential areas and fully operated in all 17 neighborhoods since May last year, sharply increased the recycling sorting rate from 55% to 72% (as of the end of September 2021).

The Station installed separate collection bins at 102 key locations and deployed resource managers to assist residents with sorting. The Station focused on a differentiated three-stage strategy of 'discharge-collection-processing' for eight item categories, emphasizing separation at the discharge stage and collection and management.

Resource managers provided detailed guidance on sorting methods to residents at designated times weekly, ensuring item-specific collection. The Resource Recovery Center, a recycling sorting facility, installed separate storage areas for each item to prevent mixing with other collected materials, managing them thoroughly.

Efficient speed control of the conveyor system at the recycling sorting facility and reallocation of sorting personnel improved work efficiency. These strategic improvements synergized to maximize project efficiency, reducing waste treatment costs and increasing sales revenue, achieving a total profit of 655 million KRW compared to the previous year (as of the end of September 2021).

Along with operating the Station, the district installed paper pack and ice pack collection bins in all neighborhoods, fostering a proper separation culture through resident participation. Last month, it actively promoted ESG administration by urging 28 domestic companies to use eco-friendly PET bottle labels.

The district plans to continue its best efforts to increase the recycling sorting rate in line with Ministry of Environment policies by installing item-separated nets on recycling collection vehicles and deploying additional sorting personnel.

Seongdong-gu Mayor Jung Won-oh said, “This Ministry of Environment evaluation reflects the results of discovering projects that can be practiced in daily life and actively adopting them as resource circulation policies, which is the fruit of residents' efforts participating in environmental actions.” He added, “We will continue to devote ourselves to creating a resource circulation city where residents and businesses participate together, preparing for the closure of the metropolitan landfill site in 2025 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.”

Seodaemun-gu (Mayor Moon Seok-jin) announced on the 30th that it was selected as the top autonomous district nationwide and awarded the best institution in the '2021 Comprehensive Information Disclosure Evaluation' conducted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

An external evaluation team composed of professors and civic groups evaluated the overall information disclosure performance this year for 593 organizations, including central administrative agencies, local governments, and public institutions.

The district scored highly across 10 indicators in four evaluation areas: prior disclosure, original document disclosure, request processing, and customer management, receiving particular praise for the appropriateness of request processing and the rate of original document disclosure.

This is analyzed as a result of actively engaging in information disclosure to enhance transparency in district administration and guarantee residents' right to know.

Additionally, actively collecting opinions through public-private cooperation and continuously ensuring that information needed by residents is disclosed were cited as major reasons for the selection.

Seodaemun-gu has continuously improved its information disclosure system, achieving 'normal' in 2019, 'excellent' in 2020, and 'best' this year.

The district was also selected as one of nine institutions for institutional commendation and will receive the Minister of the Interior and Safety Award.

Seodaemun-gu Mayor Moon Seok-jin said, “In the new year, we will continue to operate a more proactive and trustworthy information disclosure system through ongoing inspection and improvement of request processing.”

◆Seodaemun-gu Personnel ▲Director of Urban Regeneration Bureau Yeom Bong-seon ▲Director of District Council Secretariat Park Sung-joo ▲Head of Bukahyeon-dong Jung Soon-tae ▲Head of Hong Eun 2-dong Lee Eun-mi ▲Head of Bukgajwa 1-dong Jung Yong-gyun ▲Director of Job Economy Division Park Chun-sik ▲Director of Women and Family Division Song Mi-young ▲Director of Urban Regeneration Division Kim Kyung-min ▲Director of Urban Redevelopment Division Moon Hyun-woo ▲Specialist of District Council Secretariat Song Wol-seop ▲Director of Health and Hygiene Division Hwang Chi-moon ▲Head of Hongje 3-dong Kwak Tae-sung ▲Acting Director of Social Economy Division Cheon Jeong-heun ▲Acting Director of Finance Division Ki Min-hee

Seongbuk-gu (Mayor Lee Seung-ro) announced that it has produced the 12th issue of its policy newsletter titled 'Happy Seongbuk Policy Story through Communication, Policy Magazine Issue 12.'

The policy magazine is a district newsletter that provides useful information to residents by explaining various statistics closely related to residents' daily lives, such as policies, welfare, culture, and safety, in an easy and interesting way. It has been produced 12 times since its first issue on August 31, 2018.

The policy magazine consists of six sections: ▲Keyword Seongbuk ▲Data in Daily Life ▲Seongbuk in Statistics ▲Policy Focus ▲Seongbuk Village Stories ▲Seongbuk Living Information, and can be easily accessed via the 'Policy Magazine' shortcut button at the top of the Seongbuk-gu official website.

In this 'Policy Magazine Issue 12,' continuing from the previous issue, the COVID-19 response district diary 'COVID-19, Overcoming Together in Seongbuk' is included, recording the ongoing COVID-19 occurrence status for two years, the efforts of Seongbuk-gu and residents for quarantine, and the journey of the Seongbuk-gu vaccination center from 'start to finish' day by day.

Also, the status of public parking lots and IoT shared parking lots in Seongbuk-gu is compared and analyzed using resident awareness and usage data by district, and consumption changes through the subscription economy are explained in an easy-to-understand manner based on statistical data such as Seongbuk residents' consumption status. Major policies include a summary of various projects promoted by four universities in Seongbuk-gu under the 'Campus Town' initiative.

Additionally, the magazine includes useful living information such as the 'Professor Complex' village story, a representative case of village communities, the Seongbuk Smart Fashion Industry Center, the Seongbuk recycling sorting facility, and the opening of the Wolgok Youth Center.

A Seongbuk-gu official said, “It has already been two long years since the outbreak of COVID-19,” adding, “Although the return to normal life has been temporarily halted, Seongbuk-gu will wisely overcome the current crisis with residents next year as it has done last year and this year.”

Dongjak-gu (Mayor Lee Chang-woo) is recruiting participants for the '2022 First Half Regional Community Job Project and Regional Quarantine Job Project' until January 7, 2022, to provide continuous employment opportunities for vulnerable groups in the district facing economic difficulties.

This job project aims to support the socio-economic independence of vulnerable employment groups by utilizing local resources and simultaneously minimize blind spots in quarantine management amid COVID-19 to ensure residents' safe daily lives.

The recruitment fields include six projects for regional community jobs (total 18 people) and ten projects for regional quarantine jobs (total 106 people), with activity periods of five months and three months, respectively.

The regional community jobs include six fields such as free umbrella repair, handmade baby products, and park green environment improvement, while the regional quarantine jobs cover ten fields including hygiene kit management for self-isolated individuals and neighborhood disinfection.

Applicants for the regional community job project must be members of households with income below 70% of the median income and assets under 400 million KRW, while the regional quarantine job project prioritizes vulnerable employment groups needing livelihood support due to COVID-19.

Residents wishing to participate can apply by visiting the community service center in their registered residential area by January 7.

For more details on next year's regional community and quarantine job projects, contact the Job Policy Division.

Jeon Hye-young, head of the Job Policy Division, said, “Next year, we hope that the public sector will create various jobs for vulnerable employment groups and the elderly facing economic difficulties due to COVID-19, contributing to livelihood stability and revitalization of the local economy.”

The district is recruiting a total of 2,738 participants for the '2022 Senior Job and Social Activity Support Project' in three phases from this month to February next year.

The first recruitment phase selected 2,127 people from the 6th to the 17th of this month, and the selected participants will start activities from January next year.

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