Busan Citizens Directly Decide on Living Convenience Facilities, Policy Contest Begins in the First Half of the Year

Busan City Identifies Basic Local Governments to Establish '15-Minute Living Zone'

Three Major Areas, Two Types, 16 Projects, 124 Billion KRW Invested Over Three Years

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Busan City will conduct a "Policy Contest for Creating a 15-Minute Living Zone City" in the first half of the year.

The contest, held until June, targets autonomous districts and counties, aiming to discover 16 projects across two types of neighborhood and complex living zones in three areas: 15-minute living zones, digital smart, and green infrastructure.

The total project cost is 124 billion KRW, with 93 billion KRW from city funds and 31 billion KRW from district and county funds.

The main projects by contest area are ▲in the 15-minute living zone field, projects to expand convenience facilities such as cultural, sports, welfare, health support facilities, public parking lots, and pedestrian environment improvements.

Also, ▲in the digital smart field, projects utilizing digital technology to resolve daily inefficiencies such as establishing an ICT-based life safety service system and creating a smart mobility platform, and ▲in the green infrastructure field, projects driving carbon neutrality closely linked to daily life, such as creating green spaces, multifunctional environmental basic facilities, and establishing a water circulation system.

Busan City will accept projects submitted by districts and counties reflecting citizens' opinions until April. After on-site inspections and evaluations by a review committee mainly composed of private experts in May and June, 11 neighborhood living zone projects supported by up to 3 billion KRW in city funds and 5 complex living zone projects supported by up to 12 billion KRW in city funds will be selected.

The selected projects will be promoted through districts and counties from the second half of this year and are expected to be completed within 2 to 3 years.

To enable citizens to directly participate in the policy contest, from the project discovery stage, resident councils will be operated and on-site briefings held to thoroughly consider resident demands within living zones and collect creative opinions that align with the creation of a 15-minute living zone city.

Later, the resident councils will be converted into monitoring groups to improve issues that may arise not only during the project implementation process but also during actual facility operation, ensuring the effectiveness of the policy contest.

Park Hyung-jun, Mayor of Busan, said, "The number of convenience facilities such as culture and social welfare in Busan remains at the lowest level nationwide, with severe disparities and aging among basic local governments, making improvement urgent," adding, "We are accelerating project promotion so that anyone can use education, medical care, parks, and cultural facilities within a 15-minute living zone through the 15-minute city policy."

Regarding the policy contest, he said, "Although there were difficulties in project promotion due to partial cuts in contest project funds during the city council budget review process, we will supplement the pointed issues and proceed without delay as originally planned."

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