Gwangju Seo-gu 'Dialogue with Residents' Concludes Successfully... 173 Cases Received

Published 22 Apr.2022 15:02(KST)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Shin Dong-ho] Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, successfully concluded a series of dialogues with residents, which began on the 18th of last month in Pungam-dong and involved visiting all 18 neighborhoods in the district to share the direction of district administration with residents and facilitate frank communication about overall district operations.

According to Seo-gu on the 22nd, this year's dialogues with residents were conducted in a way that prepared for the post-COVID-19 era, with the Seo-gu mayor personally visiting livelihood sites to listen to difficulties and sharing key district operation updates, including the progress of the Seo-gu style autonomous model called ‘Maeul Government’.

Unlike in the past, when the focus was mainly on residents submitting requests, this year showed a more mature form of village autonomy, where any resident freely expressed opinions on local issues and even proposed solutions or action plans they had considered themselves.

For example, in Geumho 1-dong, regarding the proposal to expand the road in front of Central Park, the discussion evolved beyond a simple request to developing plans to make it the best walking path in Gwangju, turning it into a major village issue for future deliberation, thus being recognized as a venue for resident-led deliberative democracy.

During these dialogues, a total of 173 resident opinions were received across areas such as park management, traffic, roads, and environment, and it is expected that resolving these requests will significantly improve residents' satisfaction with their daily lives.

Among these, 42 cases were addressed immediately after on-site inspections, and the remaining requests will also be actively reviewed and resolved. The progress and results will be shared not only with the residents who made the requests but also with major village organizations.

Furthermore, for long-standing village projects, residents will maintain continuous interest, establish concrete implementation plans, and proceed through procedures to reflect these in next year’s budget allocation, with active support planned.

A Seo-gu official stated, “Despite the difficult conditions due to COVID-19, it was a meaningful time to resolve residents’ questions about district administration. We will actively review and resolve the various proposed opinions from the residents’ perspective and do our best to alleviate residents’ inconveniences.”