Pohang City Creates Healing Space for All: 'Municipal Saekdong Daycare Green Sharing Forest'

Creating 'Haksubwon Concept Forest' to Support Emotional Development through Outdoor Activities and Experiential Learning

Completed Establishment of 5 Sites Selected for 3 Consecutive Years in Welfare Facility Green Sharing Forest Contest

Creating a Healing Space for Everyone: Green Sharing Forest Development.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Pohang City has created a ‘Green Sharing Forest’ at the municipal Saekdong Daycare Center, a social welfare facility, providing a healing space for emotional stability and outdoor activities.

The ‘Green Sharing Forest’ is a forest established entirely with lottery proceeds, created through a competitive application and review process by the Korea Forest Welfare Institute for welfare facilities so that anyone can enjoy the benefits of the forest.

The Sharing Forest established at Pohang Municipal Saekdong Daycare Center was planted with 2,800 trees of 24 species including Zelkova, Thuja, and Hydrangea, creating a forest with a learning center concept to help infants and toddlers develop emotionally through outdoor activities and experiential learning.

The site had safety issues due to the outdoor swimming pool within the facility being damaged and left unattended for a long time after the earthquake in 2017. Located in the middle of a downtown alley, it caused inconvenience to nearby residents. However, by dismantling the damaged facility and creating an urban forest through this Sharing Forest project, significant effects were achieved in reorganizing the urban environment through the forest.

A daycare center official said, “We are pleased and grateful that a wonderful forest has been created and a walking trail installed, providing much physical and emotional support to the children,” adding, “We hope the Green Sharing Forest will be established in more facilities so that many people can benefit.”

Lee Kyung-sik, head of the city’s Greenway Promotion Division, said, “We will do our best to continuously promote the Green Fund project so that anyone, anywhere can enjoy the benefits of the forest, making it a healing space where both welfare facility users and local residents can find emotional stability.”

Pohang City has been selected for the Green Sharing Forest contest for three consecutive years and has promoted the project entirely with lottery funds. In 2021, it was selected as an excellent institution in the outdoor Sharing Forest creation category in the Green Fund support project evaluation.

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