Suncheon City Establishes '2040 Suncheon Urban Master Plan' with Citizen Participation

Recruitment for Urban Master Plan Citizen Planning Group until the 30th... Town and Myeon-dong Resident Briefing Sessions Also Held

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seonsik] Suncheon City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Noh Gwan-gyu) announced on the 10th that it is establishing the "2040 Suncheon Urban Master Plan" with direct citizen participation.

The city plans to break away from the expert- and official-centered approach and create an urban master plan that resonates with everyone by organizing the passion and creativity of citizens based on messages they experience in their living environment.

The 2040 Suncheon Urban Master Plan will go through three stages: public discussion, opinion collection, and finalization.

Starting with a briefing session for officials on the 25th of last month, the city began the public discussion process by publicly recruiting the "Citizen Planning Group for the Urban Master Plan" on the 1st of this month.

The "Citizen Planning Group" is open to anyone aged 19 or older residing in Suncheon. Applicants can download the application form from the Suncheon City Hall website, fill it out, and submit it to the Urban Planning Division by the 30th either in person or via email.

The city plans to conduct an internal review of applicants and make the final selection of the Citizen Planning Group.

Additionally, as part of the opinion collection phase, since the 2nd, the city has been holding resident briefing sessions by dividing 24 towns and townships into six zones and touring them.

Briefing sessions are conducted by reputable urban planning experts to enhance residents' understanding of the urban master plan and gather opinions through Q&A and discussions.

Along with this, the city will continue holding meetings with city council members and civic groups, idea contests, and citizen surveys.

In the final stage, the city plans to compile opinions from various fields, hold discussions and consultations with the Citizen Planning Group, and consult expert organizations to finalize the basic concept plan.

A Suncheon city official stated, "The '2040 Suncheon Urban Master Plan' is characterized by maximizing citizen input through the Citizen Planning Group, zonal resident briefing sessions, and meetings, moving away from the indirect citizen participation methods such as public hearings after establishing the initial basic concept plan."

He added, "Any citizen can propose ideas related to urban planning through inquiries at their town or township office, and since applying to the Citizen Planning Group offers a chance to directly participate in the urban master plan establishment process, we hope for active citizen participation and interest."

Meanwhile, the urban master plan is the highest-level statutory plan established at the city or county level, encompassing plans related to architecture policy, urban development, urban regeneration, urban landscape, and presenting long-term policy directions as a comprehensive plan.

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seonsik hss79@asiae.co.kr

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