Neighborhood Commercial Districts Must Thrive for Local Economy to Prosper! ... Busan City Selects 10 Neighborhood Commercial Districts, Supports Revitalization Projects

Busan City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Busan City is promoting the ‘Alley Commercial District Revitalization Support Project’ to develop alleys with potential into representative commercial districts of Busan.

The newly launched ‘Alley Commercial District Revitalization Support Project’ this year aims to discover alleys with unique content, support the organization of small business owners in the alleys in the first phase to help them become self-sustaining, and in the second phase, focus support on 2 to 3 selected alleys to develop them into representative alleys of Busan.

In October, the city evaluated the willingness of small business owners in the alleys to participate and the originality of the alley business compositions, selecting 10 alleys including ▲Saha-gu ‘Gamcheon Culture Village Merchants Association’, ‘Davichi Merchants Community’ ▲Buk-gu ‘Gunan Night Market Alley’, ‘Daeseong General Shopping Center’ ▲Busanjin-gu ‘Dongui University Uiridangil’, ‘Hwaseung Alley Shopping Center’ ▲Suyeong-gu ‘Namcheon Beach Market’ ▲Haeundae-gu ‘Subi BEXCO’, ‘Songjeong Surfing Street’ ▲Yeonje-gu ‘Yeondong Alley’ and is currently implementing the project.

The selected alleys will receive a total project budget of 77 million KRW over three years, including 22 million KRW this year. Unlike past similar projects limited to simple environmental improvements, dedicated managers are assigned to each alley to assist with organizational structuring and support project applications on-site, significantly reducing the psychological burden on merchants participating in the project and strengthening the self-sustainability of the commercial districts.

From the 7th, the follow-up project (phase 2) called the ‘NEW-Rising Alley Development Project’ will be launched.

Among the 10 alley commercial districts organized in phase 1, 2 to 3 commercial districts with abundant alley resources and high development potential will be reviewed and selected to receive continuous support for revitalization projects (cultural discovery + environmental improvement + marketing) with a budget ranging from 40 million to 70 million KRW.

The city plans to implement the project with a strategy of selection and concentration to establish these alleys as representative commercial district brands of Busan through phased intensive support rather than one-time aid, including brand strategy development, council operation, discovery of flagship stores and commercial district storytelling, joint marketing, and environmental improvements through in-depth and package support.

In the future, Busan City will discover and nurture 30 commercial districts over five years that incorporate local cultural resources and storytelling with regional lifestyle characteristics, striving to enable small business owners in alleys to maintain competitiveness in a diversified business environment and become the mainstay of the local industry.

Lee Junseung, Director of the Digital Economy Innovation Office, said, “We will actively support alley small business communities marginalized in institutional blind spots to become self-sustaining, and through the fusion and linkage of local communities, history, culture, and alley commercial districts based on neighborhoods, we will do our best to ensure that a 15-minute living zone regional industrial consumption culture is established through continuous interest and project operation.”

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