Seoul City Advances Citizen-Led Urban Greening Resident Proposal Project

Choose Between 'Recording Materials' or 'Subsidy' Support Categories

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is implementing the ‘Citizen-led Urban Greening Resident Proposal Project,’ which allows citizens to cultivate gardens in their everyday surroundings.

The city announced on the 24th that it will carry out the '2023 Citizen-led Urban Greening Resident Proposal Project' to provide citizens with opportunities to plant and nurture flowers and trees in their daily spaces and to promote garden culture, accepting applications until the 10th of next month.

The support areas are divided into two categories: (▲Greening material support area providing flowers, trees, and fertilizer, ▲Subsidy support area providing budgets necessary for garden creation projects). Applicants may choose to apply for only one of the two categories.

The total support budget is 525 million KRW, with approximately 150 locations receiving greening materials worth up to 3 million KRW each in the greening material support area, and about 20 locations receiving subsidies ranging from a minimum of 5 million KRW to a maximum of 15 million KRW in the subsidy support area.

Project selection will first reflect the results of on-site evaluations by autonomous districts, and the Subsidy Review Committee will comprehensively review and examine the written materials submitted at the time of application, such as project proposals, before making the final selection.

Especially this year, to realize the city administration’s core value of ‘Walking with the Vulnerable,’ priority will be given to cases where regions, facilities, or groups marginalized from gardens and gardening activities participate. Additionally, selected applicants will receive education not only on how to use the system but also on overall execution guidelines to alleviate difficulties citizens may face in carrying out the subsidy projects.

Applications can be submitted by downloading the application forms (proposal, plan, etc., one copy each) for each category from the Seoul city website, completing them, and then visiting or mailing (email) them to the Parks and Greenery Division (or Green City Division) of the respective autonomous district.

Yoo Young-bong, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Green City and Leisure Bureau, said, “As the long pandemic comes to an end, true spring has arrived in our lives along with the blooming flowers. This is an opportunity for citizens to fill spaces that have lacked gardens with ‘green’ themselves, so we ask for active participation and hope that green culture will spread even further.”

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