Distribution of Box Gardens and Smart Plant Appliances at Senior Centers in Seongdong-gu

Seongdong-gu Senior Centers Embrace Smart Companion Plants...Providing Emotional Healing to Seniors

Emotional Healing Offered through Box Gardens and Smart Plant Appliances at 30 Senior Centers

Pilot Senior Centers to Receive Priority Introduction for Effectiveness Verification, with Plans to Expand to Senior Centers and Daycare Centers

An elderly person watering a companion plant using a smart plant lifestyle appliance at a senior center in Seongdong-gu

Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jeong Wono) announced that it will distribute box gardens and smart plant appliances to 30 senior centers within the district.

As a specialized program for senior centers, the district provided box gardens along with smart plant appliances to 30 senior centers so that seniors can enjoy fresh vegetables they grow themselves.

An official from the district stated, “This specialized project offers seniors a sense of accomplishment and emotional healing by allowing them to cultivate vegetables directly in the urban environment. In particular, the smart plant appliances help seniors easily engage in home gardening, fostering emotional connections with companion plants to alleviate depression, while also purifying the air to create a more pleasant environment.”

The smart plant appliances require no soil contact, feature automatic alerts for water shortages or surrounding temperature changes, making maintenance easy, and allow users to observe the entire process from seed germination to growth.

After the pilot project, the district plans to expand the program to other senior centers and daycare centers based on satisfaction surveys.

In addition, Seongdong-gu supports various programs for seniors at senior centers in line with the information age, including kiosk experiences, dementia education and testing linked with dementia relief centers, and customized bean sprout cultivation.

The district also continues to promote facility improvement projects for senior centers. Private senior centers are being converted to district-run centers, and aging senior centers are remodeled into zero-energy buildings through roof solar power generation, interior and exterior wall insulation, and installation of high-efficiency heating and cooling systems. Last year, Seongdong-gu transformed the district-run Muhak Senior Center into a zero-energy building, turning it into an eco-friendly senior center closely connected to daily life, which has received high user satisfaction.

Jeong Wono, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, “I hope the introduction of smart plant appliances, which are easy to manage, will bring new vitality to senior centers. Moving forward, Seongdong-gu will not only improve senior center facilities but also prepare enriching programs so that seniors can enjoy their leisure time comfortably.”

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