Gwangyang City Creates 'Urban Wind Path Forest' to Introduce Fresh Forest Air

Expectations for Creating Life-Saving Forests for Urban Citizens

Gwangyang City in Jeollanam-do announced on the 19th that it will actively promote the first year of the ‘Gwangyang Urban Wind Path Forest Creation Project,’ investing 9 billion KRW to channel the cool, fresh air generated in the outskirts’ forests into the urban area to improve the thermal environment and secure a sustainable carbon sink.

According to the city, the 2023 project sites were selected based on thermal environment analysis results and areas with high citizen usage, totaling eight locations: two in the Gwangyang-eup area and six in the Jungma-dong area.

[Photo by Gwangyang-si]

In the Gwangyang-eup area, one Didim-Diffusion Forest and one Connection Forest will be created.

The Didim-Diffusion Forest is located around the Jeonnam Provincial Museum of Art, which, after the completion of future urban development projects, will be geographically central to Gwangyang-eup. It was selected as a suitable site because the cool air generated from Baegunsan and Seosan Mountains connects to Seocheon and rapidly diffuses cool air into the urban area.

Additionally, the Connection Forest will be developed in the Dongcheon idle land area. By filling the idle land (slopes) between the urban development project (Mokseong District) and Dongcheon, a linear green space will be created to strengthen the role of a cool air passage.

The Jungma-dong area, which is highly vulnerable to thermal environment issues, will have a total of six sites: two Connection Forests and four Didim-Diffusion Forests.

The Connection Forest sites will be established along Jungma Jungang-ro, which serves as a passage for cool air generated from Gayasan Mountain, and around Seonghwangcheon, utilizing green spaces to connect the cool air from Gubongsan and Seonghwangcheon to the urban area.

Through the Connection Forests, the inflow of cool air will be diffused into the urban area, and large-scale parks such as Madong Neighborhood Park, Wau Park (two sites), Nunsogong Park, and Madong Ecological Park will be selected to generate small-scale cool air, allowing citizens to experience comfort.

Currently, five sites (approximately 6 billion KRW) have been ordered, and three sites are under contract work, with plans to complete the work by October.

Jung In-hwa, mayor of Gwangyang City, said, “Let’s systematically promote the inflow of cool, fresh forest air into the urban area to respond systematically to climate change and create a life-giving forest that saves the city and its citizens.”

Meanwhile, according to data from the National Institute of Forest Science, urban forests lower temperatures by 3 to 7°C and increase humidity by 9 to 23%, mitigating urban heat island effects. Large-scale urban forests reduce fine dust by 25.6% and ultrafine dust by 40.9%. One tree absorbs 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide annually and releases 1.8 tons of oxygen, demonstrating excellent air purification functions.

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik hss79@asiae.co.kr

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