Gangdong-gu Upgrades 'Women’s Safe Return Home Paths'

Improved Visibility by Applying ‘Gangdong-style Public Design’... A Green Light for the Safety of Women, the Elderly, and Children

Recipient of the ‘Director’s Award’ at the ‘Korea Public Design Awards’... Continued Efforts to Create a Crime Prevention Environment

Report Location LED Lighting

Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Soo-hee) is opening a new horizon in the ‘Women’s Safe Return Home Road Project.’

Recently, it announced that it has newly upgraded the ‘Women’s Safe Return Home Road’ (Cheonho-daero 188-gil) in Dunchon 2-dong by applying the ‘Gangdong-style Public Design.’

The ‘Women’s Safe Return Home Road Project’ has been designated by the police since 2013 to ensure women’s safety during nighttime travel, and 16 locations are currently operated in Gangdong-gu. However, the facilities installed in the early stages (road surface markings, reporting location number plates, etc.) have become outdated. In particular, the roads themselves were not easily noticeable, and many residents failed to recognize them.

Accordingly, the district planned to redesign the ‘Women’s Safe Return Home Road’ and improve it with a user-centered approach.

Rediscovering the ‘Women’s Safe Return Home Road’... Applying Gangdong-style Public Design

First, the district established a public-private cooperative system involving experts, the Gangdong Police Station, and residents to create a new design. The 16 existing locations were monitored during daytime and nighttime to identify problems.

The issues identified through this field monitoring were supplemented, analyzed, and reflected in the design. Additionally, a new design manual was developed by incorporating Gangdong-gu’s unique design elements to make the facilities highly visible.

The new design applied the comb-pattern pottery shape symbolizing the district and Gangdong-gu’s distinctive patterns and colors, making safety facilities stand out while providing an overall sense of unity.

Moreover, LED lighting was installed on the existing reporting location numbers and emergency bells, which were difficult to see at night, enhancing visibility. Facilities with phosphorescent markings were newly added, upgrading and complementing the functions of existing facilities.

This newly changed design manual was first applied to two locations considering urgency and effectiveness: the area around Seongan-ro 27-gil in Cheonho 3-dong in 2020 and the area around Gucheonmyeon-ro 64-gil in Cheonho 1-dong in 2021.

Expansion of the ‘Women’s Safe Return Home Road’ Design... Area of Cheonho-daero 188-gil, Dunchon 2-dong

This year, the ‘Gangdong-style Safe Return Home Road’ design was applied to the area of Cheonho-daero 188-gil in Dunchon 2-dong. The location covers approximately a 300-meter section from in front of Dunchon Children’s Park to across from Gil-dong Community Center. All guide signs installed at both ends, two emergency bells, four LED reporting location indicator lights, and four floor marking emblems were replaced with the highly visible Gangdong-style design.

Floor Marking Emblem

Furthermore, the improvements were not limited to facilities alone. Experimental attempts for preventing crimes against women included installing phosphorescent private CCTV signboards, placing barriers between secluded buildings, and attaching reflective sheets to isolated walls.

Two additional locations, the entrance of Gildong Market and the road around Daerim e-Pyeonhansesang Apartment in Seongnae 2-dong, are scheduled to be improved within this year.

Lee Soo-hee, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, stated, “The Gangdong-style Safe Return Home Road design was devised to prevent alleyway crimes and enhance local belonging. It was developed in 2020 and has received favorable external evaluations, including winning the ‘Director’s Award’ at the ‘Korea Public Design Awards.’ We will expand the installation methods and scope to ensure practical effects are realized.”

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