'Enhancing Public Design Quality'... Incheon City Appoints Professor Kim Ju-yeon of Hongik University as Chief Designer

Incheon City is enhancing the quality of public design by recruiting private experts. On the 14th, the city announced that Professor Kim Ju-yeon of Hongik University has been appointed as the Chief Designer of Incheon City.

The 'Chief Designer' is a system that involves experts in public design to elevate regional identity and quality, and to expand the public's cultural enjoyment rights. This project is being piloted for the first time this year by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Incheon City was selected last month as the first nationwide participant in the Ministry's public recruitment support project for appointing a Chief Designer.

The Chief Designer will serve as the overall advisory role for planning, ordering, and all aspects of Incheon City's public design policies and projects going forward.

Professor Kim has been a professor at the College of Fine Arts at Hongik University since 1996. She established the country's first master's and doctoral programs in public design and currently serves as the director of the Hongik University Public Design Research Center, a UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development institution. She has also served as president of the Korea Institute of Interior Architects, president of the Korean Society of Spatial Design, and dean of the Graduate School of Industrial Arts at Hongik University.

Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok and Hongik University Professor Kim Joo-yeon (left) are taking a commemorative photo after the appointment ceremony of the chief designer. [Photo provided by Incheon City]

At the appointment ceremony, Professor Kim stated, "A good city is not only a place with magnificent sculptures and cutting-edge technology, but ultimately a place where its citizens are happy. This goal cannot be achieved by aesthetically pleasing design alone. Design that questions daily life and solves problems is necessary." She added, "In an era where value, not just objects, is bought and sold, I will contemplate the ultimate role of design."

Incheon City plans to actively utilize the private expert system to achieve innovation in public design with the goal of creating a "safe, convenient, and dignified Incheon design."

Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok said, "Although our country has rapidly grown since industrialization, it shows limitations in the appearance of cities compared to advanced countries. We will make use of the Chief Designer system to create urban designs based on Incheon's originality and diversity."

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