"Let's Save 101 Alleyway Commercial Areas" ... Daegu City Listens to Expert Opinions on Revitalization

On the 9th at 2 p.m., Daegu City held a session at the Sangyeok Office building where the city, district and county officials, along with experts from various fields, gathered to listen to diverse opinions aimed at revitalizing Daegu's alleyway commercial districts.

Daegu City has established a "Mid- to Long-term Plan for Alleyway Commercial District Revitalization" to activate alleyway commercial areas that have been neglected under the existing government support policies focused on traditional markets. Since 2021, the city has been promoting the "Alley Economy Zone Creation Project" to foster representative local alleyway commercial districts and to strengthen the competitiveness and self-sustainability of small business owners within these districts.

Sangyeok Government Complex, Daegu City.

Through the promotion of the Alley Economy Zone Creation Project, 101 alleyway commercial districts have been organized with merchant associations formed. These merchant associations take the lead in developing commercial district brands and promoting the districts through online and offline marketing.

By improving commercial district design and facility environments using the commercial district brands, the alleyway commercial districts are being developed into distinctive and attractive areas. Efforts are also being made to transform these districts into sustainable and self-reliant commercial zones through consulting and development plan establishment.

Additionally, in October of last year, to establish a legal basis for the project’s promotion and enable more systematic support such as criteria for designating alleyway communities, the "Ordinance on Fostering and Supporting Alleyway Commercial Communities" was enacted.

This expert meeting was organized to share the results of the project over the past three years and to discuss how to prepare for Season 2 of the Alley Economy Zone Creation Project starting in 2024 with experts in urban regeneration, cultural arts, digital technology, and small business support fields.

The experts attending the meeting positively evaluated the achievements of Daegu’s alleyway projects so far, while suggesting that some changes are necessary in line with shifts in government policy.

In particular, it was suggested that to keep pace with changes in consumer and distribution trends, small business owners within alleyway commercial districts should be enabled to utilize digital technologies. Expanding public-private cooperation is necessary so that excellent private ideas, capabilities, and technologies can serve as new elements for digital transformation and alleyway commercial district revitalization. There was also a consensus on the need to foster local brand commercial districts that embody regional identity by connecting local human and material assets to the alleyways.

Furthermore, rather than providing support in a distributive manner, it was proposed that Daegu City should shift its role as a catalyst by selecting and focusing on alleyway commercial districts with growth potential, so that successful cases can be expanded to other commercial districts.

After listening to the opinions of various experts and small business owners within the alleyway commercial districts, Daegu City plans to fully launch the 2024 Alley Economy Zone Creation Project starting in February.

An Jung-gon, Director of the Daegu City Economic Bureau, stated, “To revitalize alleyway commercial districts, we will encourage voluntary participation from merchants and strive to make 2024 a second leap forward for alley economy revitalization through expanded exchanges between alleyway commercial districts and public-private cooperation.”

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