Yongin City Incorporates Residents' Voices in Singal Intersection Urban Regeneration

Reflecting Resident Opinions in Policies Through Living Labs Like 'One Day Class'

Yongin City in Gyeonggi Province is incorporating citizens' voices into the urban regeneration project around Singal Five-way Intersection in Giheung-gu, the old downtown area.

On the 10th, Yongin City announced that it is actively utilizing a 'Living Lab' in the 'Singal Five-way Intersection Smart Urban Regeneration' project. A Living Lab is a social innovation policy where residents proactively identify problems in daily life, design solutions, and directly solve the issues.

The area around Singal Five-way Intersection was selected as a 'Urban Regeneration New Deal Project District' by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in November 2020. The city is investing 51.4 billion KRW by 2026 to revitalize the old downtown, build infrastructure to invigorate the local economy, and promote various projects to attract young people.

The city is reflecting the urban regeneration project through various forms of Living Labs.

From May, the city operated a project experience group 10 times under the theme 'Using the Village Smartly in Singal Five-way Intersection Smart Urban Regeneration,' and on the 1st of this month, held a 'One-day Class.' The 44 citizens who participated freely discussed and proposed opinions, which will be incorporated into policies.

Residents are engaged in a discussion at the 'One Day Class' held as part of the Singal Intersection Urban Regeneration Project by Yongin City.
[Photo by Yongin City]

During the 'One-day Class,' discussions were held on ▲smart power monitoring ▲introduction of recycling resource collection robots ▲parking guidance system ▲smart crosswalks ▲smart traffic shelters ▲smart crime prevention safety nets.

Through the Living Lab, the city reflected various policies in Singal Five-way Intersection. Representative examples include ▲expansion of smart trash bins ▲expansion of recycling resource collection robots ▲creation of an art street using media art ▲expansion of smart crime prevention safety nets.

Responding to citizens' demands, the city plans to additionally install smart trash bins, which are currently installed in 11 units across 6 locations, within this year, and proceed with the 'Smart Crime Prevention Safety Net Construction Project,' which includes increasing crime prevention CCTV and lighting.

In addition, the recycling resource collection robots, currently installed with 4 units in 2 locations, will have 2 more units added in one location within this year based on citizens' opinions, and 2 more units will be installed in another location next year. These robots are equipped with object recognition systems that selectively collect only transparent PET bottles with labels removed. Users earn points that can be redeemed for cash.

Reflecting residents' opinions, the city is also promoting the creation of a landmark in the Singal Five-way Intersection area. The plan is to install a 'media integrated pole' as part of the 'Smart Crime Prevention Safety Net Construction Project' to make Singal-dong a representative attraction.

A city official said, "We will continue to prepare various resident participation programs and carry out urban regeneration projects together with the city and residents."

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