‘Pohang-style Youth New Deal POBATT Project’ Breaks Through Regional Economic Crisis

Recharging the Downtown with Secondary Batteries and Youth...
‘POBATT’ Kickoff Meeting Held
Transforming the Entire City Center into a Hub for Battery Talent Development
Boosting Youth Influx and Urban Vitality

On the 17th, Pohang City held a kickoff meeting for the ‘Pohang-style Youth New Deal POBATT Project’ and began a full-scale effort to reshape urban spaces centered on battery talent development to lay the foundation for a new leap in the local economy.

On the 17th, Pohang City held a kickoff meeting for the 'Pohang-style Youth New Deal POBATT Project' at City Hall. Photo by Pohang City

The meeting was attended by relevant departments of Pohang City, local universities and high schools, and collaborative institutions, where they shared the vision and plans of the ‘POBATT (Pohang Battery) Project’ and discussed cooperation measures.

The ‘POBATT Project’ is Pohang City’s new youth New Deal strategic project encompassing secondary battery talent development, urban regeneration, youth influx, and regional economic revitalization.

Through this project, the city plans to transform idle spaces in the old downtown into youth-friendly spaces combining education, housing, and culture, and operate programs to attract young people and revitalize downtown commercial districts, thereby establishing a youth-friendly activity base.

First, by utilizing vacant buildings in the downtown area, the city intends to create a permanent education center for the Battery Academy and a downtown campus town linked with local universities, making Pohang’s downtown the hub for battery talent development. The plan also aims to break down the boundaries between universities and the city to create an innovative educational space throughout the city.

Additionally, a complex cultural platform will be established where young people can simultaneously enjoy education, leisure, and cultural activities. To promote youth influx, various projects such as battery employment camps, one-month living programs, and employment support will be implemented to encourage long-term stay and settlement of the youth population.

Furthermore, to improve their living conditions, a vacant house remodeling project will provide ‘Youth Residence Houses,’ while expanding local branding and cultural tourism experience activities in connection with downtown commercial districts such as Jungang Market.

To promote the project, the city discussed concrete plans to advance detailed projects in four areas: ▲infrastructure development ▲talent cultivation ▲regional economic revitalization ▲administrative support.

Particularly, the creation of youth-friendly spaces in the downtown area, strengthening cooperation with local commercial districts, and active collaboration measures with participating universities were intensively discussed. Participating universities and institutions were urged to utilize the entire downtown as a campus to expand educational and research activities and strengthen organic connections with the local community.

Through this project, the city plans to newly configure urban spaces to create an environment where young people can actively participate and grow, aiming to cultivate 10,000 core talents in the secondary battery field and attract more than 5,000 young people daily by 2030.

Kwon Hyuk-won, Director of the Job and Economy Bureau, said, “This project will be a starting point where young people leading the future and the battery industry unite to innovate the downtown and invigorate the local economy. We will do our best to establish Pohang, the battery-leading city, as the center of Korea’s future industries.”

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