Mayor Lee Hyunjae: "Park Remodeling... Creating a City Where Children Smile"

Hanam City Launches Full Renovation of Five Aging Children's Parks
Investing 1.8 Billion KRW for October Completion... Creating "Field-Customized Playgrounds"

Hanam City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Lee Hyunjae) announced on August 7 that it has secured a total of 1.8 billion KRW, including special grants and special adjustment grants, to fully renovate the aging play environments of five children's parks in the old downtown area. The city aims to complete the remodeling project by October.

Hanam City has secured a total of 1.8 billion KRW, including special grants and special adjustment grants, to fully renovate the aging play environments of five children's parks in the old downtown area. The remodeling project is set to be completed by October. Provided by Hanam City

The five parks selected for this project are: Saenara Children's Park (518-1, Changwoo-dong), Kkum Nara Children's Park (520-5, Changwoo-dong), LG Children's Park (361-2, Deokpung-dong), Hansol Children's Park (680, Deokpung-dong), and Saegohyang Children's Park (527-2, Sinjang-dong).

The city plans to replace outdated playground equipment, supplement insufficient rest facilities, and improve the surrounding environment by planting trees, thereby enhancing the overall functionality and safety of the parks.

In particular, Hanam City intends to transform these parks from simple spaces into “playgrounds children want to visit” by introducing a variety of experiential play facilities such as net play equipment, swings, maze playgrounds, and zip lines to stimulate children's activity and creativity.

The most notable feature of this project is that the opinions of children, the actual users, were reflected from the initial design stage. Between April and May, the city conducted a survey and a “Draw Your Dream Playground” program with 100 children and their parents. The results showed that elementary school students preferred net play equipment, while preschool children favored swings and slides. Based on these findings, the city specified the direction for facility composition.

Efforts to reflect children's voices in policy continued as well.

Through the Hanam City Child Participation Committee (seven members), established under the “Ordinance on the Creation of a Child-Friendly City in Hanam,” the city received detailed design advice. The committee proposed eco-friendly and creative spaces using natural materials instead of standardized plastic-based playground equipment, and emphasized the importance of balancing safety and opportunities for challenge for children.

Parents also provided feedback during on-site opinion collection, requesting the introduction of adventure-type play facilities such as zip lines, sufficient rest facilities and shaded areas, and enhanced safety and eco-friendliness of playground surfaces. Many parents specifically requested the expansion of swings and net play equipment to reduce waiting times for popular facilities.

Hanam City has secured a total of 1.8 billion KRW, including special grants and special adjustment grants, to fully renovate the aging play environments of five children's parks in the old downtown area. The remodeling project is set to be completed by October. Provided by Hanam City

In addition, to further enhance the quality of the project, the city selected this remodeling initiative as an annual planning project for the Urban Development Subcommittee of the Hanam City Citizen Participation Innovation Committee. The subcommittee benchmarked advanced cases and refined the project direction through internal meetings.

In July and August, the city held resident briefings for local residents and community representatives near each park, sharing the improvement plans and design details to build consensus.

Mayor Lee Hyunjae stated, "This children's park remodeling project is not an administration-driven plan, but a field-customized policy based on the ideas of children and citizens." He added, "We will continue to carefully monitor and manage all aspects of park operations so that children can play safely and happily in the future."

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