Taebaek, Samcheok, Yeongwol, and Jeongseon: Resident-Led Transformation of Former Mining Areas into "Places People Want to Live"

Gangwon Province Seeks Revitalization of Four Former Mining Cities and Counties through Resident Capacity Building
"From a Place People Leave to a Place People Want to Live": Residents Lead Revitalization of Former Mining Areas
Laying the Foundation for Sustainable Growth through Capacity Building Education and Customized Consulting

Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province (Governor Kim Jin-tae) announced on October 29 that it is implementing the "Capacity Building Education and Consulting Project for Revitalization of Former Mining Areas" to address local challenges such as population outflow, aging, and job losses in the four cities and counties of Taebaek, Samcheok, Yeongwol, and Jeongseon.

Exterior view of Gangwon Provincial Government Building. Provided by Gangwon Provincial Government

This project is being carried out as a resident participation-based regional revitalization model, where local residents themselves design the future of their communities and create new foundations for their lives.

The capacity building education for revitalizing former mining areas is operated as a customized program for residents and the living population, based on preliminary field surveys of local youth (job seekers and aspiring entrepreneurs) and the middle-aged and elderly (retirees and working seniors).

The curriculum consists of economic and entrepreneurship education, hobbies and cultural activities, vocational and competency development, and tailored specialized subjects. Residents directly participate in the process, developing small-scale business ideas that utilize local resources and promoting collaborative village community projects with the living population.

Through these efforts, the aim is to empower residents to solve local issues on their own and create new jobs, thereby transforming the region from a "place people leave" into a "place people want to live."

Additionally, since May of this year, the province has also been conducting a consulting project for the revitalization of former mining areas in parallel.

This project aims to closely analyze local conditions and design a sustainable regional revitalization model. It includes site surveys and case studies in former mining areas to provide tailored consulting, basic condition analysis and restructuring from the perspective of the living population, investigation and analysis of domestic and international cases of revitalization based on the living population, and strategic research tailored to the characteristics of each city and county, all to develop highly effective measures.

In particular, this consulting project does not stop at short-term proposals but focuses on establishing a foundation for medium- and long-term growth, such as expanding the living population and improving settlement conditions in former mining areas. Through these efforts, it is expected to not only address population decline but also encourage the settlement of the living population, thereby preparing measures to respond to the risk of regional extinction.

Son Changhwan, Head of the Global Division of Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, stated, "This capacity building and consulting project for residents of former mining areas is significant in that it is a process where residents themselves design and implement the future of their communities," adding, "The province will continue to expand and actively support these projects so that former mining areas can be reborn as spaces of new opportunity."

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