What Is the Foreign Student Dormitory? Busan City Presents a Model for Utilizing Vacant Houses

Move-in Ceremony for Korea Maritime & Ocean University Dormitory Held in Cheonghakdong, Yeongdo

The city of Busan has drawn attention by presenting a model of a foreign student dormitory created through the remodeling of abandoned empty houses in the urban area.

On March 11 at 2 p.m., Busan City announced that it would hold a move-in ceremony for the foreign student dormitory of Korea Maritime & Ocean University, which was created by utilizing a vacant house in Cheonghakdong, Yeongdo-gu.

This move-in ceremony is organized to share the case of transforming a long-abandoned urban house into a residential space for foreign students and to promote the model of cooperation between the local community and the university in utilizing vacant homes.

Approximately 20 people are expected to attend the event, including the Director of Housing and Architecture at Busan City Hall, the Chairperson of the Special Committee on Local Extinction Response, the Mayor of Yeongdo-gu, the President of Korea Maritime & Ocean University, and foreign students.

The Cheonghakdong dormitory was established by remodeling a house that had been left unattended for a long time, which had been detrimental to the city's appearance and residential environment. It now provides accommodation for five foreign students.

Vacant house abandoned in Cheonghakdong.

Remodeled appearance of the dormitory for foreign exchange students in Cheonghakdong.

Busan City is also building an additional foreign student dormitory utilizing a vacant house in Dongsam-dong, Yeongdo-gu. This facility is scheduled to be completed by the end of this month. Once both dormitories are in operation, a stable residential base will be established for a total of ten foreign students.

This project was carried out through the 'Vacant House Purchase and Living Social Overhead Capital (SOC) Infrastructure Creation Project' contest, which the city promoted for autonomous districts last year. Busan City, Yeongdo-gu, and Korea Maritime & Ocean University cooperated to convert vacant houses into residential spaces for foreign students.

Following the selection in the contest, Yeongdo-gu promoted the project to create foreign student dormitories using abandoned houses. Including the dormitories in Cheonghakdong and Dongsam-dong, a total of KRW 1,170,000,000 from both city and district budgets was invested.

Busan City explained that this project is an example of converting abandoned houses into much-needed residential spaces while simultaneously supporting housing for foreign students.

The city also expects that the influx of young foreign students will increase the resident population and invigorate the old downtown area.

Busan Mayor Park Hyungjun said, "This project is an example of reviving abandoned houses into spaces for young international students, bringing new vitality to the local community. We will continue to discover various models for utilizing vacant houses as much-needed spaces, aiming to build a city where young people stay and communities thrive."

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