"Improving Elementary School Entrances with a Pedestrian-Centered Approach" ... This Year's Best Policy Proposal

by Jo Inkyung

Published 13 Nov.2020 10:00(KST)

Ministry of the Interior and Safety Selects Outstanding Proposals from Citizens and Public Officials in 2020

Proposal for 'Pedestrian-Centered Improvement at Elementary School Entrances'

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that at the '2020 Central Excellent Proposal Contest' held on the 12th, the proposals "Pedestrian-Centered Improvement at Elementary School Entrances" and "Improvement of Civil Service Administration Using Design" were each awarded the Gold Prize (Presidential Citation) in the citizen and public official proposal categories, respectively.

Kim Heung-sik, an electric wheelchair user, experienced difficulties passing through the sidewalk at the entrance of a nearby elementary school because it was sloped to facilitate vehicle entry and exit. Kim, who has long been interested in improving pedestrian environments, proposed to install the sidewalk at the elementary school entrance flatly, focusing on pedestrians such as students and wheelchair users. This proposal received strong empathy from both the judging panel and the public evaluation group.

Hwang Chang-wook, an administrative officer from Anseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, noticed that visitors to unfamiliar civil service offices often had difficulty understanding written instructions. He submitted a proposal to improve civil service administration by using color design to match the colors of the civil service counters and forms. This proposal was actually applied to improve the environment of the civil service office at Anseong City Hall and has received positive feedback from local residents.

Proposal for Improving Civil Service Administration Using Design

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety selects and awards excellent proposals annually to promote a culture of suggestion and spread best practices. This year, among approximately 100,000 proposals received over the past year, 424 excellent proposals were pre-selected by various administrative agencies. These were then reviewed by a judging committee composed of experts in each field and underwent online public evaluation. A total of 54 excellent proposals received awards including the Presidential Citation, Prime Minister's Citation, Minister of the Interior and Safety Citation, and prize money.