How Can We Create 'Car-Free Streets' and a 'Walkable City'?
Pubilshed 18 Jun.2025 10:14(KST)
Updated 26 Jul.2025 02:10(KST)
Gwangju City to Hold 'Daejabo City' Forum at City Hall on June 20
Exploring Strategies for Building a People-Centered Urban Environment
Former Jeonju Mayor Kim Seungsoo to Share 'Hanok Village Case'
On June 18, Gwangju City announced that it will hold the '4th Daejabo City Gwangju Citizens Forum' at 2:00 p.m. on June 20 in the city hall's medium conference room, aiming to explore ways to shift from a car-centered to a people-centered urban environment.
This forum is hosted by Gwangju City and co-organized by the Gwangju Council for Sustainable Development, Gwangju Transportation Corporation, and Gwangju Urban Regeneration Community Center. The event is designed to discuss the direction and solutions for promoting 'car-free streets' and 'walkable roads' in Gwangju, using the example of Jeonju City, in order to enhance citizens' awareness and experience of 'Daejabo City Gwangju,' which focuses on public transportation, bicycles, and walking.
The forum will proceed with a keynote presentation by former Jeonju Mayor Kim Seungsoo on the topic "How to Create a Walkable City," followed by a Q&A session and discussion with participants. Kim served as Jeonju Mayor for eight years, from 2014 to 2022, and prioritized walkable city policies during his tenure.
Kim will present mainly on Jeonju’s cases, such as the car-free street in Hanok Village and the car-free pedestrian street on Chungyeong-ro. Chungyeong-ro is a symbolic boulevard that reflects Jeonju’s history and vision. It has been transformed into a people-centered pedestrian space through the creation of plaza-style roads, road dieting, and the installation of pedestrian-friendly facilities. Even before the pedestrian environment improvement project, the Chungyeong-ro area was operated as a car-free street every month, receiving positive feedback from citizens.
In addition, the forum will review how Jeonju’s major tourist attraction, Hanok Village, has been operated as a car-free street on weekends and holidays for a long period, and will discuss ways to apply these strategies to Gwangju.
Last year, the city declared 'Daejabo (Public Transportation·Bicycle·Walking) City Gwangju,' aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by shifting from private cars to public transportation, bicycles, and walking, and to transform into a people-centered city.
In line with this, the city is promoting pedestrian policies to convert car-centered urban structures into spaces for people. Measures include expanding diagonal crosswalks and transforming the Gwangju Park parking lot into Cheongchun Bitpocha Plaza, a square for citizens.
Additionally, the car-free street on Geumnam-ro is operated every month. Currently, the areas in Gwangju operated as car-free streets include: ▲Geumnam-ro ▲Pungam-dong Communication Theme Road ▲Baegun Square Saturday Night Market ▲Chonnam National University Back Gate University Road ▲1913 Songjeong Station Market.
The city plans to newly identify and expand pilot projects for car-free streets in autonomous districts through resident participation and consensus. Furthermore, it will continue to hold various policy forums on different Daejabo-related topics in the second half of the year.
Ko Gwangwan, Deputy Mayor for Administrative Affairs, stated, "This forum is an opportunity to examine successful cases from Jeonju and discuss directions and solutions for creating a 'walkable city' and a 'people-centered city.' We will work with citizens to develop pedestrian policies tailored to our region."
Meanwhile, since last year, the Daejabo City Gwangju Citizens Forum has been held three times on the following topics: ▲Pedestrian Environment·Bicycles ▲Improving Mobility for Transportation-Vulnerable Groups ▲Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System.
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