Seoul City Opens 'Changdong Aureune'... "Job Support from Youth to Middle-aged"

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 26th that it will open 'Changdong Aureune' in the area around Changdong Station, which was once an old bed town.

Changdong Aureune is a multi-generational shared job complex support facility that covers all generations, from young people dreaming of starting a business to middle-aged and older adults preparing for their second act in life. Four facilities are concentrated in one building: ‘Seoul Startup Hub Changdong’ and ‘50 Plus Northern Campus,’ which are job support facilities for various generations, and residential facilities to attract young talents such as entrepreneurs and cultural artists.

The four facilities are: ① ‘Seoul Startup Hub Changdong’ (8,305㎡), supporting the global expansion of young startup companies; ② ‘Seoul 50 Plus Northern Campus’ (6,289㎡), supporting employment, entrepreneurship, and second acts for the middle-aged generation; ③ public housing for young entrepreneurs and artists, ‘Changdong Aureune Village’ (2,512㎡, 48 units); and ④ ‘Seoul Northeast NPO Support Center’ (638㎡), a space for civic group activities.

Changdong Aureune was built on the Changdong Station area, where subway lines 1 and 4 and GTX-C (scheduled to open in 2027) intersect, with a scale of two basement floors to five above-ground floors (total floor area 17,744㎡). The total project cost is 48.6 billion KRW, with Seoul City investing 37.6 billion KRW and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport contributing 11 billion KRW (for Seoul Startup Hub Changdong).

A Seoul city official expressed expectations, saying, "By housing various facilities that cover generations and purposes together, it will create synergy through intergenerational fusion, and leveraging the strengths of the northeast area where many excellent universities are located, it will also create linkage effects with university startup incubation facilities and programs."

Furthermore, the goal is to breathe young vitality into the declining old downtown, leading to the economic recovery of the Changdong Station area and the broader northeast region, and to encourage proactive social participation by the middle-aged and older generations, thereby invigorating the aging society as a whole.

Changdong Aureune is the first key facility born as a pioneering project of the ‘Changdong-Sanggye Economic Base Urban Regeneration,’ which aims to develop the Changdong and Sanggye areas into a new economic center in the northeast region where living and working spaces coexist. After an international design competition, construction began in 2018, and it is now opening two years later.

The name Aureune combines the Korean word ‘aureuda’ (to gather) and ‘Renaissance,’ meaning regeneration and revival, symbolizing a space that gathers job creation facilities and fosters the regeneration and prosperity of the local economy. It was finally selected through a public contest in April.

Some facilities will begin operation with the opening on the 27th. The ‘Seoul 50 Plus Northern Campus’ will start with online programs, and a commemorative lecture will be held on YouTube by Oh Yeon-ho, chairman of the Dreaming Life School, under the theme ‘Happiness also requires preparation,’ delivering a message of hope to the middle-aged preparing for their second act in the with-COVID era.

The ‘Seoul Northeast NPO Support Center’ will also begin operating some of its facilities. ‘Changdong Aureune Village’ has been accepting residents since this month. ‘Seoul Startup Hub Changdong’ will begin full operation with company move-ins in March next year.

Baek Won-guk, head of the Urban Regeneration Project Planning Group at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, “Economic base urban regeneration projects are large in scale, requiring significant time and effort, but through the creation of regional hubs, many jobs are created and the economy is revitalized, resulting in substantial regeneration effects. We will actively strive to quickly realize project outcomes and inject new vitality into declining old downtown areas.”

Seo Nowon, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Regional Development Headquarters, said, “We expect Changdong Aureune to become a startup and job hub in the northeast region that covers all generations from youth to middle-aged and older adults. Starting with the opening of Changdong Aureune, we will do our best to promote a virtuous cycle of startups extending to adjacent startup and cultural industry complexes, broadly contributing to strengthening the region’s self-sufficiency and revitalizing the economy of the northeastern metropolitan area.”