Seoul Guro-gu and 22 Other Locations Nationwide Selected as Smart City Solution Project Sites

Expansion of Excellent Solutions and Regulation-Free Demonstration Projects... Enhancing Public Awareness of Smart Cities
23 Local Governments Applying Excellent Solutions and 7 Regulatory Sandbox Demonstration Projects Selected

Smart bus stop appearance / Provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 4th that it has selected 23 locations nationwide, including Guro-gu in Seoul, as targets for the ‘Smart Challenge Solution Expansion Project’ to disseminate excellent smart city solutions.

The selected locations for the project, with a total scale of 60 billion KRW, include Guro, Dongjak, Jung-gu in Seoul; Nam-gu in Busan; Dalseo-gu and Dong-gu in Daegu; Seo-gu in Incheon; Nam-gu in Gwangju; Gwangmyeong, Guri, Seongnam, Suwon, and Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province; Chuncheon and Taebaek in Gangwon Province; Chungju in Chungbuk Province; Nonsan and Hongseong in Chungnam Province; Gimje in Jeonbuk Province; Yeosu in Jeonnam Province; Yeongju in Gyeongbuk Province; and Miryang and Jinju in Gyeongnam Province, totaling 23 locations.

In these areas, seven smart city solutions will be deployed, including smart poles, smart bus stops, smart crosswalks, electrical safety monitoring, shared parking, demand-responsive buses, and autonomous navigation drones. Additionally, each local government will select and apply 2 to 3 solutions necessary to solve urban issues within their regions, such as improving traffic safety and crime prevention.

Alongside this, seven demonstration projects have been approved through the ‘Smart City Regulatory Sandbox’ system, which reduces regulations related to smart city technologies and services to activate various innovative service experiments within cities.

The seven projects include an energy P2P trading platform enabling peer-to-peer electricity transactions, a smart traffic safety system that prevents collision accidents in child protection zones through road surface warning signs and voice guidance, and autonomous navigation drones that patrol parks day and night to prevent crime and monitor traffic accidents in areas lacking CCTV.

These projects will undergo demonstration trials in parts of Sejong City and Busan City and are expected to provide new forms of smart city services.

Choi Im-rak, Director of Urban Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, "With the Smart City Act amended at the National Assembly on the 26th of last month, expanding the areas eligible for the Smart City Regulatory Sandbox, we will activate the creative ideas held by companies and enable more citizens to experience innovative smart city services."