Suncheon-si Awarded for Creating a Comfortable and Safe 15-Minute Living SOC City for All

Jangan Changjak Madang Selected as an Excellent Case of 생활SOC... Awarded the Secretary-General of the Office for Government Policy Coordination Award
Suncheon, an Ecocultural City Where Citizens Enjoy Everyday Life Culture

Jangan Creative Yard Night View (Photo by Suncheon City)

[Suncheon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Suncheon City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Heo Seok) was selected as an excellent case for the “Jangan Creative Yard” project in the Life SOC contest hosted by the Office for Government Policy Coordination and received the Office for Government Policy Coordination Director Award on the 19th.

Through this award, “The splendid transformation of a 40-year-old pork belly butcher restaurant! Jangan Creative Yard” has been recognized as a project that properly reflects the characteristics and strengths of Suncheon, a city of direct democracy, becoming a citizen shared space with people and art.

From the planning and design stages to operation, about 380 residents directly participated to create spaces such as the Jangan kitchen, shared refrigerator, village garden, guesthouse, and residency tailored to the needs of citizens and cultural artists, and operated customized content for residents’ cultural enjoyment, which reportedly earned high marks.

In particular, the project received high evaluations for its sustainability measures, the fact that 19,245 people have used the facility since its opening in 2017, and its use as a benchmarking site by various groups (738 teams, 10,622 people) including central government officials, local governments, public enterprises, and private activists, making it the only excellent case selected in Jeollanam-do for its acceptance and effectiveness of national policies.

Mayor Heo Seok of Suncheon said, “Jangan Creative Yard, which has established itself as a convergent open space for residents and cultural artists, realizes spatial democracy accessible to various citizens. We hope it will be revitalized as a care and communication space for the elderly in the old downtown area through the historic and locational significance of Jangan Restaurant, a pork belly butcher restaurant loved by citizens for 40 years.” He added, “We hope this will serve as a new beacon of hope for cultural artists who have struggled due to COVID-19 and act as an opportunity for next year’s legal cultural city designation by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism at the end of the year.”

Since the 7th local government administration, Suncheon has secured 79.2 billion KRW in national and local government funds for five Life SOC projects, drawing the blueprint for Suncheon as an eco-cultural city where many aspects of daily life are resolved nearby.

Representative Life SOC contest projects include the ▲Eoullim Center (32 billion KRW), a public gymnasium and library complex located on the upper part of Dongcheon detention basin in Ocheon-dong; the ▲Sindae Library (18 billion KRW), which began construction on October 25; the ▲Sindae Sports Center and Swimming Pool (22.2 billion KRW), scheduled to open at the end of the year; the ▲Old Downtown Cultural Station (23.5 billion KRW), to be completed in 2024 along with the new Suncheon City Hall; and the ▲Yeonhyang-dong Women’s Culture Center remodeling project (1.4 billion KRW). Through these, Suncheon is advancing as a “15-minute Life SOC city” where any citizen can enjoy everyday cultural life and a happy life.

Meanwhile, this contest has been held since 2019 to discover excellent Life SOC cases and new ideas, reflect them in policies, and raise public awareness.

Following the local government excellence award in the 2019 national Life SOC contest for “Life Culture Center Yeongdong 1st Street,” which operates as a cultural sharing and experience space through urban regeneration projects, the city has earned the honor of a second award this year with “Jangan Creative Yard.”