Living in Two Regions Project ... Gyeongbuk Province, How About 'Dual Life'?

Hoping to Alleviate Metropolitan Population Concentration and Regional Decline through Intercity 'Connectivity'

On the 30th, Gyeongsangbuk-do presented the Gyeongbuk-style 'Dual Life' and unveiled the conceptual diagram.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] Gyeongsangbuk-do presented the strategy of ‘Dual Life’ on the 30th to overcome population decline and increase the floating population.

Gyeongbuk-do’s ‘Dual Life’ refers to the population that establishes a base and lives in two regions by forming a special relationship with another area and circulating mid- to long-term, economically, and repeatedly.

It is a regional population increase policy that encourages settlement by granting multiple addresses to people who commute between their current living or working area and a second residence in another region.

According to the Korea Institute of Local Administration, the number of external visitors to Gyeongbuk last year was 1,529.5 million, ranking third among the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide after Seoul and Gyeonggi, but it decreased compared to 1,737.3 million in 2019 before the COVID-19 outbreak.

The province announced the ‘Gyeongbuk-type Dual Life Basic Plan’ on the 30th and began follow-up measures to overcome the crisis of local extinction due to population decline.

This population policy system aims to increase the floating population through ‘connection’ between regions, and a similar concept of ‘living population’ has been introduced in the ‘Special Act on Support for Population Declining Areas’ proposed to the National Assembly on the 9th.

The province plans to strongly demand the decentralization of the metropolitan population and seek cooperation from the political circles and government ministries to have it adopted as a national agenda for the next government.

Led by the Deputy Governor, a Gyeongbuk-type Dual Life Promotion Council will be formed, and administrative support teams, strategy support teams, Dual Life promotion teams, and strategic task promotion teams will be organized to accelerate policy implementation.

From the following year, pilot projects will be promoted through city and county contests, and an integrated platform will be established to prepare administrative and financial support systems, as well as to discover region-specific policies led by residents through the establishment of detailed implementation plans by sector.

The Gyeongbuk-type Dual Life Basic Plan is a pioneering project to welcome the metropolitan population moving to local areas. Since last year, a ‘Dual Life and Economic Territory Expansion Strategy Study’ has been underway.

It conducted analyses of population inflow and outflow status, spatial distribution of employed persons, and a Dual Life survey, deriving 87 projects under the vision of ‘Open Gyeongbuk where people gather.’

The 23 key project plans for the Gyeongbuk-style 'Dual Life' in cities and counties have been announced.

The projects include 38 tasks for five major Dual Life types?production job type, leisure residence type, leisure experience type, education training type, and overseas inflow type?to build circulating residence spaces and services by city and county.

There are also 46 tasks for seven major strategies?housing, urban, green infrastructure, road traffic, landscape, tourism, and integrated economic zones?to secure regional attractiveness and visiting convenience.

The province plans to connect populations by operating a stay platform centered on regional strengths, and will also promote strategic tasks such as supporting artist activities and settlement, and experiencing living in Gyeongbuk.

For strategy execution, the province identified nine core tasks: linking central government policies such as the local extinction response fund, branding Dual Life in 23 cities and counties, establishing Dual Life regulatory special zones, introducing a multiple address system, linking policies for utilizing vacant houses, relaxing standards in the real estate sector, resolving conflicts, promoting a Dual Life civic movement, and utilizing the metaverse.

The province expects that once the multiple address system is implemented, inconveniences caused by discrepancies between actual residence and address will be resolved, leading to an increase in local population and additional tax revenue.

In the real estate sector, the province plans to propose to the government the relaxation of standards for rural and hometown houses, clarification of villa standards, and acquisition and property tax reductions for vacant houses or rural houses to promote the decentralization of the metropolitan population.

Governor Lee Cheol-woo said, “We will successfully implement a new type of population policy to connect the metropolitan population to local areas and take the lead in balanced national development.”