Various Events Continue to Revitalize DongjakLINK Commercial District Renaissance

[Seoul District News] Idea Contest until July 15: Discovering Ideas for Specialized Products and Online Promotion Content; July 15 '42 Food Festival'; July 24-25 'Gongbanggeori Village Festival' Open to All Residents... Yongsan-gu Hosts Carbon Neutrality Workshop for Foreign Residents... Jungnang-gu Trains Environmental Activists Leading Local Carbon Neutrality, Supports Activists with 100,000 KRW per Day... Yeongdeungpo-gu Provides up to 1.5 Million KRW for Renovating Old Signs in Dangsan-gol

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Dongjak-gu (Mayor Lee Chang-woo) announced that a series of events, including an idea contest and the 42 Food Festival, will be held for merchants and residents to directly participate in order to revitalize the DongjakLINK commercial district renaissance.

This aims to raise residents' interest in the DongjakLINK commercial district while developing creative and diverse content to secure the competitiveness of the commercial district.

'DongjakLINK commercial district' consists of four commercial areas linking Sadang Station and Isu Station: Namseong Sagye Market, Isu Miro, the street where you want to stay (Workshop Street), and Sadang 1-dong Food Alley Shopping District. This area was selected as a target site for the 'Commercial District Renaissance Project' hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in 2020 and will receive 10 billion KRW in support until 2025.

First, the district will hold the 'DongjakLINK Commercial District Idea Contest' from the 13th to July 15th to discover excellent ideas for commercial district revitalization content. The theme of this contest includes ideas related to DongjakLINK commercial district such as ▲development of specialized products like shopping bags and reusable tumblers ▲online promotional content for regional revitalization and branding.

Applications can be submitted via the QR code at the bottom of the poster posted on the DongjakLINK commercial district blog.

Last year, a total of 44 ideas were submitted, and the grand prizes in the individual and group categories were awarded to 'Isami, LINK Walking Tour from Isu to Sadang' and 'DongjakZINK Project ZINK Bag, ZINK Zone,' respectively. This year's idea contest will also be held in the second half of the year.

Also, the '42 Food Festival' cooking contest will be held on the 15th at 2 p.m. at Sadang 1-dong Community Center with themes such as ▲brunch ▲late-night snacks. The purpose is to increase residents' interest and revitalize the commercial district by developing new menus using ingredients purchased at the market.

Furthermore, the 'Workshop Street Village Festival' will be held from the 24th to 25th of this month at Kachi Children's Park (35 Dongjak-daero 9-gil). Various experiential events such as promotional booths for each workshop, bead making, soap bubble play, and roulette events will be held.

In addition, the 'Dongjak42 Supporters' have been exploring the DongjakLINK commercial district and sharing news online since last month, and the 'DongjakLINK Commercial District Merchant Club (line dance, table tennis, baseball, marketing study)' and 'Eco-friendly eco42' campaign have been operating since April.

Events related to the revitalization of the DongjakLINK commercial district are open to all Dongjak-gu residents. For more details, please contact the Dongjak Commercial District Renaissance Project Team.

Yang Hye-young, Director of the Economic Promotion Division, said, "We will comprehensively support the strengthening of solidarity between merchants and local customers within the commercial district to revitalize the local economy."

Yongsan-gu (Mayor Seong Jang-hyun) is operating a workshop to train foreign citizen practice groups to spread awareness of carbon neutrality.

This enables foreign residents in the area to learn low-carbon green living methods and play a role in practicing and spreading them in daily life.

The workshop is held at the center's education hall targeting foreigners using the Ichon Global Village Center.

The first session of the workshop was held on the 10th from 10 a.m. for two hours with 13 foreigners attending. Participants listened to theoretical lectures on various environmental issues of the Earth and EM and made solid EM shampoo themselves to use EM concentrate in daily life.

The second workshop, held on the 17th, will cover lectures on modern society's waste problems, the 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) movement, upcycling, and examples of upcycling companies, along with practical training on making leather card wallets. Eighteen foreigners will participate.

A district official said, "Currently, 55 residents are active members of the '2050 Carbon Neutral Citizen Practice Group,' and this workshop will provide an opportunity for foreign residents to participate in the citizen practice group."

The citizen practice group will continue to promote the use of EM solution and eco-friendly scrubbers, and the 'Sseodam' campaign, which involves picking up trash while walking, until the end of the year. The district will strengthen the capabilities of the citizen practice group to effectively spread practice tasks to residents and also provide volunteer activity credits.

Yongsan-gu Mayor Seong Jang-hyun said, "If foreign residents who use different languages and have their own communities participate in the practice group activities, it will accelerate the creation of an eco-friendly green city, Yongsan."

Jungnang-gu (Mayor Ryu Gyeong-gi) is training 16 carbon-neutral environmental activists to raise awareness of environmental issues and inform residents about proper climate crisis response measures.

The aim is to select residents who are interested in the environment and actively participate, setting an example by practicing carbon neutrality in their neighborhoods and encouraging other residents to join.

The district received applications last week and will make the final selection on the 15th. Selected environmental activists will take capacity-building education for two months starting at the end of this month and will conduct various environmental activities meeting residents from September.

The education will be held at the Jungnang-gu Environmental Education Center, covering domestic and international policy trends related to carbon neutrality, understanding energy, resource circulation and carbon neutrality, energy diagnosis of village commercial buildings, and educational theory. Participants must attend more than 80% of the education hours or score at least 80 points on the evaluation to qualify for activities.

After the education, from September, they will conduct environmental activities for two months across 16 local neighborhoods. Activities include carbon-neutral environmental education for residents, building energy diagnosis, eco-tours of local environmental regeneration facilities, and carbon-neutral environmental campaigns. Environmental activists will receive an activity allowance of 100,000 KRW per day.

Jungnang-gu Mayor Ryu Gyeong-gi said, "We look forward to the activities of local carbon-neutral environmental activists who will take the lead and set an example to respond to the worsening climate crisis together," adding, "We will continue to consider various policies to encourage more residents to participate in carbon neutrality practice."

Yeongdeungpo-gu (Mayor Chae Hyun-il) announced that it is recruiting small business owners to participate in the 'Our Neighborhood Old Signboard Improvement Project' until the 16th to create walkable alleys around Dangsan-gol.

Dangsan-gol was once a street densely packed with illegal bars, but through continuous efforts by local residents, the district office, and merchants to revitalize the alleys, it has been reborn as an alley where culture blends with art exhibition spaces, cafes, and village libraries.

The district decided to support this change by implementing a signboard improvement project targeting old signboards that harm urban aesthetics and safety to create a brighter and more pleasant alley environment.

The target area for this signboard improvement project is the alleys around Dangsan 1-dong, with priority given in order to ▲Dangsan-ro 16-gil (1st priority) ▲Yeongdeungpo-ro 27-gil (2nd priority) ▲businesses located within 200 meters radius of the 1st and 2nd priority project sites (3rd priority).

If selected for support, customized signboard designs or awnings reflecting the characteristics and opinions of small business owners will be produced and provided (up to 1.5 million KRW per store).

Eligibility requires stores located in Yeongdeungpo-gu with fewer than five regular employees as of the application date and a remaining lease contract period of at least six months.

The project requires maintenance for two years after implementation, and priority will be given to stores with high necessity for support, prior agreement with building owners, and those willing to actively participate in the 'Fruit Light Hanging Project,' which installs fruit-shaped lights under awnings.

Small business owners wishing to apply can download the application form and consent form from the Yeongdeungpo-gu website's notices and announcements section, fill them out, and submit them along with required documents via email to the person in charge.

The district will select a total of 20 stores through document screening and notify the results individually on June 20th.

For more information, contact the District Office's Autonomous Administration Division.

Yeongdeungpo-gu Mayor Chae Hyun-il said, "Through this project, we hope to transform the image of Dangsan-gol, which was once dark, by replacing the street's face?the signboards?with distinctive and neat designs and to breathe new life into the local commercial district."