District Mayor Park Holds 'Policy Dialogue with the Mayor' on the 12th at Hongdae Walkable Street, Announcing Improvements to Hongdae Facilities, Support for Cultural Artists, and Content Development
Park Gang-su, Mayor of Mapo District, is delivering a greeting at the 'Policy Dialogue with the Mayor' on the 12th to promote tourism in Hongdae.
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Park Gang-su, Mayor of Mapo-gu, held a session to share the vision of transforming Hongdae, Seoul’s representative tourist destination, into a global tourist spot and to gather opinions from local residents on the second anniversary of the designation of the ‘Hongdae Culture and Arts Tourism Special Zone.’
Mapo-gu (Mayor Park Gang-su) announced that on the 12th, it held the ‘Dynamic Hongdae Street! Restart! Policy Dialogue with the Mayor’ at Hongdae Walking Street.
The event was attended by about 200 people including merchants near Hongdae, cultural artists, and tourism industry workers, where Mayor Park Gang-su of Mapo-gu directly presented the blueprint for ‘Hongdae, a street you want to walk again, visit again, and enjoy again.’
Mayor Park Gang-su of Mapo-gu opened the dialogue by saying, “In the past, Hongdae was a place full of individuality, but now it has become a common consumer city and has lost its unique local identity. We organized this session to support the passion and talent of free-spirited cultural artists to express themselves and to listen carefully even to small voices so that local small business owners do not suffer damage in the process.”
He then explained the renewal plans for Hongdae Walking Street and policies to revitalize the Hongdae area tourism special zone.
According to a report by the Seoul Institute, the Hongdae area (Seogyo-dong) recorded a floating population of 19.64 million in the commercial district even during the height of COVID-19 in 2020, making it the commercial district with the highest floating population among Seoul’s administrative districts.
The district plans to extensively renovate the infrastructure near Hongdae to keep this floating population in the area longer and encourage consumption in nearby commercial districts.
The target includes existing traveler convenience facilities, outdoor exhibition zones, and plaza stages. Currently, traveler convenience facilities and outdoor exhibition zones are underutilized, having lost their original functions and being used as smoking areas.
As a result, the busking stages, which were a distinctive feature of Hongdae, have decreased, causing damage to surrounding commercial districts due to disconnection. To resolve this, a 66-meter-long retaining wall and its upper structures will be demolished. The cleared space will be transformed into unique busking areas and photo zones to expand cultural performance opportunities and revitalize the commercial district.
To eliminate inconveniences such as the lack of public restrooms available while enjoying busking on Hongdae streets and discomfort caused by cigarette smoke encountered on the streets, the district plans to increase the number of restrooms and smoking booths to enhance traveler convenience.
Additionally, the ‘car-free street’ operation days will be expanded to weekdays to create a safe walking environment, and to alleviate parking difficulties in Hongdae, an underground parking lot and cultural park with a total floor area of approximately 30,000 square meters is being promoted in the area of 168-1 Donggyo-dong.
The district is considering converting part of this building into a space where cultural artists can reside. This aims to support cultural artists leaving Hongdae due to gentrification and transform the current Hongdae, which is mainly about simple entertainment and consumption, into a place truly full of enjoyable culture.
Along with the hardware transformation of Hongdae Walking Street, software upgrades will also be carried out.
To discover distinctive and diverse content, ‘Hongdae Festival Street Buskers’ will be selected and granted performance licenses, and ‘365 Festival Street in Hongdae’ will be held once a month, promoting events of various genres.
Also, centered on the Hongdae tourism special zone, the tourism spectrum will be expanded by linking with tourism products in nearby areas such as Hapjeong-dong’s ‘Yanghwajin Boat Route Exploration’ and ‘Mapo Village Tour.’
Furthermore, a total of 190 million KRW will be supported this year to revitalize cultural and artistic events and festivals.
Detailed tourism revitalization plans will be discussed continuously through the formation of the ‘Hongdae Cultural Development Win-Win Committee,’ which includes cultural and artistic organizations, tourism industry workers, and local residents within the Hongdae tourism special zone. Additionally, through the reorganization of Mapo-gu, a Hongdae Specialization Team will be newly established to discuss projects by sector.
A Hongdae merchant attending the policy dialogue commented, “Traveler convenience facilities such as restrooms and smoking rooms are essential for tourists visiting Hongdae, so please proceed quickly.”
Another cultural artist active in Hongdae expressed expectations, saying, “If Mayor Park Gang-su provides a space for cultural artists as announced, we will be able to focus on artistic activities with peace of mind.”
In response, Mayor Park Gang-su of Mapo-gu said, “We will gather your opinions and redevelop the Hongdae area into a street full of food, sights, and entertainment where culture harmonizes, and we will spare no institutional or administrative support to help Mapo become a world-class tourist city.”
Following a Q&A session with attendees, there was also a time to fly paper airplanes carrying wishes for the revitalization of Hongdae tourism. Mayor Park Gang-su picked up the paper airplanes to check the hopes of the participants and promised to reflect them in the revitalization of Hongdae tourism.
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