[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] As the first step toward creating a ‘15-minute city,’ which Busan City is promoting, a citizen participation academy to gather opinions and wisdom will be operated.
Busan City announced on the 29th that from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the 30th, it will operate the ‘Happy Challenge Governance,’ composed of the resident council and the Sympathy Policy Group residents, at the Gaegum 3-dong Community Center in the Dangam Gaegum living area, the first project site of the ‘Happy Challenge.’
Since September, Busan City has been actively operating the first Happy Challenge governance, running a resident council made up of local community residents to spread the values and vision of the 15-minute city and to discover tasks, collecting opinions five times so far.
Additionally, since October, the Sympathy Policy Group for the Dangam Gaegum Happy Challenge has been publicly recruited to expand the scope of resident participation.
The event will be held with about 50 participants, including the Sympathy Policy Group and the resident council, and will proceed in the order of ▲a lecture on the basic concept of the 15-minute city, ▲an explanation of the city’s prepared ‘Happy Challenge (1st phase)’ project plan (draft), ▲a site tour to directly visit major project locations, and ▲group discussions by division.
After collecting and coordinating residents’ opinions, the governance will be held once more within the year to finalize the project plan reflecting the coordinated opinions.
During the project period from 2023 to 2024, the city plans to hold academies and workshops for the Sympathy Policy Group, resident council, and general citizens to enhance residents’ understanding of the project and their awareness of participation.
Kim Kwang-hoe, Director of Urban Balanced Development Office of Busan City, said, “This governance will serve as a field support group to collect creative and innovative ideas from the private sector and incorporate the living voices from the field into the creation of the 15-minute city, and it will be a key axis monitoring the overall promotion of the Happy Challenge in the future.”
The ‘15-minute city’ refers to a new urban model emphasizing a walking-centered lifestyle where medical care, education, leisure, and other services are accessible by walking or bicycle.
Since the vision declaration in May last year, Busan City plans to actively promote the first Happy Challenge project, a pilot zone creation project, starting in 2023, following vision tours, policy contests, basic planning, governance operation, and preliminary plan establishment.
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