Seongdong-gu Expands Creation of Smart Safe School Routes Metaverse Experience
Secures National Funding for Two Consecutive Years through Ministry of Science and ICT Contest; Praised by External Organizations Including Inclusion in 2025 Elementary Social Studies Textbook
Following Last Year’s Implementation at Eungbong Elementary, Expansion to Geumbuk Elementary Scheduled for July
Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jeong Won-oh) announced that it will expand the "Safe School Route Creation Project Metaverse Experience" to Geumbuk Elementary School in July.
Seongdong-gu was selected for the second consecutive year in the "Digital Utilization Issue Resolution Project" contest hosted by the Korea Intelligent Information Society Agency under the Ministry of Science and ICT, securing a total of 415 million KRW in national funding.
Accordingly, a public-private partnership agreement has been signed, and a living lab for creating smart safe school routes will be conducted for Geumbuk Elementary students and parents in July.
A living lab is a resident-led innovation model that treats the entire village as a laboratory, where residents and administrative agencies collaborate to solve everyday problems. Since 2018, Seongdong-gu has conducted the first phase of safe school route living labs over three years targeting all 21 elementary schools, resolving a total of 94 safety issues.
Last year, the district launched the second phase of the living lab using metaverse technology to create safe school routes. To encourage children's participation, they developed the Roblox game "Sweet Home, Safe School," which children enjoy. After virtually experiencing the school routes through the game, a process was created to reflect social problem-solving content from the elementary social studies curriculum.
In collaboration with Eungbong Elementary School, the program was conducted over a month with three regular class sessions for all 4th and 5th-grade classes. After the game competition, the living lab for creating safe school routes was actively carried out. Children diligently worked by placing stickers on maps around the school to indicate dangerous spots and suggest possible solutions.
In December last year, Seongdong-gu installed various smart facilities reflecting the children’s opinions, including responsive Keybots that allow checking CCTV locations along the school routes, smart reflectors that alert vehicle approach with lights, and floor warning lights.
Additionally, intelligent electronic signboards displaying messages such as "No Smoking" in no-smoking zones and "Please leash your dog" when walking dogs without leashes, as well as intelligent CCTVs, were installed.
This pioneering project by Seongdong has received continuous praise from external organizations. Following two consecutive years of contest selection, it is also scheduled to be introduced in the 2025 elementary social studies textbook as a case where student proposals were reflected in policies under the chapter "Efforts to Solve Local Problems and Promote the Community."
Jeong Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, stated, "We are always attentive to children's safety issues and strive to prevent accidents. We will expand the smart school route project, which involves children who actually use the routes, to create a safer city."
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