Seocho-gu Smartly Solves Urban Issues Through Resident Living Labs

Gu selects 3 resident-proposed projects for demonstration at the 'Smart City Living Lab Performance Sharing' event on the 30th... Grand Prize awarded to 'Gilmachung-gil Walking Path Finder App' enhancing convenience, safety, and sharing of issues

Seocho-gu, the only autonomous district in Seoul certified as a smart city both domestically and internationally, is tackling local issues through resident ideas integrated with 4th industrial revolution technologies.

Seocho-gu, Seoul (Mayor Jeon Seong-su) held the ‘Seocho Smart City Living Lab Project Performance Sharing Meeting’ on the 30th in the 2nd-floor auditorium and selected three resident-proposed projects for demonstration.

The Smart City Living Lab means a "living laboratory," a project where residents identify and solve everyday problems using 4th industrial revolution technologies.

Since last year, the district has been operating the Smart City Living Lab to realize true local autonomy by solving problems encountered in daily life through collaboration among residents, experts, and public officials.

This year, after a call for proposals in June, five teams were finally selected out of nine project teams. From June to this month, they derived smart city service models to solve local problems through consulting with 4th industrial revolution technology experts over about five months.

At this presentation, a total of five teams presented, introducing solutions to various urban inconveniences such as safety and childcare.

The grand prize at this event was awarded to the ‘Gilmajung-gil Walking Route Finder App (Igileottae Team).’ This team proposed a policy that enhances convenience and safety by sharing walking routes on Gilmajung-gil, a popular path among residents, through a community map linked with QR codes to resolve inconveniences.

The excellence award went to ‘Adjustable Streetlights for Resident Health’ (Seocho Safety Smarter Team), and the encouragement award was given to ‘Montmartre Park Safety Keeper Kiosk’ (Discovery of Seocho Team).

First, the ‘Seocho Safety Smarter Team’ proposed IoT-based reflective and adjustable streetlights to minimize residents’ light pollution damage. These streetlights adjust light shields according to time and situation, ensuring safety while alleviating resident discomfort. Additionally, the ‘Discovery of Seocho Team’ proposed a user-centered safety accident reporting system that prevents accidents by verifying real-time location information via CCTV when reporting through kiosks in parks.

Other presentations included ▲Seocho-style Smart Safe Park Creation (AI Family Exploration Team) and ▲Utilizing Cheonggyesan Waterfront Park as a Space for Resident Communication (Naegok Middle School Parents Association Team), which received much empathy.

Monetary awards were given to the teams selected for demonstration: 500,000 KRW for the grand prize team, 300,000 KRW for the excellence award team, and 200,000 KRW for the encouragement award team.

The district plans to secure next year’s budget for the three projects and, after consultations among related departments, will proceed with improvements and demonstrations.

Meanwhile, the district completed demonstrations of last year’s outstanding Living Lab projects. The grand prize-winning ‘Smart City Fire Response System’ has now been implemented using the ‘Seocho-gu Smart City App.’ Also, the excellence award-winning project ‘Poop Box and Snack Factory Installation’ is developing a waste disposal system using QR code-printed dog waste bags, scheduled to be installed in dog playgrounds and parks by the end of the year.

Seocho-gu Mayor Jeon Seong-su said, “We will continue to actively support the reflection of brilliant policies created directly by residents, such as the Smart City Living Lab, throughout the district administration.”