Korea Airports Corporation Selected 3 Airport Noise Damage Support Projects, Secured Additional 170 Million KRW
New Projects Including Study Rooms for Children and Adolescents, Children's Pedestrian Environment Improvement, and Music Festival 추진
Yangcheon-gu (Mayor Lee Gi-jae) announced that it secured 170 million KRW by being selected the most in the airport noise damage support public contest project newly introduced this year by Korea Airports Corporation to improve the welfare of residents in airport noise countermeasure areas and create a pleasant living environment. The district will carry out three resident living environment improvement projects, including creating comfortable study rooms for children and adolescents, until October next year.
The airport noise damage support public contest project is a program that recruits and supports plans related to cultural welfare, local talent development, regional economic revitalization, and resident living environment improvement for local governments and affiliated organizations designated and announced as airport noise countermeasure areas, aiming to discover resident-friendly projects with high perceived impact.
With this selection, the district secured an additional total of 170 million KRW separate from the existing resident support project budget.
The selected projects are ▲‘Creating Dream Study Rooms’ for children and adolescents in vulnerable housing within the noise countermeasure area ▲‘Our Child’s Happy Steps’ to improve the walking environment for children in the noise countermeasure area ▲a large-scale cultural and arts festival ‘Autumn Garden Music Festival’ for residents exhausted by noise.
In particular, ‘Creating Dream Study Rooms,’ which was selected as the overall first place among 12 projects in this contest, is a project that creates comfortable study rooms at home to guarantee the right to study for children and adolescents in the noise countermeasure area who are in poor housing conditions due to economic difficulties.
The support targets are 25 households with school-age children (8-19 years old) residing in ‘houses’ under the Housing Act within the noise countermeasure area in the district, with household income at or below 100% of the median income, either homeowners or tenants. Priority is given to multi-child, single-parent, and multicultural families. Support will be provided up to 2 million KRW per household, allowing autonomous selection among seven items: wallpapering, flooring, LED lighting, blackout curtains, desk and chair, and bookshelf.
‘Our Child’s Happy Steps’ is a project to create a safe and pleasant route to and from school to protect students in the noise countermeasure area from child crimes and traffic accidents. First, a ‘constant safety guard’ linked with a professional security company will be deployed on major school routes within the noise countermeasure area, and intensive patrols will be conducted during peak school commute times when pedestrian accidents are frequent.
Outside school commute hours, ‘Our Neighborhood Child Guardians,’ composed of local residents familiar with the area such as volunteers and neighborhood watch groups, will patrol secluded walkways, playgrounds, and areas around schools.
Additionally, a base activity space (post) for ‘Our Neighborhood Child Guardians’ will be established where children can always come for help in emergencies, and an emergency contact system will be built in cooperation with the local police precinct.
Along with this, a ‘School Route Improvement Project’ reflecting local characteristics through design application will be carried out to create a safe local environment for all residents.
The ‘Autumn Garden Music Festival’ is a large-scale cultural and arts festival held at Seoseoul Lake Park, a representative park in the southwest area and located in the airport noise countermeasure area. It aims to provide emotional satisfaction to residents tired of airport noise. The festival will feature a range of programs from experiential booths for children, participatory programs for youth, to music performances tailored for middle-aged and elderly generations, fostering local pride and offering opportunities for high-quality cultural enjoyment. Shuttle buses to the venue will be operated for elderly residents with mobility difficulties to improve accessibility.
On the 24th, the district signed a business agreement with Korea Airports Corporation to promote the projects and plans to receive the project funds in December and actively proceed with the selected projects until October next year.
In addition, Yangcheon-gu opened the ‘Airport Noise Countermeasure Comprehensive Support Center’ in April to provide systematic and comprehensive resident support unique to the district. The center operates services such as precise hearing tests, mental health counseling, noise countermeasure system improvement, damage investigation, and data management. Also, this month, automatic aircraft noise measurement equipment will be installed in three base areas to establish an independent airport noise monitoring system. In August, the district visited the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to actively propose improvements to the airport noise countermeasure project system, making every effort to prepare resident-centered support measures.
Lee Gi-jae, Mayor of Yangcheon-gu, said, “I hope that the selection in this public contest project will serve as a stepping stone to expand resident-friendly airport noise damage support projects. We will continue to actively discover and promote practical and effective support measures that truly resonate with residents in the noise countermeasure areas.”
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