[News Terms] Improving Children's Safety Zones with 'Smart Poles'

Installation and Attachment of All Smart City Technologies on a Single Pole
Expected Benefits Include Improved Urban Aesthetics, Enhanced Citizen Welfare, and Budget Savings

'Smart Pole' is Seoul City's urban infrastructure that combines smart city technology with pillar-shaped urban infrastructure such as streetlights and utility poles, which were previously installed individually.

Literally, it means a 'smart pole.' On a single pole such as a streetlight or utility pole, various devices are installed and attached, including CCTV for crime prevention and speeding enforcement, public Wi-Fi, smart crosswalks, smartphone and electric vehicle wireless charging functions, emergency bells, fine dust and pedestrian flow sensors (S-DoT), and more.

Smart Pole Standard Installation Perspective.
Photo by Seoul City Website

Streetlights, traffic lights, and security lights are gradually being replaced with smart poles so that they can function as smart city infrastructure that improves safety, welfare, environment, and citizen convenience beyond their original functions. The installation is being expanded across Seoul with standardized specifications, and it is evolving into various models.

Smart poles consolidate the CCTV devices that were chaotically installed on utility poles or traffic lights into one, improving the cityscape and including welfare elements that help citizens' daily lives. They also reduce replacement costs for streetlight or CCTV poles. Since installation began in 2020, a total of 414 smart poles have been installed at major locations in Seoul, such as Seoul Plaza and Sungnyemun, as of December last year.

Jungnang-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Ryu Kyung-gi) announced on the 7th that it was selected for Seoul City's integrated safety smart pole construction contest project. The district plans to strengthen traffic safety by installing smart poles in child protection zones. Starting in April, the district will begin full-scale construction, including reorganizing existing facilities that were installed disorderly, and plans to complete installation within the first half of the year.

Ryu Kyung-gi, Mayor of Jungnang-gu, said, "Various road facilities that were disorderly installed and damaged the cityscape in child protection zones can now be reorganized and improved through this contest project selection," adding, "We will do our utmost to secure traffic safety for children."