Gwangyang City Creates Green City through 'Park and Urban Forest Development'

Yellow Soil Barefoot Trail, Citizen Exercise Path, Barrier-Free Park, and More

Gwangyang City in Jeollanam-do is accelerating the promotion of the ‘Park and Urban Forest Creation Project’ aimed at improving citizens' health and preserving the natural ecosystem.

Starting in the second half of this year, this project takes a comprehensive approach focused on organically connecting citizens' daily lives with nature.

[Photo provided by Gwangyang-si]

The project will be promoted in three main directions.

The key components are 'Creation of Forest Trails and Barefoot Walkways for Walking,' 'Gwangyang-style Citizen Exercise Paths,' and 'Barrier-free Urban Forest Creation.'

▶ Creation of Forest Trails and Barefoot Walkways for Walking

Gwangyang City plans to create 'forest trails for walking' and 'barefoot walkways' throughout the city to promote citizens' health and provide opportunities for experiencing nature.

This project aims to expand green spaces within the city to enhance citizens' health and reduce carbon emissions.

The 'forest trails for walking' project, selected through a Jeollanam-do public contest, is currently underway with an investment of 170 million KRW to create a 328-meter walking trail in Usan Park, Gwangyang-eup, with completion scheduled for the end of July.

Additionally, the 'Barefoot Loess Path' project at Madong Reservoir Ecological Park involves laying loess on the existing 260-meter walking trail and constructing a tactile experience area and foot-washing station, with plans to complete by the end of August.

▶ Creation of Gwangyang-style Citizen Exercise Paths

Gwangyang City aims to achieve two goals with the creation of 'Citizen Exercise Paths.'

The project’s goal is to enable citizens to naturally gain exercise benefits through their daily routes while connecting fragmented green spaces into a continuous urban ecological network.

Starting last year with the construction of a walking trail connecting Wow Park and Madong Sports Park, this year the city is working on connecting the fragmented walking trails along the urban planning road around Samhwa Island in Madong.

The city expects the Citizen Exercise Path project to improve the overall urban environment, including walking and residential conditions, and help citizens develop healthy lifestyle habits. Furthermore, it is exploring the potential to link this project with tourism development around the Yi Sun-sin Bridge and Samhwa Island areas.

▶ Barrier-free Urban Forest Creation at Wow Park through Green Fund Public Contest Project

Gwangyang City is creating a 'barrier-free urban forest' at Wow Park.

This project, funded with approximately 1.2 billion KRW through the Korea Forest Welfare Institute’s Green Fund public contest, is part of an inclusive policy to ensure that all citizens, including the elderly and people with disabilities, can equally enjoy nature.

The plan to make Wow Park (16,789㎡) a 'barrier-free park' was established in September last year. Once the project is fully underway, numerous convenience facilities for socially vulnerable groups will be installed, including barrier-free playground equipment, barrier-free walking trails, voice guidance systems, ramps accessible to wheelchair users and the elderly, and braille blocks.

Gwangyang City’s efforts to leap forward as an eco-friendly, low-carbon city are expected to strengthen the image of ‘Green City Gwangyang’ through the establishment of green infrastructure, providing solutions to climate issues and the fragmentation of urban ecological corridors faced by modern society.

Jung In-hwa, Mayor of Gwangyang City, stated, "This project aims to respond to the pressing challenges of improving citizens' health, addressing climate change, and preserving ecosystems, while also providing citizens with diverse park experiences."

He added, “We plan to actively expand the project so that citizens can enjoy parks and urban forests in more places. We ask for citizens’ active participation and interest in creating a sustainable green city model where nature, the city, and citizens’ lives harmoniously coexist.”