City Council to Review Urban Clearance Project Selection Committee on the 15th
Removal, Integration, and Maintenance of Public Facilities Hindering Urban Landscape and Pedestrian Rights
Busan City has selected the area around Busan Station (Dong-gu) as the target site for the first-ever “Urban Clearing Pilot Project” this year, aiming to improve pedestrian environments and transform the city’s appearance through urban clearing.
The Urban Emptying Project Selection Committee that has finally selected the area around Busan Station as the pilot project site.
The “Urban Clearing Project” is an initiative to create a safe and pleasant urban landscape that citizens can directly experience by removing, integrating, and reorganizing various public facilities on sidewalks and roadways that hinder the city’s aesthetics and restrict pedestrian rights.
This project is one of the innovative measures for architecture and urban design in Busan 2030, announced by Mayor Park Hyungjun last September. To implement the project, the city has established an action plan and secured a budget of 1.5 billion KRW for this year’s pilot site.
To select this year’s pilot site, the city accepted candidate locations from July 4 to 10 through local districts and counties, focusing on areas with high foot traffic, tourist spots, and gateway regions.
A total of four candidate sites were submitted: ▲The area around Busan Station (Dong-gu) ▲Gupyeong-dong and Goejeong 4-dong (Saha-gu) ▲UN-ro, Suyeong-ro, and UN Peace-ro (Nam-gu) ▲Deokcheon Intersection (Buk-gu).
Subsequently, at the Urban Clearing Project Selection Council meeting held at 2 p.m. on the 15th in the city council’s medium conference room, the area around Busan Station was finally chosen as the pilot site.
For a fair and transparent evaluation, the city formed a separate “Urban Clearing Project Selection Council,” which includes members from the city council, relevant agencies, and professors specializing in design and urban architecture from Busan National University, Pukyong National University, and Dong-eui University. The council is chaired by Kim Gwanghoe, Deputy Mayor for Future Innovation, and the number of participants varies depending on the agenda.
On this day, the council comprehensively considered suitability, appropriateness, feasibility, and potential for cooperation with local districts, ultimately selecting the area around Busan Station (Dong-gu) as the project site.
Busan Station is a gateway to the city, frequented by both citizens and numerous domestic and international visitors. According to a public opinion survey on city administration issues conducted this spring, it was also identified as a location where the Urban Clearing Project is expected to have a significant impact. Additionally, it is meaningful as a project that can serve as a catalyst for revitalizing the declining old downtown and connecting with North Port.
Following this selection, the city plans to remove, integrate, and reorganize public facilities that detract from the cityscape?such as signs, poles, and power distribution boxes?along a 1km stretch of sidewalks and roadways and within a 300m radius around intersections in the Busan Station area within this year.
To this end, the city will form and operate a working-level council with Dong-gu and related agencies to establish an effective collaborative system, and will prepare a master plan, guidelines, and checklists to actively push the project forward.
Kim Gwanghoe, Deputy Mayor for Future Innovation and chairman of the Urban Clearing Project Selection Council, stated, “The Urban Clearing Project, which will beautifully transform the future of Busan, is breaking ground for the first time in the area around Busan Station. As this is the first project to be directly implemented since the launch of the Future Design Headquarters, we will ensure its thorough execution so that the value of Busan as a global design city can spread throughout the entire city.”
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