Yongin City Receives Minister of Culture Award at the 'Korea Public Design Awards'

High Praise for Crime Prevention Environmental Design and Design Sharing Project
Mayor Sang-il Lee: "Expanding Life Safety Design in Crime-Vulnerable Areas"

Yongin City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 3rd that it received the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award (Grand Prize) at the '2024 Korea Public Design Awards' hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The city explained that it ranked first among local governments, receiving high praise for its efforts to expand the base of public design by developing standard designs reflecting regional characteristics and conducting various related education programs over the past five years in accordance with the public design promotion plan established in 2020.

Lee Sang-il, Mayor of Yongin, is testing the emergency bell installed with safety design at Pungdeokcheon Small Park (left). Wayfinding sign installed at Yongin Central Park (right).
[Photo by Yongin City]

Previously, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism established a local government category for this award starting last year, selecting and awarding outstanding local governments. The main evaluation criteria include public design administrative services and systems, public design personnel, and public design project performance.

In this year’s evaluation, Yongin City was praised by the judges for developing and operating public designs that enhance safety in daily life, such as 'Crime Prevention Environmental Design' and the 'Design Sharing Project.'

Last year, the city installed 64 emergency bells, 23 safe return home route signs, 5 emergency fire extinguisher boxes, and 4 recycling bins with life safety design applied in three areas?Yurim-dong in Cheoin-gu, Singal-dong in Giheung-gu, and Pungdeokcheon-dong in Suji-gu?where fire trucks had difficulty entering due to illegal parking.

Additionally, in collaboration with the design departments of local universities, the city applied crime prevention environmental design guide signs with enhanced visibility in vulnerable areas such as riversides and alleyways. The guide signs include logo projectors installed in dark alleys or under bridges that display the location address for easy reporting in emergencies, as well as bright and cheerful images and friendly phrases.

The city also developed and installed 27 'Wayfinding Guide Sign Standard Designs' along a 4 km section of Tancheon Stream from Daejigyo Bridge in Jukjeon-dong, Suji-gu to Guseong 1 Bridge in Eonnam-dong, Giheung-gu, and at Yongin Central Park in Nam-dong, Cheoin-gu. These signs provide comprehensive information such as exit details, precautions for using walking trails, and no-smoking notices.

Since the establishment of the Public Design Team in 2007, the city has been providing leading public design administrative services based on the Ordinance on the Promotion of Public Design in Yongin City.

Mayor Lee Sang-il of Yongin said, "I am pleased that the projects promoted by the city to prevent crime and create a pleasant environment through public design have achieved good results," adding, "We will continue to expand life safety design facilities in crime-vulnerable areas so that citizens can live with peace of mind."

The 2024 Korea Public Design Awards ceremony is scheduled to be held on October 25th at Seoul Forest in Seongdong-gu, Seoul.