'Workshop on "Happy Yeoju: Creating an Elder-Friendly City"' Held

Collaboration and Communication Among Citizens, Public, and Private Institutions
Great Response Through Diverse Opinion Gathering

Yeoju City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Lee Chung-woo) and Yeoju Senior Welfare Center (Director Lee Seok-ja) announced on the 11th that they held a workshop under the theme "Happy Yeoju, an Elderly-Friendly City We Create" to revitalize the Yeoju Elderly-Friendly City creation project, which is being promoted to build a city where all generations live well together.

Yeoju City and Yeoju Senior Welfare Center held a workshop on the 6th under the theme "A Senior-Friendly City We Create Together, Happy Yeoju." Photo by Yeoju City

At the workshop held that day, with the attendance of 150 citizens, the first part included the national ceremony, viewing of a promotional video, and greetings. The second part began with an introduction to Yeoju City's elderly-friendly city policy projects, followed by a presentation on the development direction of elderly-friendly city and welfare services by Yeoju Senior Welfare Center, and then a brainstorming session led by Professor Kim Sung-hee of Yeoju University under the theme "Yeoju, an Elderly-Friendly City Created Together," providing time for communication and participation.

Yeoju Elderly-Friendly City marked its second year since receiving WHO international network certification in December 2022. So far, it has established 9 major goals across 5 key areas and is intensively implementing 78 detailed projects in collaboration with 21 departments. Additionally, 2025 will be the final year of the first three-year phase of Yeoju Elderly-Friendly City creation project, aiming for WHO international network re-certification through citizen feedback and advanced research.

Notably, the workshop showed high interest in various citizen opinions and desired city models. Regarding improvements needed for creating an elderly-friendly city, opinions were expressed in the order of transportation (parking lots, public transportation), participation (jobs, leisure programs), safety (streetlights, CCTV, pedestrian overpass elevators, protection for solitary elderly), and health (general hospitals, loess trails, care), showing the greatest interest in the three key areas of health, safety, and participation.

Lee Seok-ja, Director of Yeoju Senior Welfare Center, said, “Our welfare center, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, has played a pivotal role in the elderly-friendly city creation project of Yeoju City, sharing the same direction as a community institution based on accumulated experience. Through today’s workshop, we hope to continue contributing to the elderly-friendly city creation project through collaboration with public institutions.”

Mayor Lee Chung-woo of Yeoju City stated, “November marks the second anniversary of our city’s certification as an elderly-friendly city by WHO, and we are preparing for re-certification next year. Today’s workshop with all of you will be the starting point. Over the past two years, we have established detailed plans based on 9 major goals across 5 key areas and have been promoting projects in each area. However, I believe the most important thing is to reduce the gap in perception between public institutions and citizens. Therefore, I hope your diverse opinions today will help us create a better elderly-friendly city.”