Uijeongbu-si Creates 'Barefoot Walking Path Creation and Management Manual'

An Ecological City You Want to Walk In, Uijeongbu

Uijeongbu City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Kim Dong-geun) announced on the 22nd that it has created a 'Barefoot Walking Trail Creation and Management Manual' for the systematic establishment and management of barefoot walking trails.

Barefoot Path Location Map. Provided by Uijeongbu City

Currently, there are 13 barefoot walking trails in Uijeongbu. Among them, 9 trails were directly created by the city, while the remaining 4 trails naturally formed as citizens used general walking paths barefoot.

The city prepared this manual after conducting a survey of barefoot trail status within the region, collecting opinions from relevant departments, researching cases from other regions, and reviewing related research materials.

The manual consists of a total of five chapters: ▲Site selection ▲Material selection and design guidelines ▲Barefoot trail creation ▲Barefoot trail management and operation.

In particular, it presents guidelines on material selection when creating barefoot walking trails, structural design such as separation from general sidewalks and appropriate width, and maintenance plans for summer (and winter) seasons.

After distributing the manual to each department, the city plans to continuously supplement it by monitoring and reviewing the difficulties and complaints arising on-site as well as the opinions of the departments responsible for barefoot walking trail creation and management.

An Jong-seong, Director of Urban Design, said, “This manual was prepared to systematically create and manage barefoot walking trails in response to citizens’ demand for barefoot walking. We will do our best to ensure that citizens can use the barefoot walking trails in a more pleasant environment.”