Suncheon City Selects 12 Proposals from 'Citizen Policy Suggestions' Contest

"Deriving Lively Old Downtown Revitalization Policies"

Suncheon City, South Jeolla Province (Mayor Noh Gwan-gyu), announced on the 23rd that it has selected 12 policy proposals through the review of the '2024 Citizen Policy Planning Contest' held for citizens.

This contest was organized under the theme 'Creative Revitalization of the Old Downtown, This Is What Citizens Think!' to gather a variety of ideas and suggestions from citizens for revitalizing the old downtown in four areas (▲Space (vacant stores) ▲Culture ▲Commercial District ▲Transportation) and to reflect them in policy formulation.

Exterior view of Suncheon City Hall.

Over a three-week period last month, the city received 48 policy proposals from citizens. After two rounds of review by the working committee and the judging committee, 12 proposals were finally selected. The awards include one Bronze Prize team, three Encouragement Prize teams, and eight Effort Proposal teams.

The Bronze Prize (one team) was awarded to the Suncheon-style Study Cafe Activation Project (S.S.C). This proposal focuses on utilizing vacant stores in the old downtown to create themed study cafes and includes a safe return home program in collaboration with Suncheon Police Station. The strategy received high marks for aiming to restore Suncheon's reputation as an educational city, providing student-tailored study cafe facilities and safety programs, and naturally encouraging parents to spend more time in the old downtown, thereby contributing to revitalization.

A city official commented, "This contest was meaningful as it became a venue for vivid and practical policy proposals from citizens regarding the revitalization of the old downtown," and added, "We will do our best to develop various programs next year to discover citizens' ideas on current municipal issues."