Daejeon City Councilor Park Juhwa Holds Policy Forum on Age-Friendly Smart City

Lim Jaebin of Chungnam National University Highlights the Need for Urban Design Responding to a Super-Aged Society

Policy forum on creating a smart city for the elderly hosted by Daejeon City Council member Juhwa Park / City Council

Park Juhwa, a member of the Daejeon Metropolitan Council's Industry and Construction Committee (Junggu 1, People Power Party), announced on the 17th that a policy forum was held at the Daejeon City Council Communication Room under the theme of creating an age-friendly smart city.

The forum, chaired by Park, was attended by experts, Daejeon city officials, and citizens, who discussed the necessity and policy direction for building an age-friendly urban environment incorporating smart technologies.

Lim Jaebin, a professor at Chungnam National University's Graduate School of National Policy, emphasized the need for urban design to respond to a super-aged society in his keynote presentation, "Exploring Smart Age-Friendly Cities." Professor Lim suggested that public and private sectors should cooperate to establish a sustainable service provision model, stating, "We need to strengthen customized services for the elderly, such as smart healthcare, care services, and life safety systems."

During the subsequent discussion, Lee Sangho, a professor at Hanbat National University, stressed the need for customized services tailored to the lifestyles and activity spaces of the elderly, such as smart health, care, and emergency services. Yeom Inseop, a senior research fellow at the Daejeon Sejong Research Institute, highlighted the importance of service innovation centered on user demand rather than simply expanding welfare facilities.

Won Yongsuk, a senior research fellow at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, pointed out that the advancement of smart technology can act as a barrier to accessibility for the elderly, and proposed ways to support the lives of the elderly using smart technologies such as AI, robotics, and mobility.

Park Juhwa stated, "I have proposed an ordinance for the creation and support of an age-friendly smart city in Daejeon at the 285th extraordinary session," and added, "If the ordinance is enacted, I will make efforts to ensure that customized services utilizing smart technologies can provide practical help to the elderly."