Yangju City, Residents Lead Urban Regeneration
Saemnae Village Takes First Step Toward a Self-Reliant Community
Yangju City in Gyeonggi Province announced on May 4 that the 'Saemnae Village Resident Capacity Building Training,' promoted as part of its urban regeneration project, was successfully completed on April 29.
This training was conducted with the aim of establishing a sustainable urban regeneration ecosystem through active participation by local residents, and of providing a stable operational foundation for the Saemnae Village Management Social Cooperative.
The resident capacity building training was held a total of nine times from March 4 to April 29. The program included a variety of topics: understanding cooperatives and principles of organizational management; benchmarking advanced domestic regions; concretizing village business models; hands-on training for specialized products; and strategies for practical operations.
In particular, the training focused on enabling residents to proactively participate, identify business items that reflect actual village issues, and develop the capacity to turn these into profitable business models.
At the beginning of the training, participants spent time understanding the concept of cooperatives and the basic principles of the social economy. In the latter half, they explored practical ways to operate village projects through field trips focused on advanced case studies.
In the final stage, hands-on sessions were held for developing specialized products for Saemnae Village, including prototype production and business plan presentations. During this process, residents directly assessed the village's strengths and, based on these, successfully refined ideas for specialized projects.
Yangju City assessed that, through this training, Saemnae Village residents have acquired practical village management capabilities. The city expects that, based on these achievements, Saemnae Village will establish a foundation for local economic self-reliance and become a leading example of resident-led urban regeneration.
An official from Yangju City stated, "This training is significant not only for enhancing capabilities, but also for laying the groundwork for residents to plan and operate the village themselves," adding, "We will continue to actively promote resident-centered urban regeneration projects going forward."
Meanwhile, Yangju City was selected for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Urban Regeneration New Deal Project in 2022 and is currently promoting an urban regeneration initiative under the name 'Re;member Saemnae.' With a total investment of 14.37 billion won, the project will run until 2026 and includes a variety of resident-oriented programs such as the maintenance of deck paths along the Jungnangcheon Stream, the creation of safe school routes, improvement of living infrastructure, establishment of a community center, support for external home repairs, and capacity building programs for residents.
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