Jeonnam Hampyeong County has been selected as the target site for the "Resident Participation Rural Spatial Planning Pilot Project" organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and is accelerating the establishment of the plan together with local residents.
According to Hampyeong County on August 19, the goal of this pilot project is to have residents directly participate in discussing village issues and seeking solutions to improve residential conditions, expand living conveniences, and revitalize the local economy, reflecting these solutions in the county's mid- to long-term rural spatial plans.
In June, to ensure smooth progress of the project, the county formed a residents' council in Daedong-myeon, the project site, in cooperation with the Jeonnam Rural Space Regional Support Organization and the Hampyeong County Rural Revitalization Support Center.
The council is composed of about 20 residents representing various fields such as agriculture and welfare. They have been actively sharing their opinions through weekly educational sessions and discussions held at the Daedong Rest Center.
The educational programs move beyond traditional lectures and instead use participatory methods, such as creating specialized zones through board games and drawing maps of village resources. Through play and hands-on activities, participants can more easily grasp concepts, stimulate their creativity, discover local resources, and gather a variety of ideas for regional development.
So far, Hampyeong County has completed three educational sessions and plans to establish a customized rural spatial plan for Daedong-myeon through benchmarking visits and on-site surveys. The discovered tasks and proposals are expected to lead to tangible outcomes by being linked with the county's basic plan for rural space restructuring and regeneration, as well as village development projects.
In addition, through this project, the county aims to establish a realistic rural planning model by discovering resident-proposed projects and developing operational regulations for rural specialized zones, thereby laying the foundation for sustainable rural growth.
Lee Sangik, the mayor of Hampyeong County, stated, "The very process of Daedong-myeon residents designing the future of their village themselves is the core value of this pilot project," adding, "We will actively support residents' opinions so they can be reflected in actual policy."
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