Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jung-hun) was awarded the Grand Prize at the “2020 Korea Space Welfare Awards.”

Spatial welfare is the enjoyment of welfare benefits by citizens in various facilities, such as sports facilities and libraries, near one’s home. The “Korea Space Welfare Awards” were held for the second time this year to discover cases that realize hidden spatial welfare in autonomous districts and promote spatial welfare policies. The awards were sponsored by Donga Ilbo and Channel A and supported by the Seoul Housing & Communities Corporation.

Gangdong-gu was given the honor of the Grand Prize with cases of spatial innovation in various categories that were newly attempted as “unique, meticulous spatial welfare in every nook and cranny.”

Gangdong-gu was widely recognized for its experiment on the “Gangdong-type spatial welfare” that aimed to simultaneously satisfy the various demands of the limited space of a large city and consumers.The first example is the children’s community center, “Ggum Miso.” Ggum Miso is a project that refurnishes senior citizen centers in the district to allow children and teens to use the facility from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. after the elders go home. Ggum Miso was awarded at the “2019 Excellent Cases of SOC Contest” and plans to expand its six branches to twelve branches by 2022.

Another example of Gangdong-gu’s innovative spatial welfare is the “first and third generation integrative building remodeling” project for old senior citizen centers. This project repairs the old and classic exteriors of senior citizen centers with modern decorations, and the interiors are equipped with universal designs that can be used by people of all ages, genders, and disabilities. The project decorates these facilities so that both senior citizens and citizens from various classes can use the areas.

Furthermore, Gangdong-gu’s new spatial innovation project has led to the rest-type library, the “book café,” that allows visitors to read and hold gatherings in a café that offers a setting that is different from a common library.

The “Open Art Gallery” in the halls of the government office building and the “outdoor sculpture garden” in the front courtyard of the office building can be seen as examples of spatial innovation that transformed existing facilities under new concepts.

Gangdong-gu plans to improve on these concepts to design a community space where the first floors of all public spaces are transformed to be used by all generations, classes, and genders.

This award was given for the district’s spatial welfare for infants, children and teens, youths, senior citizens, and the disabled and for the district’s system of participation by civil experts that was boldly introduced into the areas of landscaping, architecture, and parks.

Regarding the results of this assessment, Mayor Lee Jung-hun commented, “The ‘Gangdong-type spatial welfare’ that meticulously looks into every nook and cranny of the district and adds innovation to existing facilities began to be recognized. We will continue to make bold attempts to realize spatial welfare throughout all of Gangdong-gu.” 

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  Gangdong-gu was awarded the grand prize at the “2020 Korea Space Welfare Awards” on November 25. Deputy Mayor Chung Hwan-jung of Gangdong-gu is receiving the award in the photo.

  

  Gangdong-gu Mayor Lee Jung Hun