'People' at the Center: 'Human City' Suwon

[Suwon Ilbo = Reporter Jung Jun-sung] Suwon has always placed 'people' at the center.

This was the value and objective that Mayor Yim Tae-young has upheld as his governing philosophy throughout his 11 years in office.

Since taking office in July 2010, Mayor Yim has been determined to transform Suwon into 'a city where people find life worth living' through this philosophy.

However, the implementation was far from smooth. There were ups and downs.

Yet overcoming all these difficulties, Mayor Yim has transformed Suwon during his tenure into a city more prosperous and dynamic than any other in the nation.

These achievements stand out across all current city administration sectors. The confirmation of special city status and the city's emergence as a leading city nationwide are among them.

This article reviews Mayor Yim's achievements during the 5th, 6th, and 7th elected terms as he has walked alongside citizens toward the completion of 'Human City Suwon.' <Editor's Note>

Leading Cooperative Governance Through Mutual Prosperity and Collaboration

First, a significant achievement by Suwon has been leading cooperative governance through mutual prosperity and collaboration.

When conflicting opinions arise due to individual citizens' different circumstances, the city has established a system enabling mature decision-making by allowing citizens themselves to express their views directly and reach consensus.

A representative example is the resolution of conflicts over the Gwanggyo water source protection area.

The Gwanggyo water source protection area is an environmental conservation zone that must be preserved collectively, yet it was the livelihood of residents. The conflict between opinions on environmental preservation and those calling for regulatory relaxation persisted for 48 years.

Suwon sought to resolve this through the power of citizens. By establishing the Gwanggyo Mountain Coexistence Council in 2017 and conducting 30 meetings, discussion forums, on-site visits, and surveys over seven months, the city reached a conclusion in late 2018: maintaining the water source protection area while releasing its minimum area.

The experience of problem-solving through governance developed in various forms. The 'Communication Box,' which installs booths from policy conception onward to gather citizen opinions, and 'Citizen Discussion Forums,' where citizens, administration, and council members discuss at the site, function as channels for gathering citizen input.

The 'Suwon Good Governance Committee,' which tracks successful implementation of promised projects, identified 78 policies and adopted 53 of them.

Participatory Autonomy Making Citizens the Owners

Citizen participation that Suwon has pursued advanced into autonomy and decentralization. With the basic concept that citizens are protagonists in social operation, during the 5th through 7th elected terms, multiple citizen participation policies that basic local governments could implement were realized.

The Resident Participatory Budget System, which allows residents to directly participate in all processes of budgeting and project implementation, has been operating since 2012 and continues serving as a core function of fiscal democracy. From 2012 to 2020, 1,214 out of 7,278 suggestions proposed by Suwon citizens were reflected, establishing approximately 87.8 billion won in project budgets.

Additionally, through support projects for community activation, residents in 1,276 projects and approximately 20,000 residents participated. In 8 out of 44 administrative districts, the Dong Chief Resident Recommendation System has been implemented, enabling participatory democracy where residents directly choose their dong chiefs.

With special city status, the fruit of 10 years of effort, coming into effect on January 13 next year, and the Resident Autonomous Council, currently being piloted in 8 districts, expanding to all districts, the local autonomy Suwon has pursued centered on people is expected to bloom with the flower of citizen participation through resident autonomy.

Establishing Fairness Through Equality and Harmony

Special consideration for socially vulnerable groups has taken root in the field of fairness that Suwon has cultivated over 11 years.

First, from 2014 to 2019, Suwon converted a total of 703 temporary workers and dispatch/contract workers to permanent positions.

This was a measure to help resolve polarization through employment security and improved treatment, as well as to enhance the quality of public services for work that is continuous or permanent.

The city also led social change improving working environments for public housing service workers. In June 2016, Suwon revised its housing ordinance to establish the basis for installing rest facilities in multi-unit housing.

Taking a step further, detailed installation standards were also established in January 2020. Thanks to the basis for installing rest facilities for multi-unit housing service workers—implemented nationwide for the first time—27 multi-unit residential complexes in Suwon now have rest facilities.

The working hours of cleaning workers opening the morning across Suwon were delayed to 6 a.m. starting in 2020.

The measure improved the early morning work environment for workers who previously started at 3 a.m., and the maximum capacity of pay-per-use trash bags was also reduced from 100 liters to 75 liters to create a safer work environment.

Additionally, Suwon newly established a dedicated human rights organization (January 2019), the first among basic local governments, to make efforts protecting human rights across city administration. Since last year, to enhance fairness and transparency in hiring by 13 public institutions under Suwon, regular integrated recruitment has been introduced.

Creating Korea's Representative Cultural City

Over the past 11 years, Suwon has pursued various projects to establish its identity as a humanities city, concentrating on cultivating citizen refinement.

While waiting for buses, citizens encounter beautiful phrases and messages. Twelve new libraries have been built, enabling all citizens to access a library within a 10-minute walk.

Unmanned smart libraries operate at six subway stations, and Gwanggyo offers a space where people can read books surrounded by forest.

Through diverse designations of humanities exploration zones—including royal city history exploration, modern history exploration trails, and literary exploration—the city has contributed to broadening citizen knowledge.

To promote Suwon Studies, a deeper and broader understanding of Suwon, the city opened Suwon Studies lectures and established a Suwon Studies Research Center. It also produced a replica of the 'Jeongrio Uigwe' held in France.

Restoration projects of Hwaseong Haenggung, which align with Suwon's identity, are proceeding in stages, and the reenactment of King Jeongjo's royal procession to Hwaseong Haenggung has developed from a Suwon festival into a joint festival among local governments.

Notably, the reenactment of King Jeongjo's royal procession—carried out across all sections from Seoul's Changdeokgung Palace to Suwon's Neung Mausoleum in 2017, 222 years after Hwaseong's construction—won the Grand Prize at the 2018 Korea Tourism Innovation Awards, firmly establishing itself as Korea's representative cultural content.

Listening to Youth, the Resources of the Future

Suwon, centered on people, did not spare investment in cultivating, supporting, and educating youth, the resources of the future.

To create practical support measures for youth, who comprise a quarter of Suwon's total population, the city established the Position of Youth Policy Director in February 2016. In October of the same year, it installed Cheong-nyun Barame (Youth Wind), a youth support center, to provide a space exclusively for youth.

Approximately 12,000 youth have participated in space rental and programs at Cheong-nyun Barame.

Various projects have supported youth in pioneering their futures. Approximately 7,600 job-seeking youth received free professional interview attire, 2,100 received transportation support, and 4,200 received student loan interest support.

Suwon's efforts to directly listen to youth voices have continued since 2015.

Meetings between Mayor Yim and Suwon's youth created a youth policy promotion team, and subsequently, a youth policy committee operated, establishing the starting point for youth policy. This year, through the 2030 Communication Free Talk, work is underway to listen to youth's genuine stories and translate them into policy.

A Water City Dreaming of Sustainable Ecological Development

Protecting the environment where people live and striving for sustainable development has been a priority goal for Suwon, the 'Environmental Capital.'

In September 2011, in the early stages of the 5th elected term, Suwon declared itself an Environmental City and made efforts to create roads connecting people and develop people-centered traffic culture.

Eco-Mobility Suwon 2013 became the centerpiece. The experiment of removing cars for one month in Haenggung-dong in September attracted international attention, and subsequently, Suwon's annual Car-Free Day event has developed into a festival attracting nearly 70,000 citizens each year.

The city strengthened environmental education foundations and installed rainwater utilization facilities such as road rainwater spray systems for sustainable natural water circulation. Parks developed over 10 years total 140 locations, and 86 additional street tree and street forest trail routes were added.

Suwon is leading domestic basic local governments as an environmental capital.

It completed membership and implementation of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM), led 226 nationwide basic local governments in the Climate Crisis Emergency Declaration (June 2020), declared joint commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050 (July 2020), and launched a task force of local governments for the National Assembly's Special Committee on Carbon Neutrality, standing at the forefront pursuing low-carbon and sustainable development.

Meanwhile, Mayor Yim Tae-young, marking the third year of his 7th elected term, stated: "I believe that finding the best answers from the scattered daily lives and thoughts of citizens is the direction of administration, and I have pondered city affairs with this in mind," adding, "I will remain true to my original commitment to create a city where the heart of citizens becomes the center of city administration."