Seoul Design
International Forum
서울디자인국제포럼

Public Design and Platform Media Facade of Communication

Platform media facade of communication in the city New platform is now required for a city image that incorporates the storytelling based on the regional/historical identity as the need to improve the aged downtown (original downtown) is being emphasized. Therefore, there are more municipal governments that desire to re-brand various parts of cities that are aiming towards the fourth industrial cities for citizens and visitors who come to cities. Cities are scrambling to develop the public design system and to transform into future cities. Panaplex-type bus shelters are being installed as DID (Digital Infotainment Display) that enable mobile-linked interactive functions, and the city maps are being implemented in various parts of the cities as AI information that is guided by idols, along with experiential AR/VR media. Although it may be partial, ecosystem evolution that uses media that aims for comprehensive media in key hub cities is transforming cities in line with the hyper-connected era through activities such as pilot operation of unmanned vehicles.

Public Space and Design for Everyday Lives of Citizens

City is an inevitable space of life for the modern people. The skyline that we are currently experiencing, the plaza, parks, natural environments and so forth are mostly the result of the city plan that was systemized in the past, and until now, the urban space was planned to play its role in line with the usage that was planned and defined based on function. Various parts of cities that achieved industrial competitiveness by prioritizing efficiency and economics is far from ‘user-centric approaches’ and achieving ‘sustainability’ that is the focus of today’s society. Future city should be restructured into a space that can enable exchange and circulation based on the needs and the thoughts of citizens or stakeholders of local communities, and aged spaces and the environment should be improved to resolve urban issues.

Resource Circulation of the City and Sustainable Design

The life system of today’s humanity is the result of economic growth, and problems that major cities face are mainly focused on areas that can be resolved by technological advancement and economic growth, such as poverty and illness. However rapid growth and advancement across the globe led to qualitative diversification of urban issues, and the humanity focused on the concept of sustainable development and limit in growth resulting from social imbalance and unsustainable phenomenon that are being observeds regardless of region. The concept of sustainability was first mentioned in the report, The Limits to Growth written by the Club of Rome in 1972. World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED,1987) defined ‘sustainability’ as ‘development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs’, and it is recently being used broadly across economic, management, climate, environmental and national policies and private activities.

Design for Public Service Platform

1. Digital platform of public service Public service based on digital platform is emerging as the most important factor in the competitiveness of a nation and a city. In 2020, Korea ranked 8th in the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking announced by the Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, which was a 2-step rise from 10th position in 2019, to show its potential in the digital field. Also, in the government index announced by OECD, Korea is exhibiting strength and performance in digital-based public service by achieving 1st place in digital by design government, 2nd place in government as a platform, 3rd place in data-driven government, 1st place in open by default government, 4th place in user driven government and 12th place in proactiveness of government. Seoul is also making efforts to drive innovation in public service based on excellent digital infrastructure, and moreover, there is a demand to resolve problems in a way that can be felt by our citizens and achieve transformation in terms of creating sustainable and real values.

Public Design Governance

Last month, a “Consultative Group of Residents for Publilc Design” was established by Seongdong-gu District Office. It was the nation’s first consultative body in design that engaged residents and consisted of eight residents, four expert members, two design experts and one public officer. Through the consultative group, the district was able to quickly collect residents’ opinions about relevant projects including the one related to public design and combined experts’ advice thereby setting a direction for design. It was designed to become a channel to communicate with the residents. In today’s multifaceted and complex modern society, existing design process that produces an outcome by utilizing intuitive ideas of only few designers has often turned out to be insufficient to meet the needs of the citizens. In response, this has shed a light on the need to come up with an innovative method to engage citizens, cooperate with stakeholders and experts for higher level of self-reliance and sustainability. The word “public” in public design means an unspecified number of the general public and together, which incorporates a value of engaging various players and cooperating in the process to create a design intended for everyone. The strategy that is being used to realize the afore-mentioned value of public design is a governance taking a perspective of “various methods for problem-solving.”

Universal Design City Paradigm for a Better Urban Future

The term “Universal Design” is a philosophy about “designing for everyone”, which means designing products, buildings, cities, information, services, etc. to be used by as many as users as possible in a safe and equitable manner, regardless of users’ gender, age, language, status of disability, level of knowledge, etc.

Public design for people, cooperative public design

Design has always evolved as a meaningful means to achieve an objective or a part that is required in the society. Currently, active efforts are being made to resolve the issues of economy, environment and safety through design. In the recent times where we are transcending the era of industrialization to usher in the era of sustainability, design that improves the competitive industrial products is beginning to contribute to our society as design that improves public values as a part of the strategy to resolve problems from the perspective that design is changing in line with the demand of the society. ‘Public design’ is playing a leading role at the center, and from now on, 'design' will resolve a considerable number of issues that our society will face, and it will be making various contributions as a cultural pillar of life.

Architect as social innovator

This presentation focuses on the projects led by MVRDV, a self-declared social innovators group, to explore how architecture can function as a tool for social innovation. In cities we live in, there are many conflicting values such as natural elements versus artificial factors, the desire to concentrate intensely versus the desire to keep some distance, and physical architectural spaces versus people who use the spaces. MVRDV believes that we can move beyond the dichotomy of conflicts and leverage creative design to drive social innovation.

Public design to enrich people's lives

The design for human life requires insights into intrinsic values. To fulfill this mission, the GK Design Group, which consists of companies specialized in 12 diverse fields, has operated as a comprehensive design creative group celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. With six offices in Japan and six overseas, a diverse and devoted group of 200+ designers with creativity and expertise are teaming up in a total of 12 bases and cross-functioning on different projects with their corresponding design capabilities to provide comprehensive design. Since urban environment design involves many more elements to consider than other areas, we carry out urban environment or public space design projects by collaborating on six areas: product, transportation, environment, communication, design strategy, and engineering to create integrated values and design.

Contents table of 2022 Seoul Design International Forum

Contents table of 2022 Seoul Design International Forum

Opening Speech - Director-General of Design Policy Bureau, Choi In-Kyu

I would like to first extend my gratitude to the speakers at home and abroad who prepared for the Seoul Design International Forum which is in its third year this year and to all citizens participating online. Thank you all.

Welcome Speech - Mayor, Oh Se-Hoon

Hello, I'm Seoul mayor, Oh Se-hoon. I would like to express my gratitude and welcome to domestic and overseas speakers who are participating in Seoul Design International Forum 2022 and the citizens who are watching online.

Cities, Design, and the Future

In 1999, the Clinton administration proposed the ‘Livable Communities’ initiative and emphasized the quality of life as an urban competitiveness. Cities that are ‘great to live in’ or ‘appealing to live in’ are without a doubt one of the policy priorities of all local governments and citizens. However, compared to the previous practice in which the policies focused on a materialized life in the physical space of a city, the ‘quality of life’ is an abstract concept that is perceived differently by people. Thus, forming policy agenda around the idea may not be so simple. Instead of focusing on the physical concept of a city, drawing attention to residents and understanding communities as a group of people who reside in a city are crucial when it comes to the dialogue on the quality of life in cities. In this sense, it’s important for residents to identify themselves as agents of living and active participants who plan their own lives.

Life Design for Well-Leaving through Well-Living

Life design for well-leaving through well-living is a very significant theme for all of us to understand. Through this presentation, I would like to share my personal experience regarding care design at the final stage of life and further discuss how such design can be proposed as a policy

Panel-discussion

The Seoul Design International Forum is being held under the theme of ‘How does design enrich our future?’. Presentations in the forum explained the issues of the urban environment that we face from various perspectives and proposed countermeasures. We will now have a panel discussion to hear the opinions our panels based on the contents that were presented today.

‘Design x Seoul’, the Role of Design in the Public Administration of Seoul City

This year’s Seoul Design International Forum is held under the theme of ‘Design x Seoul’. The underlying idea is that when the design is incorporated into the city of Seoul where we live, our citizens will have greater exposure to joyful, enriching experiences. A city that gives its citizens the joy of life – what does it look like? We feel happier in a pleasant place where everyone is respected and can share quality time together.

Using architecture to design shared ecosystems

Humans are linear social animals, who have great interest in each other as well as many other places. Gehl has been pursuing human-centered designs for a very long time. As we are faced with climate change and various social issues, we recognized the increasing significance of relational resilience, and that the relationships between humans, animals, nature, plants, and the environment are important. In this context, our work and approach are grounded in connectivity, kindness, courtesy, and a dignified experience for all, and examples can be found all over the world. Just as you dine or have a drink with friends on public benches and small tables to take a rest, small but generous gestures and designs for the public end up providing connectivity and kindness for all.

Creating shared value through the responsible design of dynamic systems

In times like these, design is more valuable and important than ever. The complexity and uncertainty around us continues to accelerate at unprecedented speed. There are global racial tensions and reconing, interrogations of every aspect of our businesses, new wars, new political leaders, and of course the global pandemic that shifted everything around us—it has been a shock to the system, to all of our systems. How quickly and thoughtfully we can evolve our organizations in responsive and regenerative ways, the better we will be able to navigate these challenging times. In this presentation, I would like to introduce global design firm IDEO and then talk through large-scale system design cases by using a human-centered lens focused on the creation of shared value.