Seoul Design
International Forum
서울디자인국제포럼

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.

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.

Policy direction identified from the analysis of the diffusion process of Life Safety (Crime Prevention) Design

The anonymous cities that we have been building allowed us to have maximum freedom and make various choices, however, inappropriately, the cities have mercilessly reduced many alternative choices such as collective community action that were available in the past. Only for the limited purpose of reviving the collective environment, physical design of living environment must be used.

The value of experience design that drives city brands

We establish relationships with brands through certain experiences, and all people are connected to brands. A brand, in itself, signifies the internal standard and pillar of external practice, and branding refers to proving the reasons for existence and the uniqueness of the subject, creating and protecting principles and standards, and practicing these to live independently within a relationship.

Design in the Era of Disruptive Paradigm Shift

In today’s world, we’re facing a rapid paradigm shift. This presentation focuses on the role and significance of design in the midst of such changes and the future direction of urban public design. My personal experiences on paradigm shifts in the realm of design come into play in assessing the past and the present. The presentation also aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas on how we should change and adapt in the face of the paradigm shift.

What is the significance of the brand called Seoul to you?

Portland, New York, or Berlin Personally, I have never been to Portland. However, since a few years ago, lifestyles that is known as ‘YOLO life’, and ‘Kinfolk life’ have emerged, and Portland, was mentioned as one of the representative cities. Portland was perceived to be a city that acknowledges open mindsets and lives, as well as one that is filled with a feeling of relaxation while being a little slow, and not a city that is artificially made and attempts are made for improvements and change. Of course, this is the result of successful city branding. This is why I am treasuring the Portland mask that I received as a gift from an acquaintance who recently visited Portland. Another keyword that is currently being mentioned as much as ‘design’ is ‘branding’. Branding is a topic that is widely used and with importance almost at the level that it can be applied from branding products to corporations, and from individuals to cities and countries. This proves that it is not something that simply ends after having experienced and consumed it, but there is a growing interest and understanding about who I am, what I am consuming or experiencing, and for what purpose. Thus, the example of Portland that I just mentioned before is very strong even if it is a small experience. Our experience in recalling a certain image, brand or a representative spot immediately after hearing the name of a certain city like New York, Berlin, Milano, Davos, or London is the result of city branding (whether we are conscious of it or not). Seoul Design International Forum that was held through Zoom on March 31st was both timely and appropriate in that ‘city brand’ was chosen as the design paradigm. In the forum that was held under the theme of ‘Design trend and direction of policy’, ‘Value of Experience Design in City Brand’, in particular, (Speaker: CEO Choi So-hyun of Perception) triggers us to think about what is required for ‘city branding’ while pointing out the context and meaning of city brand to us, in the current times, where there is a deluge of ‘branding’.

We Solve Problems Around Us on Our Own! (1)

Citizens are the people who best know the various discomforts experienced while living in a city. There is a limit for public officers and administrative experts who try to close the distance to solve the problems felt by the citizens. In 2015, the SMG introduced “design governance” as a public design project to receive reports from people on public problems and improve the problems with a team comprising citizens, experts, and businesses. All the progress and outcomes of the project were made public on the website to be spread and utilized flexibly.

Sustainable Clothing Design for Children With Cerebral Palsy With the Heart of a Mother

Public design that turns daily inconvenience into something beautiful and efficient; the “needs” of public design start from the following three situations. First, people are too familiar with the problem situation. Second, there is no known solution, or the needs are in the blind spot of the managing body. Third, the needs cannot be discovered easily because of special circumstances. This is the reason why the starting point of successful public design should be accurate identification of the inconvenience of users.

Development of Participatory Universal Design Culture

The Center operates civic participation groups to consider the “viewpoint of the weak” or the “viewpoint of the citizens.” The first civic participation group recruited last year monitored eight public facilities in Seoul, including Donuimun Museum Village, Oil Tank Culture Park, and the Seoul Museum of History. The second civic participation group this year is visiting facilities that are close to the people of Seoul, such as the Sejong-daero Walkway in Gwanghwamun, Jongmyo Shrine, Yejang Park, and the Seoul Museum of Craft Art. The civic participation group uploads posts about the benefits or improvements that are needed for each place they monitor on social media or blogs to share information with the people.

Diffusion of Universal Design Culture: Seoul Universal Design Award

The SMG was the first public institution to promote industries related to universal design by establishing the Seoul Universal Design Award (SUDA) and holding its first public contest in 2021.

Accessibility Information Map for the Mobility Disadvantaged Persons

Cities comprise artificial or non-artificial combinations of countless roads (lines), facilities (points), and spaces (planes). Living in such cities, we find the most efficient and fastest way to reach a facility or space. When driving a car, we use a navigation device that informs us of the optimal or shortest route considering real-time traffic volume information and road types (narrow and curved or wide and straight roads). When walking, we can use pedestrian guides on commercial maps such as NAVER Map, Kakao Map and Google Map. When using pedestrian guides, people often prefer the fastest and shortest route, even if there are steep slopes or height differences caused by stairs. If there is no difficulty in walking, slopes and surface materials that may cause inconvenience are obstacles that can be overcome.

Does the Crime Rate Drop By Changing Designs?

“Social problem-solving design” that changed our everyday life — life safety design The SMG implemented a design policy in 2007 and carried out city-centered policies for landscape improvement to reinforce the city brand. As a result, Seoul won the Grand Prize at the Index Awards, renowned for “Design to Improve Life,” in 2011. While looking for ways to use the prize money that came with the award, the SMG thought of socially disadvantaged citizens who could not benefit from the design policy. The SMG took a new step forward with the “social problem-solving design” project, which aims to reduce the grievances of people who cannot benefit from policies due to various reasons like having a busy livelihood. Having launched its first life safety design project in 2012, the SMG strengthened the roles of design in solving various social issues. Instead of policies and macroscopic systems, the concept of design has been expanded to public design to solve problems of varying sizes that influence the lives of people. The social problem-solving design projects of the SMG are divided into categories such as life safety design, cognitive health design, stress-free design, youth problem-solving design, and design governance. Each project utilizes the “service design” methodology, which derives relationship-centered solutions based on communication and awareness improvement beyond the improvement of the physical environment regarding social issues. This year, the social problem-solving design projects of the SMG marks its 10th anniversary. In celebration, we intend to take a close look at our surrounding environment and public design that have undergone small and large changes.

Increased Happiness Index: Reduced Stress With a Change of Design.

Korea is the Republic of Stress. According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs in 2016, over 90% of adults are stressed in their everyday life. In the 2016 Seoul Survey, over 53.5% of Seoul citizens responded they felt stressed in the past two weeks. As such, stress is becoming increasingly generalized and chronic in the lives of contemporary people, but there is no definite measure to avoid stress. Based on this idea, the SMG planned “stress-free design” as a part of the social problem-solving design in 2016. By breaking away from the conventional method of improving the physical environment and providing material support, the SMG attempted a new public policy to take care of mental health. The purpose is to lower stress faced in each life cycle and situation and bring healthy life to individuals and society by improving factors that hinder the mental health of citizens through design.