Universal Design for Health Care Facilities
SPEAKER: NAM Min (Principal of Seoul City Eunpyung Hospital)









SPEAKER: NAM Min (Principal of Seoul City Eunpyung Hospital)
Respond to the crisis, “Coronavirus reminder’ – from observation to action (Designing Safety Content That You Want to Keep It on Your Desk)
Corona Alert started at the end of January, not long after the outbreak of COVID 19, with the idea of creating a service that can give a little help to society with the programming skills we learned. The members who developed 'Corona Alert' all gathered through the same programming conference. The team members who studied coding together at the conference and had experience in actually developing various services were working as developers of startups. I saw a lot of advertisements saying that such sites exist. We first analyzed several services already on the market. If it is similar to the previously released services, there is no significant meaning, so we considered the inconveniences and the direction of improvement for the existing services. In addition, we established the core value of the service by determining on what points we differentiate, and what value we can provide to users, beyond simply removing inconveniences.Citizen Participation is Key to Social Innovation in Future Cities
On March 31, 2022, the 1st preliminary forum of Seoul Design International Forum hosted by the Design Policy Bureau of the Seoul Metropolitan Government was held online. Out of the three speakers, Lee Kun-pyo, Dean of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, explained the core of the change towards future society and the role and vision of design under the theme, “Design in the Era of Disruptive Paradigm.” It was an inspiring lecture that led me to contemplate on a lot of things as a professor who studies and teaches design and as head of an institution of social innovation education at a university. In this paper, I aim to discuss the relevance of the meta discourse raised during the lecture on our actual lives as well as its implications for citizens of future cities.A Study on the Application of Universal Design for Urban Mobility of Buses - Seoul Design Foundation
The 'Universal Design Application Study for Urban Mobility of Buses', a collaborative study by Seoul Design Research Center’s TBS Research Center, Professor Young-Jun Koh of Seoul National University of Science and Technology and Professor Min-Hyeon Choi of Sungshin Women's University, started in June 2016 is expected to run until December 2016. The study aims to apply universal design principles to buses, bus stops, and bus operation information, establish a future bus service scenario study, and to study universal design in smart bus usage information. The ultimate goal is to generate universal design guidelines for buses and bus stops, universal design guidelines for operation information services, and near-future bus service scenarios. This study was based on preliminary studies including, 'Criteria for standard low-floor bus model (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, 2016)', 'Accessible bus stop design guidance (Transport for London, 2014)', 'Japanese standard specification low-floor bus guideline', 'LinkNYC (New York, USA) as well as 'Maps related to domestic and foreign bus use'. In order to identify the applicable factors, domestic and foreign bus usage surveys were conducted, by visiting Seoul, Japan (Fukuoka, Kyoto, Osaka), and London, UK. Bus stop facilities, and operation information at bus stops were the subject of the survey. In the case of domestic buses, it was found that the vertical handle in front of the wheelchair user area of the bus creates difficulties for wheelchair movement. The wheelchair lift operation sequence was difficult to understand as the instructions were only given in text. It was found that electric wheelchairs could be dangerous because they could not be fixed to the bus.Creative Design for Social Problem Solving and Social Responsibility Therethrough
The top 10% of the world's population are able to spend $10 a day (about 10,000 won). This means that the other 90%, being unable to spend $10 a day, are very poor. 80% of them spend only about $2 a day. Design is not about making things pretty and beautiful to increase sales, but about finding and solving problems in a certain situation. Solving problems in an innovative and creative way is an essential part of design. Which group has more problems in life: the 10% of the population who can spend $10 a day or the 90% who can't? The 10% of people have issues with desires, and 90% have issues with needs. In other words, 90% of people have problems that are directly related to survival and they need to be considered more seriously. But 99.9% of designers only design for the top 10%. The real social problem is to leave it alone and only engage in the problem of fueling human desires.2022 SDIF_Promo Video
2022 SDIF_Promo VideoArchitect 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.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.Citizen Participation is Key to Social Innovation in Future Cities
On March 31, 2022, the 1st preliminary forum of Seoul Design International Forum hosted by the Design Policy Bureau of the Seoul Metropolitan Government was held online. Out of the three speakers, Lee Kun-pyo, Dean of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, explained the core of the change towards future society and the role and vision of design under the theme, “Design in the Era of Disruptive Paradigm.” It was an inspiring lecture that led me to contemplate on a lot of things as a professor who studies and teaches design and as head of an institution of social innovation education at a university. In this paper, I aim to discuss the relevance of the meta discourse raised during the lecture on our actual lives as well as its implications for citizens of future cities.Panel Discussion
The theme of the 2021 Seoul Design Forum is Re-Connect: Design as a Value Creator. If the main purpose of design is to create new value, what value creation should design focus on, unlike value creation in other areas? We wonder what the difference will be in terms of value creation from a corporate or public perspective.Special Interview: Yap Lay Bee
Many successful cities around the word share one key attribute - a high-quality urban environment, brought about by a strong emphasis on excellent architecture and urban design. In Singapore, we are proud to be recognised globally as one of the world’s most liveable cities. A key contribution in achieving this accolade has been our long-term and integrated approach to planning which ensures that sufficient land is safeguarded to meet our future economic, housing, social and recreational needs, and our integrated approach to land use and transportation planning which ensures that developments are easily accessible by road and public transport, and that the city is walkable and pedestrian-friendly. The long term planning approach and timely investments in supporting infrastructure networks have given us the reputation as a “city that works” – one where high quality buildings are designed in the context of their surrounding urban landscape, and where buildings have mixed uses or shared public spaces that are able to enhance social and community life. This has not been achieved by Government initiatives alone, but through setting out clear and strong visions and plans and through close partnerships with the design and creative community, professionals, developers and other industry stakeholders.The Innovative City for the Next Generation(the MZ Generation): Advancing Towards Ultra Connectivity and the Real World
Space defines an experience. At a café, we drink a beverage. In a museum, we see exhibits. People have the same experience at a specific space and sometimes need to stand in a long line. No one think this is weird. On the other hand, for spaces in a movie or a video game we enjoy on a daily basis, a content defines an experience. The main character may stay in a space where a fantasy adventure unfolds or where characters play cat and mouse with each other in a spectacular event. The same space can be a world where so many stories turn into reality. What would happen if the two worlds are merged into one? What would happen if our world turns into a huge playground and all of us become main characters of an exciting story? What would happen if you can share the experience you have had in a movie or a video game with people in a real world? To prove these hypotheses, I would like to guide you to a space which was once an unattractive neighborhood filled with factories and vehicles but is now a must-go place for MZ generation, and a space where once dull and inactive places have become popular spots for a lot of visitors and even a city-wide festival.Mini studios for meditation at the center of busy city; Calm City & BEtime in New York
Everyone wants to live well, mentally, and emotionally, and build and maintain healthy relationships with families and other people in life. Also, people value intangible achievements in life and strive to live a better life each one desires. Unlike in the past when people wanted to have more material wealth, indicators for “living well” have changed, so people in modern society started to recognize the importance of balancing material wealth and emotional wealth, which increases attention on how to live well and plan well for the end of life. In addition, the world’s population is aging quickly and causes various social problems including a change in the demographic structure, family breakdown, increase in single-person household, etc. and new controversies arise, which is shedding a light on not only living well but also dying well, a concept around better quality of death at the final moments of life. In Korea, the concept of dying-well or well-dying was discussed as part of living well which was one of 30 major programs proposed for the study to establish a Basic Plan of Social Problem-Solving Design of Seoul Metropolitan City (2021-2023). The proposal established a master plan of key projects about developing a probe-kit that would facilitate reflection on past moments in life and digital content and improving citizens' mental health, and Seoul City is working with various institutions to promote “dying well” in the society to help citizens prepare for a meaningful end of life.