Yongsan-gu in Seoul has won the presidential award at the 2026 Korea Public Design Awards, recognized for using public design to solve everyday problems identified by residents themselves. District Mayor Kim Gyeong-dae accepted the honor on behalf of the district.
The winning project, carried out from April through December last year, was the "Hangang-ro-dong Lifestyle Safety Design Project through Yongyong Lab," a resident-participatory living lab initiative. Residents identified problems in their daily lives, while district officials, police and private companies worked together to develop solutions and improve the actual living environment.
The project area covered the eastern side of Hangang-ro-dong 21-ga-gil — a dense cluster of aging low-rise buildings where residential and commercial uses intermingle. The neighborhood faced not only fears of crime but a range of everyday problems including noise, smoking, littering, illegal parking and pedestrian safety hazards.
Rather than simply installing fixtures, Yongsan-gu pursued a public design approach that examined the full range of problems arising in residents' daily lives. Through Yongyong Lab — a civilian-government-police living lab brand developed by the district — residents, administrators and police jointly surveyed the area and used residents' lived experiences alongside crime data to identify problems and seek solutions.
Over the project period, the district ran three rounds of its "mobile living lab, Yongyong Lab" across 14 sessions, gathering close-up feedback from a large number of residents, merchants and visitors. The solutions that emerged were translated into the production and installation of actual fixtures, and their effectiveness was verified through resident surveys and before-and-after comparisons of crime safety data.
Judges particularly praised the project for expanding beyond conventional crime prevention through environmental design — known as CPTED — to address the broader anxieties and inconveniences of daily life, including noise, littering, traffic and environmental concerns. This broader approach was branded "lifestyle safety design."
Yongsan-gu developed and applied 21 lifestyle safety design solutions tailored to the specific problems identified in Hangang-ro-dong. "Safe corners" were installed at major intersections to prevent pedestrian accidents caused by speeding vehicles. "Owl manner alert lights" were introduced to reduce conflicts between residents and merchants stemming from noise and smoking near shops.
Other installations included a "rainwater collection and sharing tank," which improves drainage infrastructure to capture and reuse rainwater, and an integrated residential address sign combining illumination, QR codes and links to the 112 emergency reporting system with location data — designed to ease residents' fears of trespassing and enable rapid reporting in emergencies. A "clean spot" fixture was also installed to deter illegal dumping and foster a greater sense of community ownership.
The project also pushed public design beyond physical installations. To address pedestrian safety problems caused by vehicles crowding into narrow alleys, the district successfully requested that navigation app Tmap reroute vehicle traffic away from the area — a change reflected in actual driving routes. The project's philosophy focused not on "what to build" but on "how to solve the problem," taking into account how people move through a space as well as the physical environment.
Sixteen departments and agencies participated in the project, including units responsible for roads, traffic and sanitation, as well as Yongsan Police Station and SP Samhwa. The police station contributed crime data and field experience, while SP Samhwa provided expertise in color application and color universal design.
The presidential award carries particular significance in a district undergoing rapid large-scale redevelopment, recognizing Yongsan-gu's attention not only to sweeping urban transformation but also to the aging alleyways and everyday environments that residents encounter each day.
The district plans to continue using public design to address quality-of-life problems in aging residential neighborhoods and narrow streets — areas where large-scale redevelopment alone cannot provide solutions. It also intends to secure intellectual property rights for standout designs including the safe corner, rainwater collection tank, clean spot and owl manner alert light, with the aim of spreading their use beyond Yongsan to other parts of the country.
"This presidential award is the result of residents taking the lead in identifying problems in their daily lives, and of the collaborative effort by government, police and the private sector to find solutions together," district Mayor Kim said. "It is deeply meaningful in that public design can go beyond simply beautifying spaces to become a practical solution that enhances residents' safety and convenience and addresses community problems."
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
