The district held its participatory budget general assembly at the district office auditorium on Wednesday, letting residents decide 2027 projects — 22 district-wide projects worth 1.29 billion won and 46 neighborhood projects worth 697 million won, totaling 2 billion won
Guro-gu held its 2026 participatory budget general assembly at the district office's fifth-floor auditorium on Wednesday, finalizing the slate of community-proposed projects to be funded in 2027.
Under the participatory budget system, residents take part directly in the budget-drafting process — proposing projects they believe the community needs and setting priorities among them. The district runs the program to incorporate residents' views into local governance and to address neighborhood issues in partnership with the public.
The district set aside 2 billion won ($1.49 million) for the 2027 participatory budget and accepted project proposals from April through June. A total of 210 proposals were submitted and then refined through departmental reviews, consultations with proposers, subcommittee deliberations and neighborhood council meetings.
District-wide projects — aimed at solving broad governance challenges and driving overall development — went through subcommittee screening, with 27 proposals put to a resident vote. Early voting ran from Sept. 16 to Friday via the Seoul Metropolitan Government's M-Voting platform, open to Guro-gu residents and workers in the district, followed by in-person voting at the general assembly. Combining both sets of results and applying subcommittee priority weightings, the district selected 22 projects totaling 1.29 billion won.
The selected projects include shade-structure installations at outdoor play areas of childcare centers, CCTV installation on roads along Anyangcheon, a Guro-style life-skills, social-emotional and school-violence-prevention program, and a senior healthy-meal initiative — all closely tied to residents' daily lives.
Neighborhood projects were identified through ward-level community council meetings, gathering residents' input to ease everyday inconveniences and reflect each area's distinct character. Key selections include a shaded pedestrian crossing in Sindorim-dong, a bus-stop environment improvement in Guro 1-dong, and protective tree-guard installations for safer sidewalks in Guro 2-dong — 46 projects in total worth 697 million won.
The district plans to incorporate all selected projects into the 2027 budget so that the initiatives residents proposed directly translate into tangible change in the community.
"The participatory budget is a forum where residents themselves propose and decide what projects their community needs," Guro-gu District Mayor Jang In-hong said. "We will continue to listen closely to the diverse voices of our residents, and we ask for your ongoing interest and participation as we work together to identify the projects our community truly needs."
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