Mayors worldwide to promote their cities at Seoul summit
Official poster for World Cities Summit Mayors Forum 2023 / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
Seoul Smart City Prize is key event of summit at DDP
By Ko Dong-hwan
Mayors and business leaders from around the world will gather in Seoul in September for a global summit to discuss creating more livable and sustainable cities.
The World Cities Summit Mayors Forum 2023, slated for September 24 to 26 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), will feature mayors and vice mayors from 48 cities across 33 countries, such as Wellington, New Zealand Mayor Tory Whanau and Taipei, Taiwan Mayor Wayne Chiang Wan-an, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
Business leaders and representatives of international organizations, including the UN Habitat and Metropolis, are also among the list of some 200 guests invited to the forum.
Held under the slogan, “Liveable and Sustainable Cities, Forging an Inclusive and Resilient Future,” the annual forum focuses on four main areas: creating an inclusive society, preserving cultural heritage, moving towards carbon neutrality and enhancing climate resilience, as well as fostering innovation and creativity.
Each focus area will be the subject of two to three presentations featuring exemplary cases from different cities. These details were disclosed by the International Cooperation Division, a part of the city government's Economic Policy Office.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, representing the host city, will share how his city government has been carrying out related policies, including ones that award greater subsidies to low-income city residents and offer better access to education for students from poor families. The policies are part of the mayor's premier slogan, “going together with the socially neglected.”
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, center, speaks during World Cities Summit 2022 at Sands Expo and Convention Center in Singapore held from July 31 to Aug. 3. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
The authority said Oh is expected to encourage other mayors and leaders to adapt the campaign in their own cities as well.
The event will also highlight how technological advancements are improving the everyday lives of Seoul residents.
A special pavilion will exhibit how robots and biotechnologies are enabling Seoulites' latest lifestyle. A special field tour program will invite participants to see Seoul's past, present and future by showing the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2023 ― held from Sept. 1 to Oct. 29 ― as well as Seoul Transport Operation and Information Service (TOPIS) and renovated eco-friendly cityscape alongside Cheonggye Stream in downtown Seoul.
Kim Tae-kyun, head of Economic Policy Office, said the forum will be the biggest event in Seoul since COVID-19 quarantine measures were lifted the previous year. He added the forum will test Seoul's global leadership by promoting the city government's far-reaching policies to include the most vulnerable groups of the city.
The second day of the forum will award the Seoul Smart City Prize, an international competition for global city projects that cater to eco-friendliness, digital technologies and vulnerable urban residents. With an evaluation of over 240 online submissions from worldwide completed earlier this month, the winning projects will be presented before the global dignitaries by WeGO, a global smart city promoting organization run by the Seoul city government which has over 200 member cities and companies worldwide.
Seoul earned the opportunity to host this year's forum after winning the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, jointly organized by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Center for Liveable Cities (CLC), both in Singapore, in 2018. The award is given to cities with outstanding sustainable and livable urban policies every two years.