Sejong, Busan to become 'smart cities' by 2023

By Kang Seung-woo

Sejong will get a shared mobility-based district within the next five years, while Busan will have an eco-friendly smart waterfront with an intelligent water circulation system, the government said Monday.

Chang Byung-gyu, the head of the Presidential Committee on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, speaks during a press conference in Seoul, Monday, to announce the blueprint for the nation's two smart cities in Sejong and Busan. / Yonhap

The announcement came after the Presidential Committee on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport jointly unveiled the basic framework for the government's push to establish smart cities by 2023.

As promised during the election campaign, the Moon Jae-in administration is focusing on developing smart cities as new growth engines amid the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

In January, the government picked Sejong and Busan as test beds for the realization of smart cities. It named Jeong Jae-seung, a professor of bio- and brain-engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and Chun Jae-won, CEO of British fintech firm XNtree, as master planners in charge of the respective projects.

The 274.1 square kilometer district in the administrative city of Sejong, 130 kilometers south of Seoul, will be developed under the theme of building a “sustainable smart city platform boosting citizens' happiness and offering creative opportunities,” according to the committee.

To this end, Jeong proposed four key elements _ mobility, healthcare, education, and energy and the environment.

First of all, the Sejong 5-1 Life Zone will introduce a new transportation system based on shared vehicles.

Under the plan, people park their cars at the entrances to residential zones, and from there they use autonomous or shared vehicles or even bikes.

Breaking from traditional urban planning focusing on zoning for specific purposes, the new system takes living, social and public factors into account, enabling housing and jobs proximity.

Busan's project, to be built on 219.4 square kilometers of land, is based on setting up “a global city of innovation and growth, and advancing the future.”

Making the most of its surroundings, the Busan Eco Delta City project will be used to create a global city brand through building a Smart Water City that will feature new technologies such as smart water supply, hydrothermal energy and eco-filtering.

In addition, it plans to put the smart city tech “sandbox” to work to expand participation of startups and create qualitative jobs, based on new growth industries. In this case sandbox refers to a smart city-themed accelerator, focused on bringing innovative new products and systems to urban environments that improve the quality of life for residents.

To pursue the basic framework, the government will provide full support such as developing new technologies applicable to smart cities, improving unnecessary regulations, offering financial aid for research and development, and promoting global cooperation.

“The smart city is a platform that embodies various Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and will act as a new growth engine for our economy,” said Chang Byung-gyu, the committee head.