Yongsan-gu receives Presidential Award for Public Design

Yongsan-gu, Seoul, has been awarded the Presidential Award at the 2026 Korea Public Design Awards for its Hangangno-dong Living Safety Design Project. The initiative was recognized for using a resident-participation living laboratory to identify and solve local urban issues through practical design.

The project focused on an aging residential and commercial area in Hangangno 3-ga, addressing concerns such as crime anxiety, noise, smoking, waste, and pedestrian safety. By collaborating with residents, administration, police, and private companies, the district developed 21 types of safety designs.

Key innovations include ‘Safety Corners’ to improve visibility at intersections, ‘Owl Manner Alerters’ to mitigate noise and smoking conflicts via non-face-to-face voice and light alerts, and ‘Rainwater Sharing Containers’ to improve hygiene and aesthetics in rainwater reuse practices. The project is noted for providing a scalable public design model that integrates physical improvements with behavioral considerations, such as requesting navigation companies to implement detour routes to reduce congestion in narrow alleys.