Gwangju Metropolitan City to Create ‘Regional Hub Smart City' with investment of 28.3 billion won

Gwangju Metropolitan City recently signed an agreement with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the promotion of the "2022 Regional Hub Smart City Construction Project."

The "Regional Hub Smart City Construction Project" promoted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport aims to bring fundamental changes in the city by creating an integrated smart city model such as smart infrastructure and service construction to solve urban problems such as energy, transportation, safety, and environment.

From 2022 to 2024, the project will be promoted mainly in Chungjang-dong, Dongmyeong-dong, and Seonam-dong, Dong-gu, Gwangju, with a total of 28.3 billion won, including 12 billion won in state funds, 12 billion won in municipal funds, and 4.3 billion won in private funds.

The Gwangju regional hub smart city project is characterized by establishing services and infrastructure in four areas such as energy, transportation, safety, and environment reflecting representative urban problems in the old city center area and targeting "Energy Independent Smart City for RE100 Carbon Neutral" in connection with the “Gwangju 2045 Energy Independent City Policy” in response to the climate crisis.

To create a foundation for self-reliance on energy, RE100 Megastation, an electric vehicle (EV) charging station that directly produces, shares, and consumes solar energy, will be built on public sites to solve the lack of EV charging infrastructure and provide eco-friendly charging services.

In addition, ▲smart parking lots will be introduced in public parking spaces to solve traffic problems such as serious parking inconvenience and illegal parking in Dong-gu, and ▲AI CCTVs and smart poles will be expanded in crime areas, while smart crosswalks are installed in the elderly protection zone to protect citizens from danger.

Furthermore, in order to ▲ solve the serious problem of garbage recycling after COVID-19, a recycling collection vending machine that classifies PET, CAN, and paper with artificial intelligence will be built to create a pleasant urban environment.

Besides, the city plans to establish a data hub linked to the CCTV control center to lay the foundation for the smart urban operations to collect and analyze data from various cities required for administrative agencies’ policymaking.

Based on this project plan, Gwangju City will establish a plan for implementation of design and operation by September and will carry out the project with the aim of starting construction in October after approval from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Kim Jung-hoon, head of the Planning and Coordination Bureau said “Through this project, we will solve various urban problems in the old city center and promote the creation of a smart city that citizens can experience”, adding “We will do our best to build a successful old city-type smart city model and spread it across the country.”

Meanwhile, Gwangju City was selected for the "2022 Regional Hub Smart City Construction Project" contest by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which jointly participated with the Hanwha System Consortium, Gwangju Metropolitan City Corporation, Dong-gu Office in December last year, and signed the agreement by supplementing the project plan focusing on establishing civic life-friendly services and infrastructure.

In particular, Gwangju City signed the agreement first among the four regions selected as the finalists this time such as ▲Haenam-gun, Jeollanam-do, ▲Hoengseong-gun, Gangwon-do, and ▲Changwon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do.

Reported by Smart City Today