United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Enhancing the attractiveness and quality of the urban landscape by improving the street signboards for the goal of improving the quality of life, and the city’s aesthetics

The decades of industrialization and urbanization that characterize Korea’s rapid economic growth caused many problems in the areas of transportation, unemployment, and housing. Korea has been able to tackle most of its urban problems related to the basic livelihood issues through consistent policies, but has largely overlooked the problems of urban landscape management – an important element related to the quality of life.

Pressing issues in transportation, housing, and etc., have been solved, but there is still a lot of room for improvement in the urban landscape
Although street signboards have a big impact on the urban landscape, they were considered private property and were thus left unregulated. Shop and building owners were thus left to put up large and disorderly signboards – causing discomfort and inconveniences to the citizens’ daily lives and undermining the attractiveness and quality of urban landscape, which eventually hurt the city’s aesthetics.

Structural urban problems and public indifference
As Seoul is a city with a large population in a relatively small space of land, its building signboards are densely crowded, too. It’s easy find 10 to 30 different shops crowded in a five-to-six-story building that is plastered with more than 60 signboards. This makes the city look disorderly, and most of these signboards, which are illegal, violate the public’s right to walk.
However, this was often regarded as an established practice, and the general public had largely been indifferent to this problem. Thus, it has remained unresolved to this day.

Social problem
The government and local district governments also contributed to the city’s numerous banners and advertisement towers. As of December 2006, 250,000 government banners and 280 towers were playing their part in ruining the beauty of the city landscape.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Drastic improvement in the urban landscape and a positive response from the public Despite some initial resistance to the project, the urban landscape has been improved drastically since its implementation. After holding an open competition to select good signboard designs in 2009-2010, people began to make small and attractive signboards. This raised public awareness of building signboards and the number of attractive signboards has gradually increased. A poll on design city governance (Research and Research, April 2010) found that 88.9% of the respondents knew about the signboard improvement project, 94.6% of people agreed that the project has enhanced the quality of urban landscape, and 95.8% of people thought that the project should continue, reflecting the public’s positive response to the project. Recognized for having the best outdoor billboards Seoul City was the first local autonomous government to establish guidelines for signboard designs (April 2008) and to launch a signboard improvement project. Such efforts have made the streets of Seoul more pleasant and cleaner. In recognition of the achievements, the Presidential Award for the ‘Best Outdoor Signboards’ was given to the Seoul Metropolitan Government in February 2009. Selected as a UNESCO Design Capital Seoul’s efforts to move away from economic growth-only policy to enhance the quality of life and to care for its citizens through design initiatives, such as its signboard improvement project, have been recognized. Seoul was selected as this year’s UNESCO Design Capital of the Year.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Mayor Oh Sehoon stresses the importance of the signboard project as part of the ‘Design Seoul Initiative’ The need to implement the ‘Design Seoul Initiative’ through the signboard improvement project has been consistently stressed since Mayor Oh Sehoon’s inauguration. In April 2007, driven by the commitment of Mayor Oh, the Design Seoul Headquarters was launched. In July of that year, the Seoul Metropolitan Government established the ‘Advertisement Upgrade Plan’. Declaring its commitment to making sure that the public sector play a leading role in getting rid of public banners (July 12, 2007), the city of Seoul launched a signboard improvement project. Seoul Design Headquarters and participation of 25 local governments The Urban Landscape Supervisor in the Design Seoul Headquarters was responsible for overall planning, regulatory and financial support. The 25 local district governments would then have to establish and execute the plan. The governance system, based on the public-private partnership, encouraged the participation of the relevant NGO’s and the general public. Direct participation of citizens A Signboard Improvement Citizens’ Committee consisting of shop owners, building owners, community leaders, private sector experts, and civil servants was set up in each district to encourage citizen participation in decision-making and execution process. This arrangement ensured people in the relevant local districts to make their own decision regarding what needed to be improved, and how, as well as the signboard designs, and the contractor, and etc.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
Establishment of signboard design guidelines In the past, the harm to the landscape caused by the oversized and obtrusive 50-60 or so signboards per building was a serious problem. In April 2008, a set of guidelines on signboard designs was established. These guidelines covered the number of signboards allowed (one to two per shop), their size and design specifics (may vary by district) and were first applied to new signboards. These guidelines then went on to be applied to the existing signboards with the consent of their owners. The legal enforcements were made to remove the illegal signboards that did not undergo the required processes of getting permission or making reports, etc. Establishing a dedicated urban signboard design team in each local district government The Urban Landscape Supervisor in the Design Seoul Headquarters is responsible for overall planning and financial support. Dedicated advertisement (signboard) improvement department, such as the Urban Design Department were established in each of the 25 local district governments to execute the plan. Encouraging voluntary participation of the citizens Seoul tried its best to provide financial support for the removal and improvement of roughly 8000 privately installed signboards. Seoul encouraged voluntary participation in this initiative by providing up to 1.5 million won in financial support per shop. Local district governments provided additional support depending on their financial situation. A total of 20,913 million won was given out for financial assistance in three phases from 2008 to 2010.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
Improvements were made in three phases from 2008 to 2010 The ‘Advertisement Upgrade Plan’ was developed in July 2007, followed by the establishment of ‘Implementation Guidelines for Streets with Beautiful Signboards’ in October 2007. The ‘Public Autonomous Agreement System Plan’ was established and implemented for the improvement and maintenance of signboards. Then, in May 2008, the ‘Street with Beautiful Signboards Plan II’ was established, followed by the ‘Guidelines for the Implementation of Streets with Beautiful Signboards III’ in August 2009. Encouraging the participation of local districts through evaluation-based incentives To encourage the active participation of local district governments – who have the actual legal authority to execute the signboard improvements – financial support was offered as an incentive based on an evaluation of the maintenance and improvements made to outdoor advertisements. In 2008, 1.5 billion won was provided to 15 selected local districts; in 2009, 1.5 billion won was given to 13 selected districts; and in 2010, 1 billion won was given to 13 selected districts.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Opposition from shop/building owners as they worry about sales Any improvements to be made to signboards – which are private property - require the approval of the relevant shop or building owners. The biggest challenge, however, was their reluctance to go through the improvements because of the concern that the strict guidelines on the size and number of signboards would affect the signboard’s PR impact hurt the sales of their business. Thus, the commitment of the local district governments – who oversee the management of advertisements - was very important. Some locally-elected district government heads actually opposed, or were reluctant to implement the signboard improvement initiative for fear of a backlash from their electorate. [Solution 1 – Organization of a Signboard Improvement Citizen Committee] There are limits to what the public sector can do on its own when it comes to removing or improving privately-owned signboards – the cooperation of shop/building owners is vital. To encourage the public to take the lead in this initiative, a signboard improvement citizen committee was organized consisting of shop owners, building owners, community leaders, experts, and civil servants. This committee executed the overall process pertaining to the selection of what needed to be improved, the designs, selection of signboard companies, and the signing of contracts. [Solution 2 – Led by citizens and supported by the government] The local district government provided administrative support for more difficult processes, such as accounting. To reduce the burden on those who had already put up signboards at their own expense, a maximum of 1.5 million won was provided per shop for the installation of new signboards. The local district governments provided additional financial support whenever possible to encourage the public’s voluntary support. [Solution 3 – Encouraging the participation of local district governments through incentives] In response to the reluctance on the part of certain local districts, incentive-based support was provided to districts for their participation in the signboard initiative. Every year, 10 districts were selected and given awards and 1-2 billion won was provided in financial support to encourage the participation of various districts. [Solution 4 - Launch of an awareness campaign to build a public consensus on the need to enhance the attractiveness and quality of the urban landscape through improving the signboards] Efforts were also made to create a wide public consensus through awareness campaigns via television, newspapers, magazines, etc., which stressed the need for enhancing the attractiveness and quality of the urban landscape by improving the city’s signboards.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Guidelines set for the ‘Street with Beautiful Signboards Project’ in October 2007 After devising the plan to improve the quality of advertisements in July 2007, the operational guidelines were then outlined for the ‘Street with Beautiful Signboards Project’ in October 2007. It was decided that part of the costs for making and installing new signboards would be supported. A total of 20,913 million won was provided for financial support over three years. Pushing ahead the project along with the ‘Design Seoul Street Project’ to create synergy effects Considering the fact that urban landscape can not be improved by only changing signboards, a signboard improvement project was pushed ahead along with a street improvement project (‘Design Seoul Streets’) to create synergy effects. The ‘Design Seoul Street’ was a project aimed at improving street structures and pedestrian walkways through integrated designs. To maximize the project’s impact, it was implemented in parallel with the signboard improvement project.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Benchmarked by other cities and districts nationwide This signboard improvement project was benchmarked by other local and district governments. In 2010, local government leaders from Busan and Pohang visited Samcheong-dong street for benchmarking purposes. Samcheong-dong street also was included in the G20 press tour for foreign journalists.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
Most important factors of success were Seoul’s firm commitment and the cooperation of the district governments The Seoul Metropolitan Government’s firm and long-term commitment and administrative and financial support were crucial to the success of this project. Also crucial was the willingness to participate on the part of the district governments, who were in charge of actual execution of the initiatives. Large and disorderly signboards have begun to give way to better practices After three years of applying the new guidelines and the ‘Street with Beautiful Signboards initiative’, practices have begun to change so that signboards are now smaller, fewer, and less obtrusive. The general public also began to make smaller and more attractive signboards following the signboard design competitions which were held in 2009-2010. More and more streets in the city have begun to show signboards that are beautiful. According to a public survey held in April 2010, 95.8% of respondents said that the signboard improvement project should continue. Citizens now confident that they can build a city with class that can match any leading city in Europe and the U.S. Only few years ago, Seoul seemed to be built entirely out of signboards. However, after improving Seoul’s signboards through the public and private partnership, the streets of Seoul have become as beautiful as any leading cities in Europe or in America. Citizens have become confident that they can build streets that can match those of any leading city in other countries.


Institution Name:		Design Devision, Seoul Metropolitan Government
Institution Type:		Government Department
Contact Person:		YANG SUP LEE
Title:		the person in charge
Telephone/ Fax:		82-2-6361-3504
Institution's / Project's Website:		82-2-6361-3529
E-mail:		lys628@seoul.go.kr
Address:		15 Deoksugung-gil Jung-gu Seoul Korea
Postal Code:		100-739
City:		Seoul
State/Province:
Country:

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information