Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood project
Changwon City

A. Problem Analysis

 1. What was the problem before the implementation of the initiative?
We created South Korea’s first industrial city, but as a result, our local ecosystem and environment were severally threatened - Changwon City was built and designed as South Korea’s first planned, and industrially designated city in 1973. The city was formed as part of the Korean government’s major economic growth expansion project, with an emphasis on heavy industrialization. During the construction phase of the industrial complexes, many people migrated from the other provinces in search of job opportunities. This resulted in over 90% of the citizens in Changwon City emigrating from other areas. For these new citizens of Changwon, the city served as nothing more to them but a residential area. During its construction, the industrial complex damaged the local ecosystem. Environmental groups began to demand restrictions on these reckless construction practices that were causing environmental damage. Due to the various restrictions, the price of land dropped, and the citizens’ property rights were often infringed upon, causing an increase in complaints and stronger feelings of ill will amongst local residents. The rise in criticisms and distrust created many conflicts for the city, including an arson to a local reed field, illegal logging, installations of explosion sound devices, and protests against the construction of an eco-learning center. - Original residents suffered from these changes to their hometown, and subjected the city to a consistent stream of citizen complaints and numerous signed petitions. The residential areas were turning into typical “bedroom towns,” places where people only stay, but do not participate or engage in the local community, and the city atmosphere had become dreary. Changwon’s global warming impact sharply increased due to the heightened levels of both Carbon Dioxide emissions and waste emissions. Global warming is a critical issue all around the world. South Korea is ranked #10 in the world in carbon dioxide emissions and has the displeasure of being ranked #1 among OECD countries in increased levels of carbon dioxide emissions. In Changwon, over 56% of greenhouse gases were emitted from non-industrial transportation and other residential-related sources. These high emission levels were a result of excessive local development and reckless use of electricity and water by local residents. This development began to show noticeable harm when green algae levels in local ecosystems began to fall dramatically. - In addition, Korea’s lifestyle had also changed. It used to be that Koreans took pride in frugality, but rapid economic growth and increased personal income led to unnecessary consumption and excessively increased levels of waste emissions. Citizens felt indifference toward the deteriorated water quality of local rivers and streams - Because much of the population of Changwon merely saw themselves as “work-residents” rather than part of a hometown local community, many people were not concerned with local matters. Problems were expected to be handled bureaucratically and Changwon became a place where administrative measures were often expected to solve local problems. - Furthermore, factories and orchards located between the Nakdong River and surrounding agricultural areas spewed pollutants into local rivers and streams, contaminating local water sources. As a result, the Sincheon Creek water quality declined to lower than a level 3 and local wildlife habitats had become heavily polluted. - Some local residents even dumped household waste into the streams, resulting in a polluted environment and contaminated water. In addition, because most of the city residents were employment-migrants from others cities and considered themselves only “work-residents,” the city suffered from a lack community spirit. This lack of community connectedness created a negative living atmosphere and furthered emotional and cultural divides among the neighbors.

B. Strategic Approach

 2. What was the solution?
Local citizens, NGOs, and other professionals participated in the restoration movement together - In December of 2008, The City of Changwon held the “Green Changwon 21 Conference.” This conference featured a workshop called “Creating Environmental Capital,” where the city put forth a citizen-led, community-reshaping project with hopes of reinventing the city into a sustainable community. - Starting that next year in 2009, The City of Changwon began implementing this new project through joint partnerships and workshops within the community. The previously city-controlled community management project, named the “Maintain Community Quality of Life” project, was reshaped into the “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project, which sought to better include and encourage participation from local citizens. - With the creation of the “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project, the city focused its effort on bringing together a coalition of local citizens, NGOs, and local professionals. This project was developed to give citizens a voice in the shaping of the community development project, with the goal of an improved quality of life for the citizens themselves that would organically nurture community leaders through the project’s success. Citizen participation was integral to the success of this project. Citizens’ active participation from planning to implementation - To ensure the project’s success, The City of Changwon sought to increase project awareness throughout the community by applying a variety of outreach methods, with hopes of increasing local citizen action and participation. The city emphasized the importance of home and community maintenance through various participation programs and direct/indirect advertisements. The city encouraged support from local community leaders. The project was citizen-led, which means that the entire process, from the planning stages, to project implementation, to ultimately the actual physical improvement of facilities, was entirely a result of citizen effort. In other words, the City of Changwon provided an overall framework for the project, while citizens took ownership of this project by helping improve their local environment. - In order to overcome the damage of years of industrial pollution and to erase its reputation as merely an “industrial city,” the City of Changwon set the following goals as part of its “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project: creating more pedestrian-friendly streets, instilling a greater sense of community amongst residents, and increasing Sincheon Creek’s water quality to a Level 1. After these successes, Changwon expanded its city’s aspirations seeking to become South Korea’s “Environmental Capital.” - In 2011, to increase the water quality of Sincheon Creek to a Level 1, the city conducted a precise field investigation of 30 streams in local farming areas with the cooperation of local citizens, environmental groups, and the city administration. The city confirmed that 16 of the 30 sites were in need of drastic improvement. - Through this process, the city initiated an environmental improvement project that designated the Sineum neighborhood in Buk-myeon, Changwon, as a model neighborhood for restoring local community gardens. To improve local ecosystems, the city provided instructional classes for residents, visited areas where these strategies had been successfully applied, and led stream purification efforts with the participation of local citizens, environmental groups, and city administrative agencies. - Citizens learned to become problem solving leaders in the community as they adopted the role of harbingers within their own community. This re-evaluated role of citizenship helped people reshape their ideas of how they would interact with the others in the social community of Changwon, and lead to an improved sense of local community. People began caring for their surroundings voluntarily. The local community movement played a crucial role in uniting citizens around common goals that ultimately lead to increasing the water quality of Sincheon Creek to level 1. - The City of Changwon also implemented the Ten Million Tree Planting Movement and the Carbon Point System to stimulate environmental efforts and local community participation.

 3. How did the initiative solve the problem and improve people’s lives?
It was the first citizen-led local government project in South Korea - City government roles are very insular and dominant in South Korea, leaving citizens with limited resources to tackle local problems. This led to a culture of passivity among local residents in solving local problems. The goal of this project was to reverse these norms, providing citizens an active role in government. - In the “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project, the city supported the neighborhood with financial resources and helped the community form a project implementation committee. The citizens found existing problems, organized, and lead the project themselves, while NGOs and local government assisted, assuming a supporting role. - This kind of project can bring about the vitalization of citizen autonomy and can ignite community spirit by granting citizens the authority to determine the solutions to their local problems. Furthermore, this is particularly innovative because returning the opportunities for decision-making and action to citizens can bring about balanced development of public and private areas, and can help further elicit change to Korean society. Total directional support met the needs of the neighborhood - The “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project was practical because it offered accessible, hands-on support for the community. In addition, the project implementation committee formed by the neighborhood led to direct incentives for the neighborhood. The fact that the project itself could further lead to many other pilot projects and could attract citizen participation offered a new framework for administrative projects.

C. Execution and Implementation

 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
Public invitation to join the “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project - As noted above, the project began by assembling a project implementation committee. Incentives were provided to the committee to implement citizen-led pilot projects. Every year, the “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project plans were drawn and presentations were conducted in January and February. Then later from April to May, the city selected a public project targeting “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood Committee”. The public project was broken down into several different categories and sought to incorporate various ideas from citizens. - Later each committee would select one task meeting to meet a neighborhood’s needs. Based on the selection, the city planned and implemented the project from July to November. To curb insufficiency, the pilot project focused on the facility improvement, with each neighborhood fulfilling two projects as a part of the “Clean Neighborhood Environment Campaign,” a community spirit development program. Citizen Education for Sustainable Management - The city actively ran programs to increase citizen participation in the “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project. Leader development training was held every March. In addition, from August to September, the city provided the neighborhoods with such support as the “Mobile Citizen Education” program and a “Customized Consultation” program. These education programs were conducted regularly by a neighborhood-building support group established at the “Green Changwon 21 Conference.” - The city identified special environmental projects for each neighborhood and conducted continuous workshops and conferences as part of an exchange activity. This helped each of theses neighborhoods transform into “green neighborhoods.” Through these opportunities, various project categories were created and new approaches to projects were developed. Continuous management of the yearly project evaluation and results report - Project reports were prepared based on self-evaluations by each neighborhood. Every year, mid-term and final evaluations were performed through on-site verifications and resident interviews. - The evaluation focused on the degree of voluntary citizen participation and how much the project contributed to an increase in citizen quality of life and a formation of local community. - The project result presentations were held in December, and at the presentations, the city granted awards to neighborhoods that fulfilled their projects with excellence. In addition, citizens had an opportunity to present their cases during the evaluation process. This kind of event raised the self-respect of citizens and indirectly created awareness of other neighborhoods.

 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
The outcome was created by citizens, the government, administration, and NGOs - The City of Changwon’s Environmental Capital Division managed the entire “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project, including obtaining project budgets and incentives. The Green Changwon 21 Conference established a neighborhood-building subcommittee and prepared a project manual. In addition, The Green Changwon 21 Conference performed a general role in implementing projects such as citizen education, setting up evaluation teams, developing the evaluation index, and project selection, evaluation, award presentation, and consultation support. - The “Neighborhood-building Subcommittee” consisted of 13 committee members including an environmental NGO, local social NGOs such as the Changwon YMCA and the Gyeongnam Information Society Research Institute, as well as other volunteer groups, professors, and “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” committee chair members. After passing the subcommittee, the project went through the Operation Committee with help from the second Deputy Mayor and the Director of the Environment and Culture Bureau. - Each local government office provided administrative support for each “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” neighborhood committee in order to ensure that the projects went smoothly. Each local “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” committee was responsible for discovering neighborhood projects, planning, and implementing projects accordingly. Changwon City Council actively participated in “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” program - The Changwon City Council Environment & Culture Committee made an endless effort to secure the budget for the “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project. The legislation for the “Changwon Environmental Capital, Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood Regulation” project (2011.7.29.) was a good example of this. Legal support for the project was prepared by legislation. - In addition, the city made efforts to seek ideas to preserve and develop the project as a brand in the future. In order to prevent a conflict of interests in advance, and to seek a mutual cooperation and form a consensus, the government-citizen panel consisted of interest parties and professionals such as Changwon City Hall, environmental organizations, citizen representatives, and university professors, to establish an organic cooperation system. This way all agendas were open to the public for discussion and public consent could be formed to solve issues.
 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
Maximum utilization of the Community’s human resources - Total directional support was an important factor necessary for area improvements, however human resources, from a variety of fields, and an involved populace were essential for the project’s success. Human capital was essential for the “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project. Discovering and seeking recommended community members (professionals residing in the neighborhood) from each neighborhood was necessary for project successes. - In addition, NGOs in the area actively provided technical and human resource support. When human resource capability in the neighborhood was too low to fulfill the needs of the project, technical and human resource assistance was provided to the neighborhood-building support group, thanks in part to experts from the “Green Changwon 21 Conference.” - It is estimated that the help of over 200 people is required to perform one neighborhood project. However, as the scale and number of projects continued to expand, the demands for participation sharply increased. In order to prepare for this resource increase, the project constructed and reinforced a network to ensure a smooth operation. Projects’ financial resources were covered through local neighborhood fundraising and city subsidies - Finances were provided by self-funding efforts from neighborhoods and were made possible through subsidies from The City of Changwon. Changwon allocated $192,000 USD in subsidies for its 2011 city budget for these projects. The supported projects and budgets were divided into three categories; pilot projects ($115,000 USD), “Clean Neighborhood Environment Campaigns” ($54,000 USD), and supporting projects for “Building Revitalized Neighborhoods” ($23,000 USD). - In 2012, the budget for subsidies of these projects increased by 80%, with the total allocation increased to $350,000 USD. The city provided $150,000 USD for the pilot project, $96,000 USD for its “Clean Neighborhoods Campaign”, $24,000 USD for “Building Revitalized Neighborhoods,” and $80,000 USD for the 5th “Building Revitalized Neighborhoods National Competition.” - In 2013, a total of $284,000 USD of subsidies were allocated to pilot projects ($130,000 USD), the “Clean Neighborhoods Campaign” ($124,000 USD), and the “Building Revitalized Neighborhoods” project ($26,000 USD). Neighborhood fundraising and revenue from the Citizen Autonomy Committee provided ten percent of the total project costs. - However, in the case of the Carbon Point System, the central and provincial governments provided partial support of the system. Changwon City also obtained additional financial resources and supported promotional efforts for citizens. These efforts included preparing promotional items and pamphlets, handling applications for the system, hosting the Carbon Point Contest, facilitating local leaders through the Green Leader Carbon Point System, and securing promotional personnel, operating promotion booths, running campaigns, and pursuing the Low Carbon Green Apartment Certification Project.

 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
The Green City Ten Million Tree Planting Movement - To increase recreational space within the city and to help Changwon achieve its goal of becoming the “Environmental Capital” of South Korea, a parks and green spaces project was initiated. This project resulted in the planting of 3.88 million trees, largely made possible thanks to active citizen participation. The effort helped reduce air pollution, as well as urban noise. Additionally, it helped reduce the average summer temperature by about 3 to 7 degrees Celsius, significantly decreasing the effect of suffocating summer heat. Reducing Greenhouse Gases and Helping Families - The Carbon Point System helped improve living conditions and increase family incomes, contributing significantly to “voluntary green practices” among citizens. After being introduced, the system reduced over 21,261 tons of carbon dioxide (the equivalent of planting 117,335 20-year-old nut pine trees). Thanks to the Carbon Point System, over the course of two years with this program Changwon families consumed 46,054Mwh less electricity and 5,238,000m3 less water. Emphasizing the importance of art, tradition, culture and history - Being an industrial city, Changwon had overlooked its preservation of local traditions and history. The city decided to create a mural street and employed local artists to produce artwork upon the street walls. In addition, the city transformed its city image from cold, industrial city to a bright and enjoyable city full of culture and tradition. The city allocated artifacts to small museums and set traditional sign stones for modern buildings. Citizens began visiting small museums that had previously been all but neglected. The mural street became a popular place for residents to visit and photograph, and attracted people from a variety of surrounding areas. Most importantly, these changes brought a needed sense vitality, life, history, and personality to the city. Second-hand Markets and Daily Practicing of Separating Out Recyclable Items from Other Waste - In one of Changwon’s neighborhoods, a second-hand market emerged, facilitating and popularizing the value of living frugally in one’s community. These ideas spread to the entire city and helped establish regular second-hand markets for each neighborhood. In doing this, citizens observed that possessions they perceived as lacking in value could provide value for others, thusly causing a mindset shift. Applying these newfound thoughts with regard to “waste,” citizens were better poised to adopt greener living practices. Second-hand markets also help improve and revitalize local economies and communities. - In addition, the city launched a campaign encouraging citizens to separate out recyclable items from other waste. This campaign intended to curb disposable product usage in addition to further increasing household recycling practices. The campaign quickly spread throughout the entire city and soon residents from children to adults engaged in efforts to reduce waste, reduce resource consumption, and to help better protect their local environment. Clean water, Healthy nature Local citizens took the lead in accomplishing the “Saving Creeks and Streams” project as part of a wetland restoration and “Building Green Communities” campaign. Citizens conducted the field survey, observed problems that needed addressing and drafted the improvement plan by themselves. This served as a model case of local citizen involvement directly resulting in tangible project results. In fact, because of this grassroots effort, water quality levels increased from a Level 3 to a Level 1.

 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
Evaluation through citizen monitoring and professional assessment - Citizens continuously monitored the “Building the Best (Eutteuem) Neighborhood” project. The project had also been evaluated several times a year by a committee of ten evaluators drawn from the Green Changwon 21 Conference and government employees from Changwon City Hall and local district offices. - The results were evaluated from a variety of angles, and focused on the degree of feasibility, fulfillment, publicity and effectiveness, with regard to sustainability and the characteristics of the area. The city is currently building a database to compare its current data to the data from previous years. Citizen participation is an important evaluation factor along with the project result The “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project was created as a movement to recover environmental damage and re-inspire community spirit, making citizen participation an important measure of the program’s success. We discovered that community enthusiasm and participation heavily impacted our project’s success. - When evaluating the project, Changwon City and the project steering committee based 60 percent of their evaluation on project results and 40 percent on citizen participation, ranging from community meetings, to citizen education, and citizen-government partnerships. The evaluation results were incorporated in the Changwon City BSC system (outcome/innovation management system) and used as a project an evaluation index for local administrative offices.

 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
Budget was cut due to lack of understanding, Effort to obtain budget - In the beginning of the project, our funding was removed from the city budget, because the Changwon City Council (Environment & Culture Committee) lacked full understanding of the project in 2011. Changwon City Hall and the Green Changwon 21 Conference made strong efforts to listen to citizen opinions and communicate with citizens through citizen education. Based on these efforts, they were able to convey the project’s importance to the Budget Committee. As a result, the city was able to obtain the necessary budget for the project. In order to ensure continuing support of the project, the “Changwon City Regulation for Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project required official legislation. The city legislation was set on July 13, 2011 and it provided a basis for continuation of the project. Efforts to encourage declined citizen participation - Due to the administrative integration of Changwon, Masan, and Jinhae, there were large gaps of knowledge in terms of government policy for environmental capital, environmental awareness, and in citizen knowledge regarding the “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project. These gaps posed large problems for the continuing success of the project. In addition, the neighborhoods that were not selected for the pilot project saw a decrease in citizen participation due to a drop in motivation. Furthermore, because many people did not understand the project, cultivating positive opinion from the public proved difficult. - The city needed to persuade and educate citizens to resolve these issues. The city focused on reducing the gap between its new policies and the citizens’ lack of understanding by holding meetings hosted by the project implementation committee and by providing leadership training to district offices and neighborhoods. In addition, the city implemented a “Clean Neighborhoods Campaign” that encouraged the participation of all neighborhoods, especially those that were not selected for the “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” pilot project. It was intended to encourage and increase participation from all citizens, regardless of neighborhood or district. By the request of the citizens, seventeen NGO groups visited these neighborhoods and provided the same neighborhood leadership training sessions that had been provided at the beginning of the project. The city and the Changwon Urban Restoration Center co-sponsored the “Citizen University for Urban Restoration” program. These education sessions re-emphasized the importance of building quality neighborhoods and urban restoration, and furthered the success of the project.

D. Impact and Sustainability

 10. What were the key benefits resulting from this initiative?
Balanced improvement between administration and local community As mentioned several times before, it was a big success for the city administration to be able to draw from citizen participation and to instill a strong sense community spirit into a city that had previously been devoid of any sense of community. In addition, the project caused a large boost to local job creation and revitalized local businesses, social enterprises and cooperatives. - Citizens used to rely on administrative services to have their needs met, however now they had neighborhood leaders who understand the community’s problems, organize a plan for improvement and are able to execute it. The vertical relationship between citizens and city government shifted into a horizontal one. This also played a big role in repairing trust between citizens and local administrative agencies. - The “Citizen Participation in the Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project required citizen participation and became a critical evaluation index for the Changwon City government employee BSC evaluation. This became the turning point that changed the direction of administrative services at the local level. Implementation of the sustainable neighborhood project, earned Changwon national recognition and helped further its reputation as an environmental city - As the “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project and other government-supported projects (Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime/Ministry of Security and Administration/Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) began combining, the Environmental City Division assumed the management responsibility of all project-related matters. This allowed the city to implement a sustainable neighborhood project that strictly focused on environmental policy. - A strong example of this project was the 2011 renovation of the Jinhae District’s Juangang neighborhood into a modern history district, supported by the Ministry of Security and Administration, as a Hope Neighborhood Project. This project was initiated to preserve and manage the cultural heritage and modern history throughout various sites across the city. As part of an effort to manage and publicize neglected cultural heritage and be closer with its citizens, the city opened the Jinhae Gujhang Neighborhood History Hall. Photos of Jinhae’s modern history were permanently displayed in the History Hall and photo exhibit events were held in the Jinhae District Office Public Service Room. - In addition, the implementation of the “Saving Community Garden Streams” project increased the water quality to a Level 1 in all streams in the neighborhood. As the water quality levels of individual streams increased, the water quality of Sincheon Creek, where all streams emptied out, increased from a Level 3 to a Level 2. - Because the “Saving Streams” project created such positive results, other cities and provinces showed a high interest in the project. People from many other areas visited the sites where the project was implemented with hopes of emulating its success in their communities. Soon Changwon proudly received national recognition as a leading environmental city of South Korea. - Because of its initial success, other citizens desired similar projects in their own communities and the conservation effort grew further. As these practices become more commonly adopted, the hope is that the project will, in the long run, result in the improved water quality of the Nakdong River, South Korea’s longest river. A revitalized local environment increased citizens’ interest and care for their community - Various community environment improvement projects such as the Ten Million Tree Planting Movement and the Culture and History Street project brought positive effects to the local community. These projects not only reshaped the community, but they also provided an opportunity for neighbors to communicate with one another. People showed interest in their neighbors and participated in solving their community problems together. This whole process united local citizens. In addition, local residents themselves began to show strong interest in solving local problems, since they now could implement the projects of interest.

 11. Did the initiative improve integrity and/or accountability in public service? (If applicable)
Verified result invited other areas for bench-marking - The “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project highlighted the virtues of sustainability using a customized support system. The project also had the ability to expand to neighboring areas, causing many other regions to seek out and begin emulating the project. - In June of 2012, the National Neighborhood Building Competition was, for the first time, held in an urban space rather than in rural areas as in previous years. At this competition, which featured 3,000 participants, Changwon publicized its model for “Building Neighborhoods” to the entire nation. Since then, Changwon’s project has been benchmarked in such metropolitan areas as Seoul and Suwon, and through the “Building Neighborhoods” national network. - Additionally, many Korean and international cities have tried to benchmark Changwon’s policies, leading to numerous invitations and lecture requests. In 2013 alone, The City of Changwon was invited to the CITYNET Seoul Congress (November), the High-Level Dialogue on Implementing Rio in Berlin (August), the Global Energy Basel (February) and was invited by Mayor of New York City to the C40 High Level Meeting (May). Changwon’s Building the Best Neighborhood project was being introduced to countries around the globe. The project was adopted as a national project because of its low cost and high efficiency. - Changwon’s “Saving Streams” project created such a national sensation that it was later adopted as a national project by the Ministry of Environment. The “Saving Streams” project was shared with all local governments across the country in 2013. Currently 46 areas in 15 local governments are implementing the project. Rooted in citizen participation and project management, the “Saving Streams” project brings about enormous environmental improvement directly, and for a small cost. The project is both sustainable and economically sound. - Since many local citizens are participating in a project with the same objective, it naturally forms a local community as well as resolves local conflicts. This process plays a huge role in creating a unique local culture and a revitalized community. In addition, the local culture created through this process creates a positive effect, and improves industries in the area. For this reason, this can be an excellent project that local governments and government agencies of other countries can actively adopt.

 12. Were special measures put in place to ensure that the initiative benefits women and girls and improves the situation of the poorest and most vulnerable? (If applicable)
A communicative and trusting administration - Low citizen participation in government projects was very common. However, it was hard to blame citizens for low participation, because it was hard for citizens to expect the government projects to be completed as planned. Since most local government employees are rotated every two years, projects often change direction without feasible outcomes and are even sometimes terminated. Accordingly, it was difficult for citizens to trust the government administration. - However, because the “Building the Best (Eutteum) Neighborhood” project was created, planned, and executed by the local citizens, the entire project could follow the same line of continuity. - In other words, the local citizens realized that they knew their community problems best, and that they could solve their problem the most effectively. In the process of persuading the residents, the local government employees were able to discover what specific issues were important to local citizens. This gave the government employees the opportunity to learn the value of not only asking, but also listening to constituents. Citizens’ understanding and awareness leads to a solution - Environment problems are the critical issue of the 21st century. Repairing local ecosystems and transforming our cities into sustainable cities requires citizen participation. When citizens become inspired to act and to improve neighborhoods themselves, real change can be obtained. - Past city administrations were centered around government and were unilateral. However, the direction of future administrative policy should be more citizen-oriented. The government should allow citizens the right to get involved in local community problems and should encourage the public to improve their communities. To ensure more successful policies, administrative agencies need to support citizens in resolving the difficult issues of their communities by merely providing an assisting role, allowing community members to take the lead on their projects. - By doing so, this can increase the project’s success rate and attract local citizens’ active support and cooperation. A conflict between local citizens’ desire for development and environment preservation can often hurt administrative project success. Government-centered unilateral project execution often can cause a conflict of interest among local citizens, environmental groups, and NGOs. - Therefore, a communication channel to exchange opinions has to first be established. This communication channel is an important tool in seeking ways to proceed with the project efficiently through discussion. When a government project is implemented in this way, this synergy will produce better results.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Changwon City
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Sang-a Kim
Title:   Manager  
Telephone/ Fax:   82-55-225-3247
Institution's / Project's Website:  
E-mail:   ahiru85@korea.kr  
Address:   151 Jungang-daero, Uichang-gu
Postal Code:   641-703
City:   Changwon
State/Province:   Gyeongsangnam-do
Country:  

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