Questions/Answers

Local residents living near Jungnangcheon Stream were struggling to cope with flooding during the summer rainy season, which left the banks of the stream completely inaccessible. Moreover, aggravated by the regular flooding and resulting damage, the residents had developed low self-esteem, knowing that they lived in a deprived area. However, the area and community have now been reborn thanks to the Seoul Rose Festival, through which roses have been planted and are now growing alongside the stream. In 2015, Jungnang-gu planned a 17-day festival where people could enjoy roses and cultural performances in the middle of the city, utilizing the 5.15-kilometer Rose Tunnel, the longest of its kind in the country, based on roses planted as part of the Jungnangcheon Riverside Park Project. 1. The purpose of the festival was to increase residents’ self-esteem and raise the status of the community by changing the residents’ perception of their neighborhood from that of a deprived area to a community worthy of respect. 2. It also aimed to guarantee residents’ rights to health and leisure by establishing cultural and recreational spaces, such as a rose park, walking trails, sports facilities, gyms, and outdoor stages, in an urban area where such facilities were lacking. 3. Various family and multicultural events were planned for the festival. Through such events, we sought to emphasize the horizontal husband-wife relationship within families, foster recognition and respect for women as wives and mothers, and raise awareness of underprivileged multicultural families. 4. We made sure that the festival was directly connected to the community, avoiding the typical top-down festival planning, and aimed to secure the participation of all residents. We sought to establish a sustainable community by developing a festival in which residents could participate voluntarily by creating and selling rose-based products and tending to the alleys of the neighborhood.

Seoul Rose Festival was organized to provide equal and inclusive services to residents. We organized the festival to provide various performances and programs that everyone, from children to the elderly and foreigners, could participate in. Particularly, information booths and volunteers were placed in several locations throughout the festival grounds so everyone, including members of vulnerable social groups, could enjoy the festivities conveniently and on equal ground. Moreover, we pursued cultural equity by resolving the problem of inequality of opportunity to enjoy different cultures through the provision of free performances, including orchestra performances, which many people have only few chances to experience.

Four of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—Gender Equality (Goal 5), Decent Work and Economic Growth (Goal 8), Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure (Goal 9), and Sustainable Cities and Communities (Goal 11)—are supported by this initiative. First, Couples’ Day and Wife’s Day were designated as the themes of the festival to foster an environment in which the value of women is realized and raise awareness of the importance of gender equality in society. Second, the festival vitalized the local economy through residents’ use of local resources to create products, improve the neighborhood, and develop the festival into a sustainable tourism festival. Third, the environment of Jungnangcheon Stream was improved to create a healthy green space for the use of residents, after which a recreational space was created where various cultural performances can be enjoyed amid nature. Now, the festival serves as both social and cultural infrastructure, fulfilling the residents’ rights to leisure and health that they had lacked for so long. Lastly, the success of the festival inspired residents to establish a sustainable community through the “Making a Rose Village” urban regeneration project, strengthened their team spirit and sense of community, and promoted a positive image of the neighborhood.

Local residents have voluntarily organized meetings since 2016 to plan festival-related urban regeneration projects. As a result, this project was selected as a Seoul City Public Project and received funding. Infrastructure was then established, and the community spirit of residents was strengthened. The number of festival visitors has been increasing annually, along with the scale of the festival, and the sales of neighboring business districts have increased through such events as the “Couple Week Project” (meal discounts), helping boost the local economy. Finally, the environment of Jungnangcheon Stream was improved through the annual planting and continuous management of roses.

Jungnang-gu has long been a region lacking cultural infrastructure. However, with an innovative idea for a festival, large-scale performances, including performances of the KBS Symphony Orchestra, which are often beyond the reach of many people, came to the neighborhood, along with small-scale busking performances of local artists, such as "Jungnang Artists". Having attracted such regular performances, Jungnang-gu became a place where residents can directly experience, participate in, and enjoy quality cultural events. In this way, we improved public services and pursued cultural equality by providing residents with opportunities to enjoy various cultural experiences. As a result, local residents are highly satisfied with the opportunities for leisure and quality of life now available to them, and their pride in their community has increased accordingly.

First, to promote equality in the home by supporting and encouraging women, events such as the recitation of family thank-you letters and a model family contest were held for Wife’s Day on the last day of the festival. Such support and encouragement from family members can raise the self-esteem of women. In particular, we arranged a meeting for sharing the cultures of multicultural families to give marriage migrant women, who often experience more inequality in the home than Korean women, more chances to participate in the festival, raise awareness of the importance of gender equality, and support multicultural families.

The main focus of this festival is the 420,000 residents of Jungnang-gu. First of all, the initiative pursued the realization of the SDGs of gender equality and women’s empowerment through the organization of Wife’s Day, which was one of the festival’s themes, with the aim of fostering a culture in which women can participate equally and everyone can grow and develop together in harmony. Second, the event provided opportunities for small-scale businesses in the district to operate booths through which they could promote and sell their excellent products during the festival period and contributed to the vitalization of the local economy through the operation of traditional market food booths. Third, the festival strengthened residents’ rights to leisure and health by establishing infrastructure for public use, improving the banks of Jungnangcheon Stream for year-round use as parks, and expanding trails and sports facilities. Lastly, the festival enhanced the community spirit of the neighborhood, raised residents’ self-esteem by forming an urban regeneration consultative group made up of local residents, and allowed residents to directly participate in the festival through the production and sale of rose-based products.

The festival was planned in such a way that residents would be able to play the role of both producers and consumers simultaneously. Because the main focus of the festival is the residents, meetings of the preparatory and advisory committees, made up of the resident representative of each apartment building, members of restaurant associations, and members of traditional market merchant associations, were held, and the results were frequently reflected in the festival planning. Also, we concentrated on planning and organizing events, including pop-up gardens, parades, and "the Jungnang Avengers", in which residents could participate with ease, which received highly positive responses from residents. The district office actively accepted the opinions of residents, which were reflected in the monitoring process. As a result, a permanent Rose Festival Secretariat was established through a reorganization process with the aim of transforming the festival grounds into a popular spot that people can visit year-round.

As the festival expanded, various problems arose. Parking was the biggest problem, as 2.02 million people visited the festival. Nearby institutions and residents offered parking spaces, and a temporary parking lot was provided for disadvantaged groups. Via SNS, visitors were urged to use public transportation. To control noise and waste, the operating hours of food trucks were adjusted, and recycling bins were placed for the separation of wastes. Although there were more visitors and greater profits, a conflict emerged over the unequal distribution of profits. To resolve this, profits generated by food trucks were invested in a regional development fund.

The innovative aspect of this festival was the Rose Tunnel. Here, roses bloom in both spring and fall, creating a pleasant space where people can enjoy a variety of activities. Economically, the festival was a success. In 2015, it attracted 0.16 million visitors, with that number increasing to 2 million over five years. Over the same period, the festival generated a production inducement effect of KRW 19.7 billion, of which KRW 10.4 billion was generated this year alone. This shows the potential for improving the image of the neighborhood, vitalizing the local economy, and stimulating regional growth.

In 2017, Jungnang-gu signed an MOU for the promotion of friendship, exchange, and cooperation with the Bulgarian city of Kazanlak, which holds a rose festival that features a rose queen contest and rose-harvesting experience. Since entering into this agreement, with the aim of further enhancing the Seoul Rose Festival, Jungnang-gu has exchanged delegations with Bulgaria every year to learn from each other’s festivals. Bulgaria’s Rose Festival has fewer nighttime events, which include fireworks and concerts, due to insufficient lighting, while the Seoul Rose Festival features various lighting facilities, allowing visitors to enjoy the festivities late into the night.

This project, under which a neighborhood festival is using local resources to grow into a global festival, has been spotlighted as a representative example of local innovation, and local governments around the country, including those of Gunpo (Gyeonggi-do), Pohang (Gyeongsangbuk-do), and Muju (Jeollabuk-do), have visited the festival for benchmarking purposes. In particular, Dongdaemun-gu and Nowon-gu, which are located along Jungnangcheon Stream, visited and inspected the Seoul Rose Festival and started growing gardens along their sections of Jungnangcheon. As a result, a total of 45.3 kilometers of Jungnangcheon Stream is now being transformed into a healthy green spaces, in cooperation with other districts. In addition, Muju (Jeollabuk-do) benchmarked various aspects of the festival, such as the rose bus and busking festival, and integrated them into its representative local Firefly Festival to improve the quality of the event.

As written in the answer to the previous question 7a above, Seoul Rose Festival has been transferred to other local governments around the country in various ways.

A large part of the budget was spent on the planting and management of roses. In 2019, about KRW 1.07 billion was spent on landscaping and the planting of 39,150 rose trees. The consistent planting and management of roses plays a role in the commercialization of the festival and is crucial for the implementation of sustainable policies. A total of 3,824 residents, including members of traditional market merchant associations, and student volunteer groups, participated, in addition to administrative employees of the district, meaning that the festival was based on a system of mutual cooperation among civil and public groups.

Stable financial support was a priority for ensuring the success of the festival. As our goal was a resident-driven festival, the district administration provided funds for the creation of a pop-up garden in which residents could participate and increased the budget for "Jungnang Artists", which teaches art. We focused on securing funds for such programs and expanded the festival through corporate sponsorships and connections with other events. In addition, the district administration established the permanent Rose Festival Secretariat and is currently drawing up a plan for a cultural foundation to serve as a center of culture and the arts.

Yes

To improve the festival, external evaluation was conducted by the Korea Festival Contents Research. Also, visitor surveys were performed through direct interviews conducted by research assistants and self-administered by visitors. Qualitative and observational investigations were carried out, and in-depth interviews with festival experts were conducted. The results were studied and presented by the Korea Festival Contents Research. In addition, “Top 10 Jungnang News,” were selected by residents, and online and offline surveys were conducted, allowing residents to choose meaningful policies. Finally, an internal evaluation was performed by the Seoul Rose Festival preparatory and advisory committees.

The survey questionnaire was made up of questions on demographic factors (7%), general characteristics of the festival (29%), festival programs (24%), festival and local resident satisfaction (33%), and festival development plans (7%), with a total of 45 questions. Among the survey responses, cultural tourism and local resident satisfaction were evaluated using a seven-point Likert scale, while effects related to festival content was evaluated using a five-point scale.

The Seoul Rose Festival was ranked among the top 10 most-recommended festivals in 2017 according to the results of a consumer evaluation conducted by the Korea Marketing Association through an external professional evaluation agency. The festival also won the grand prize for three consecutive years (2017, 2018, and 2019) at the Korea Festival Contents Awards hosted by the Korea Festival Contents Research and Korea Local Industrial Culture Association. In addition, the festival received the Rising Star Award at the 2018 Big Data Festival Awards, based on a quantitative evaluation of smartphone big data and qualitative evaluation of the direction of the festival. Having won these various awards, the Seoul Rose Festival has been recognized as a representative festival of Seoul, both in name and in reality, and a successful resident-led event. The festival was selected as one of the “Top 10 Jungnang News” for four consecutive years from 2015 to 2018, and received great support from residents. Moreover, a permanent festival secretariat was established to guide the quantitative and qualitative development of the festival on the basis of reports published by various media organizations and the support of citizens and continuously collect feedback from residents on the festival in the future.

For the festival, close cooperation among various related institutions is crucial. First, relevant institutions in the district, such as Jungnang Police Station, Jungnang Fire Station, and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), were included on the festival preparatory committee, and collaboration to ensure the smooth operation of the festival began from the very first briefing session. Thanks to this, the festival was made safer, and any emergency situations were handled promptly, allowing residents to enjoy the festival free of inconvenience. In addition, promotional booths were offered to other districts of Seoul (Gangnam-gu, Dongdaemun-gu, Eunpyeong-gu, etc.) as well as to sister cities (Yangju, etc.), giving them a chance for self-promotion. By visiting other cities, a mutually beneficial system of cooperation was established in relation to the hosting of cultural performances during the festival period, thus expanding residents’ right to leisure.

This year’s festival was conducted as an event that residents can help operate and participate in directly, with the goal of making it a resident-led participatory festival rather than an organization-driven one. Existing events, including the rose parade and dance parade, in which residents can participate in large numbers were expanded in scale this year. In particular, the pop-up garden event was newly added this year, allowing the residents of each of the district’s 16 dongs (local administrative unit) to create story-telling pop-up gardens that reflect their neighborhoods and introduce the communities in which they live. This new event received highly positive responses from spectators. In addition, food trucks, which have the potential to hinder the local economy, were selected and operated by "the Jungnang Avengers", a consultative group formed by residents, and food booths operated by traditional markets in the area were expanded, contributing to the vitalization of the local economy.

The main purpose of a local festival is to share the area’s unique history, culture, and assets. One of Jungnang-gu’s most unique and original assets is the 5.15-kilometer Rose Tunnel, which the residents have worked hard to maintain and improve over the past 10 years. By highlighting the merits of this local asset, which is the longest “rose tunnel” in Korea, we were certain that the festival would be a hit. Through the Seoul Rose Festival, we learned that sustainable development can be achieved through the establishment of local cultural infrastructure, vitalization of the local economy, guaranteeing of the residents’ rights to leisure and health, and strengthening of the residents’ self-esteem. Therefore, the Seoul Rose Festival, which became a success by combining regional potential with innovative ideas, will serve as a foundation for establishing a sustainable community called “Rose Village.”