Suwon City has turned into a more livable and safer place with people-centered governance and inclusive social development as the major driving force.

The city has implemented policies to address entrenched marginalization, empower vulnerable populations including women, children, and the elderly and infirm, and ensure equal opportunities for them.

Suwon, the most populous city among 31 cities in Gyeonggi Province, has pursued a people-centered approach and taken steps toward becoming a more equal city.

In Suwon, every citizen can enjoy the benefits of local socioeconomic developments and social welfare programs.

Suwon City’s swift and proactive response to the COVID-19 pandemic also demonstrates the local government’s capabilities to ensure the safety of all citizens.

Local economy revitalization
One of Suwon City’s noteworthy achievements is to have created jobs catered to the city’s characteristics and situation to generate a vibrant economy.

Suwon City won seven awards in the evaluation of the local job creation target notice system between 2012 and 2019.

The city has sought to create an environment where every citizen can get a stable job through multifaceted policies, including a public job-creating project and a step-by-step, tailored program to help residents launch startups. More than 180 young people have found jobs through the local government’s program to support youths working abroad.

Suwon City also has put strenuous effort into revitalizing local commercial areas, which had been in decline, by providing continuous assistance to traditional markets. The city has refurbished Motgol, Gumaetan, Minarigwang, Jeongja, and Hwaseo traditional markets.

In addition, the Suwon Convention Center, which opened in the center of Gwanggyo new town in 2019, clearly shows Mayor Yeom Tae-young’s firm intention to revitalize and develop the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions) industry into a future growth engine of the local economy. 

People-centered governance, inclusive social policy
Suwon City’s people-centered governance and inclusive social development enable vulnerable populations to enjoy safer and happier lives. The city has also reduced welfare blind spots through diverse, inclusive social policy programs for the underprivileged.

Since 2018, Suwon City has independently implemented a social housing program that aims to lease houses to families with four or more children under 19 years of age, free of charge, for up to 20 years.

The city also has collaborated with the government-run Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH) and utilized rental houses purchased by LH to overcome budget constraints and run the housing support program in a stable manner.

While a total of 31 households have benefited from the program between 2018 and 2021, Suwon City aims to provide 200 units for multichild families by 2025.

Furthermore, Suwon City has implemented policies focusing on taking care of women, children, youth, the elderly, and the disabled.

The city has promoted the equal participation of the vulnerable groups in public decision-making and policy formation and sought the principles of justice and fairness in respect to accessibility to social services and resources and distribution of the benefits of socioeconomic developments.

Suwon City ultimately aims to guarantee the growth and safety of vulnerable populations.

Suwon was recognized as a Child Friendly City by UNICEF in 2017. The city has joined the WHO Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities since 2016 and pledged to pursue an aged-friendly urban development including transportation, environment and policy projects and programs such as lifelong education.

Citizen safety first
Suwon City has put top priority on the safety of its citizens. As an example, the city has shown outstanding performance in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The local government began running temporary facilities to accommodate close contacts to COVID-19 cases in February 2020 during the early phase of the pandemic, the first to do so in South Korea.

In March 2020, the city also introduced a local government-run system, for the first time, to prevent further transmission from international arrivals.

Suwon City started providing a pick-up service between the airport and a temporary testing center for asymptomatic international arrivals. At the testing facility, travelers are tested and remain there until the results come out.

Not only did it set a prime example for other cities to follow suit, Suwon has also created a joint response system with neighboring local governments including Osan, Hwaseong, and Yongin in Gyeonggi Province.

Suwon City also issued a white paper with the goal of sharing its experiences in responding to infectious diseases with future generations and other local governments.

The city published and distributed the white paper entitled “Ilseongrok” which contains the city’s overall management of infectious diseases from the beginning of the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak to its end.

Suwon’s experience handling the MERS outbreak in 2015 had provided learning lessons in dealing with the COVID pandemic.

In particular, Suwon City played a pivotal role in passing a partial revision of the act on prevention and management of infectious disease in 2020, which provides a local government with the authority to independently deploy contact tracers. The revision was based on a policy proposal by Mayor Yeom.

In addition, the city also pushes for policies for public safety and security. Some 12,400 closed-circuit security cameras are installed and operated throughout the city. The CCTVs are monitored at the Integrated Control Situation Room in Suwon City Hall. Between 2014 and April 2021, the CCTV footage contributed to the arrests of criminals in around 36,500 cases.

By Park Joung-kyu and Ji Da-gyum (fob140@heraldcorp.com) (dagyumji@heraldcorp.com)