Assessing happiness policies in Seoul: citizen participation in urban planning

ABSTRACT

Social isolation and mental well-being have been public concerns for South Korea for more than a decade. This has led to the development of happiness legislation and promoting happiness as an explicit city policy. As a result, the Seoul Village Community Project was developed to foster citizen participation and community engagement to promote communal ways of living and reduce social isolation. This paper examines the contemporary driver of Seoul’s endeavour to become a happy city and the success and failure in the city’s policy actions. The paper also illustrates how citizen participation has resulted in Seoul’s urban planning and revitalization.

KEYWORDS:

• Seoul
• happiness policy
• Seoul Village Community Project
• citizen participation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Interview, 10.9.2020, Seoul Institute.

2. During President No-Moo-Hyun’s period (2002–2004), Hyuk-shin Do-shi ‒ innovation city ‒ was proposed to divide Seoul into 25 different districts, which freed local governments to play key roles in the city district’s planning. Hence, competition for local funding became a characteristic of the regional politics.

3. Interview, 20.07.2020, Seoul Institute.

4. http://www.seoulmaeul.org/.

5. Interview, 15.10.2020, Seoul Community Support Center.

6. Interview, 15.10.2020, Seoul Community Support Center.

7. Interview, 15.10.2020, Seoul Community Support Center.

8. Interview, 18.10.2020, Seoul Village Center.

9. Interview, 14.10.2020, Seoul Village Center.

10. Interview, 10.9.2020, Seoul Institute.

Additional information

Funding

 This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-2019S1A5A2A03041161].