Participating in Ulsan's Smart City Planning Living Lab
I recently participated in the citizen living lab for the 'Ulsan Metropolitan City Smart City Planning'.
What comes to mind when you think of a 'smart city'?
Perhaps you envision a futuristic city where artificial intelligence (AI) solves traffic congestion, sensors detect dangers throughout the city, and all necessary services can be accessed through a single smartphone.
However, a smart city doesn't merely mean a city filled with advanced technology.
The key question is: who is the technology for, and how is it utilized?
We need to first understand the actual inconveniences faced by Ulsan's citizens and identify the problems in our neighborhoods, housing areas, markets, and roads, and then collaboratively find solutions.
This is precisely the purpose of the 'Ulsan Metropolitan City Smart City Planning Citizen Living Lab'.
On July 25th, I participated in the first living lab, where we contemplated Ulsan's future from the citizens' perspective.
The smart city begins with the daily lives of its citizens.
This citizen living lab is a participatory program where citizens directly identify urban issues and explore solutions using AI and information and communication technology (ICT).
A 'living lab' literally means an 'experimental lab within everyday life'.
Instead of discussing urban issues in grand research facilities or special spaces, we use the everyday life of Ulsan as our lab.
From the traffic problems we encounter during our morning commutes to parking issues, safety in alleyways, environmental and energy concerns, and aging and welfare matters, we revisit problems we usually overlook.
Ulsan is not only a representative industrial city of South Korea but also a city that embraces the natural environments of the Taehwa River, East Coast, and Yeongnam Alps.
As a hub for the automotive, shipbuilding, and petrochemical industries, it is also a living city. Therefore, discussing Ulsan's smart city requires more than just implementing the latest technologies.
We need a smart city that reflects Ulsan's unique urban characteristics and the actual lives of its citizens.
The first workshop allowed citizens to share their everyday problems in Ulsan and discuss what smart services might be necessary in the future.
Rather than diving into complex technological discussions, the questions posed were quite simple:
“What inconveniences do we face while living in Ulsan?”
Starting from this question, citizens shared their experiences.
Some spoke of transportation and mobility issues, while others raised safety concerns.
Another group pondered environmental and energy issues, considering how digital technology could enhance citizens' convenience.
As these diverse experiences converged, we began to see Ulsan in a new light.
The starting point of a smart city is not technology but the experiences of its citizens.
Identifying the actual inconveniences faced by Ulsan's citizens is crucial for selecting the right technology to address those issues.
In this citizen living lab, we examined Ulsan's urban problems across four main areas:
1. AI & Digital
- Exploring how rapidly advancing AI and digital technologies can be integrated into citizens' daily lives.
2. Transportation & Mobility
- With Ulsan's vast urban space and industrial zones, addressing citizens' mobility and traffic issues is a significant challenge.
3. Energy & Environment
- There is a pressing need to address environmental and energy issues for the sustainable future of Ulsan as an industrial city.
4. Safety & Welfare
- How smart technology can protect citizens' safety and assist vulnerable groups is also a vital topic.
Ultimately, these four areas are interconnected and linked to citizens' lives.
Improved transportation leads to better living conditions, and a safer city transforms daily life.
Enhancing the environment and managing energy efficiently will also shape Ulsan's future.
AI and digital technology can serve as tools to connect all these changes.
What kind of smart city should Ulsan become?
This was the question I pondered most during the living lab.
A smart city unique to Ulsan cannot simply replicate services that have succeeded in Seoul or Busan.
Ulsan has its own urban challenges and lifestyle.
With industrial zones and residential areas coexisting, urban and rural areas also share space.
While there are natural environments like the Taehwa River National Garden, there are also industrial and logistics spaces centered around the sea and ports.
Given that the automotive, shipbuilding, and petrochemical industries have been the driving forces of urban growth, the connection between industry and citizens' lives is a distinct characteristic of Ulsan.
Thus, Ulsan's smart city must consider these unique traits.
We need to identify the technologies that are truly necessary for Ulsan.
For instance, a safety management system that reflects the characteristics of an industrial city, smart transportation services that ease citizens' mobility, smart environmental management that protects Ulsan's natural surroundings, and digital services that address aging and welfare issues.
Ultimately, Ulsan's smart city should prioritize the lives of its citizens over technology.
The most impressive aspect of this living lab was that citizens are not merely subjects of policy but active participants who experience urban issues firsthand and collaboratively develop solutions.
Smart city planning must involve listening to citizens' opinions and analyzing urban problems to derive smart services.
In the existing Ulsan smart city plan, processes for analyzing user requirements through citizen participation and expert surveys are included.
This citizen living lab continues this process by gathering citizens' voices and considering smart services that can be tangibly felt in their daily lives.
Most importantly, it was fascinating to see how different citizens' perspectives can lead to new ideas through discussion.
What may seem obvious to one person could be an inconvenience for another, and conversely, citizens might discover issues they hadn't considered through others' stories.
As citizens' experiences accumulate, discussions unfold, and ideas take shape, new services for Ulsan's future can emerge.
A 'smart Ulsan' must ultimately be a 'livable Ulsan'.
When we think of smart cities, we often envision cutting-edge technology.
However, participating in this living lab made me realize that the true meaning of a smart city is somewhat different.
A city where citizens can move more conveniently.
A city where everyone can live more safely.
A city that prepares for a sustainable future while protecting the environment.
And a city where necessary welfare services are quickly connected to those in need is what a smart city should be.
At the center of it all must always be the citizens.
Ultimately, the future of Ulsan is shaped by the voices of those who live there.
I, too, will continue to ponder the question, “What kind of city do I hope Ulsan will become?” as I participate in the ongoing processes that follow this first living lab.
I plan to examine what inconveniences I encounter on the streets I walk daily, what improvements I would like to see on my commute, and what smart services are essential for my neighborhood.
Perhaps the beginning of a smart city starts with very small questions.
“What is inconvenient for me as a resident of Ulsan?”
And the process of citizens collectively finding answers to that question is precisely what a living lab embodies.
The future of Ulsan is not something that is unilaterally created by someone; it is built through the collective contemplation and participation of its citizens.
I hope this citizen living lab becomes a meaningful first step toward making Ulsan a more convenient, safe, and sustainable city.
A Ulsan shaped by the voices of its citizens.
A smart city of Ulsan where people come first.
I look forward to the vision of Ulsan that we will create together in the future.
Source :https://blog.naver.com/ulsan_nuri/224358978605
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