Seoul Expands Its "Design Companionship" Initiative to Other Metropolitan Cities
- On March 27 (Thursday), Seoul signed an agreement with Busan, launching intercity collaboration through the "Design Seoul" initiative.
- The two cities will share accumulated design assets, capabilities, and policies to seek solutions to urban challenges through design.
-A joint workshop will be held in Busan from March 27th to 28th, featuring expert presentations, keynote lectures, and participation by public officials.
- "Through continued exchange and cooperation with Busan, we will lead innovation in urban design," Seoul city officials stated.
Seoul Expands "Design Seoul" Through Metropolitan Collaboration with Busan
Signing of the agreement on March 27, 2025 (Thursday)
Choi Inkyu, Director-General of Design Policy Bureau at the Seoul Metropolitan Government (left), Kim Yujin, Director-General of the Future Design Bureau at the Busan Metropolitan City(right)
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has signed an agreement with Busan to promote intercity collaboration under its "Design Seoul" initiative, marking the beginning of a broader metropolitan expansion.
From March 27 (Thursday) to March 28 (Friday), Seoul held a design policy exchange workshop at the Lavalse Hotel in Busan, attended by around 70 participants including urban design experts and public officials. During the workshop, the two cities formally signed an agreement to exchange design policies.
This agreement serves as a follow-up to the 「Seoul-Busan Mutual Cooperation MOU」signed in August 2023. It focuses on policy exchange and collaboration in three major areas: design policy, the design industry, and urban landscape.
Seoul has decided to expand its "Design Seoul" initiative to a broader metropolitan scale, recognizing that many urban challenges shared by cities can be addressed through design, and that there is strong demand for Seoul’s accumulated design assets and expertise.
Seoul’s design policies, represented by the "Design Seoul" initiative, have long served as exemplary models for other cities and provinces. In particular, Busan closely consulted with Seoul when establishing its Future Design Bureau in July 2023, benchmarking many of Seoul’s experiences.
In February, Seoul declared its support for Busan’s bid to be designated as the World Design Capital (WDC) for 2028, actively encouraging the advancement of design initiatives in other cities.
*Seoul itself was previously designated as the World Design Capital in 2010.
Seoul plans to actively support the advancement of urban design policies in Korea by promoting intercity collaboration through the sharing of design assets, development support, and broader expansion.
Urban design is a field that requires considerable time and effort to achieve development outcomes and to spread social effects. Over the years, Seoul has accumulated significant assets and achievements in areas such as institutional improvements and strategic planning in the design sector, the development of color systems and typefaces, standard design models, design for solving social issues and supporting vulnerable groups, fostering the design industry, and landscape design. Seoul plans to actively share these assets with domestic and international cities.
In particular, Seoul’s initiatives such as the Fun Design Chairs, the subway map design, and universal design projects—which have been recognized with international design awards—have attracted interest not only from Busan but also from various other cities. Seoul plans to actively support cities that need these initiatives.
Meanwhile, at the workshop, expert lectures, thematic presentations, and discussions were held, drawing enthusiastic responses and great interest from the participants.
Seoul presented key policies that have attracted significant interest from Busan, including Seoul Color and Seoul Light, support policies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the design industry, and urban landscape policies. Busan, in turn, introduced its major design policies that it is currently prioritizing.
In the expert lectures, Professor Choi, Sung Ho of Hanyang Cyber University delivered a presentation titled『Directions and Elements of Street Design for Urban Revitalization』and Ahn, Jangwon, CEO of IEUM Partners, introduced his talk『Emerging Busan ~ (Placemaking, Place Branding)』offering insights into the future direction of urban design.
Seoul and Busan plan to continue cooperating through design policy exchanges to address common issues faced by society and cities.
Choi Inkyu, Director-General of Design Policy Bureau at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, stated, "Design can go beyond merely beautifying a city aesthetically and serve as a means to solve the challenges that cities face. All design is ultimately for people, and the design assets that Seoul has built over time can shine even brighter when shared with other cities. Building on the exchange and cooperation initiated with Busan, we plan to further expand Seoul's role in intercity design collaboration."
※ References. Photos of the agreement signing ceremony and design policy exchange workshop
※ References. Materials related to Seoul’s designation as the World Design Capital in 2010
