Suwon Citizens Identify 'Lack of Public Awareness' as Main Cause of Fine Dust

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon citizens identified 'fine dust source management', 'park and green space expansion', and 'support for eco-friendly transportation and infrastructure expansion' as urgent tasks to address for reducing fine dust.

Suwon City announced on December 12 that it had compiled results from an on-site poll held during the '2019 Urban Policy Citizen Planning Group Roundtable Discussion' held at Suwon Convention Center on the 8th regarding 'the causes and severity of fine dust' and 'urban planning directions to reduce fine dust'.

According to the poll results, citizens identified the biggest causes of fine dust as 'lack of public awareness in improving the fine dust problem' (28%), 'inadequate improvement measures for fine dust-generating facilities' (27%), and 'fine dust generation from automobiles' (17%).

Participants also presented opinions on 'urban planning directions to reduce fine dust'.

In the 'Urban and Environmental' category, 'rigorous management of major fine dust sources' (44%) was selected as the most urgent measure to address, followed by 'wind corridor creation and park and green space expansion' (29%) and 'expanded citizen participation through environmental monitoring and citizen education' (14%).

In the 'Architecture and Smart' category, 'creating green spaces during construction and providing pleasant pedestrian environments' ranked highest at 27%. 'Strengthened construction site regulations (fugitive dust management and recommending eco-friendly building materials)' accounted for 25%, and 'installation and use of smart equipment for fine dust reduction' was 18%.

In the 'Transportation' category, 'support for eco-friendly transportation such as electric and hydrogen vehicles and infrastructure expansion' was the highest at 31%. 'Establishment of convenient public transportation system' was 29%, and 'creation of walkable pedestrian environments and expansion of car-free streets' was 15%.

The city plans to actively reflect the opinions from the discussion in its major urban policies and fine dust-related projects going forward.