'Removing Walls to Build Parking Lots to Ease Parking Shortage'

Suwon City announced on the 29th that it will launch the 'Green Parking' project this year, which involves removing walls from residential areas and creating parking lots in their place to solve parking shortages in neighborhoods.

The Green Parking project removes walls from houses or row houses in areas where roads are narrow and parking and traffic are difficult, and uses the space as parking lots. The project has the advantage of securing parking spaces while improving residential environments.

The city has secured 844 million won for this year's Green Parking project costs and plans to select one to two pilot sites in each of four district offices—Youngtong, Jangan, Gwonseon, and Paldal—within Suwon City and begin construction starting in July.

The project targets alleyways within residential areas that are designated as one-way roads (3-6 meters wide). Walls and gates will be removed, utility poles will be placed underground or relocated, and parking lots, gardens, and pedestrian paths will be installed in their place.

To address security concerns that may arise from the removal of walls, CCTV cameras will be installed on alleyways and around the houses participating in the project.

A city official stated, "The Green Parking project removes walls between neighbors and creates a green parking village with flowers and gardens to build happy neighborhood communities" and added that "the project can only succeed with voluntary participation from residents."

Meanwhile, since Seoul City introduced the Green Parking project in 2004, it has achieved significant results by removing walls from 9,350 houses and creating 16,771 parking spaces by last year. Some local governments facing difficulties in constructing public parking lots, which require an average of 50-60 million won in construction costs, have adopted this as a new solution to parking shortages.