Hwaseong City Receives Excellence Award in Balanced Development at '2024 Compact City Awards'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Lee Su-won] Hwaseong City received the Excellence Award in the 'Balanced Development category' of the '2024 Compact City Awards' held on the 5th at the International Conference Hall of the Korea Press Center.

The '2024 Compact City Awards' are hosted by Chosun Ilbo and sponsored by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, among others. The awards recognize and honor outstanding local governments that have proposed models for solving urban issues and fostering sustainable urban space development in response to population decline, urban hollowing, and increasing single-person households.

Hwaseong City, which received the Excellence Award in the Balanced Development category, pursued 'Botanic Garden Hwaseong' as a key policy initiative to achieve balanced development of high-quality leisure and culture for 1 million citizens. The city was recognized for its contributions to inclusive balanced development as envisioned by the Compact City through phased implementation of projects including ▲construction of an exhibition greenhouse at Yeoul Park, a landmark in the eastern region ▲remodeling of the Botanic Garden (Korean Wildflower Arboretum) in the western region, and ▲public garden projects in the eastern region through renewal of existing hub parks.

Meanwhile, the awards ceremony honored a total of 7 local governments across 4 fields, with the two categories of Future Cities and Balanced Development each divided into specific sections including policy and technology.

Deputy Mayor Son Im-sung of Hwaseong City stated, "This award demonstrates that Hwaseong City is actively addressing various imbalances resulting from quantitative growth through various residential and urban development projects," and added, "As Hwaseong City prepares for the launch of its special status city in January next year, we will implement sustainable policies to improve the quality of life for 1 million citizens based on balanced development between the east and west regions."