Feature Gwangmyeong City Spreads Community Culture Blooming in Apartment Complexes Through 'Daily Sister City' Initiative

Gwangmyeong City (Mayor Park Seung-won) assesses that the 'Daily Sister City' project is bringing a breath of fresh air to exchanges among neighbors in multi-family housing complexes.

The 'Daily Sister City' is a project that supports residents living in the same apartment complex to naturally meet and exchange through shared interests and common issues in daily life, with residents themselves driving changes in community.

◇Expanding from 3 groups in 2024 to 19 groups in 2026…Community created and nurtured by residents

As of July 1, 2026, multi-family housing accounts for 89.7% of all residential types in Gwangmyeong City, establishing itself as the primary form of housing. However, this has led to reduced exchanges among neighbors and increased conflicts in daily life such as noise between floors.

The city supports resident-led community activities to address these daily issues through communication and exchange among neighbors. The initiative is based on the idea that rather than grandiose activities, small gatherings—sharing hobbies with neighbors, preparing festivals together, making food, and checking on each other's well-being—build trust among neighbors and lead to the power to solve problems together.

The Daily Sister City project has expanded in scale each year. It began with 3 groups in 2024, grew to 11 groups in 2025, and expanded to 19 groups in 2026. The budget also increased from 30 million won in 2024 to 80 million won each in 2025 and 2026.

The changes brought by the Daily Sister City are difficult to explain by numbers alone. The significance lies in how 'neighbors' naturally emerge in apartment complex spaces and relationships of living together gradually strengthen.

A representative example is the 'Hanulttari' group of Haemoroi Yeon Apartment, which participated in the Daily Sister City initiative in 2025.

The group leader, Mr. Lee, said, "One day while sitting alone on the apartment lawn and looking around, I thought there were more 'strangers' than 'neighbors,'" and added, "I decided to 'turn strangers into close neighbors,' so I organized a group with residents and participated in the Daily Sister City project."

◇From festivals, cultural arts, sharing to solving noise between floors…Changes in daily life created by neighbors

Afterwards, Mr. Lee prepared various programs with residents, including knitting, making basil pesto and sandwiches, and in-complex Chuseok events for the whole family, creating opportunities for neighbors to naturally meet.

Mr. Lee said, "Through the process of understanding each other and sharing hearts while preparing the event, walls between neighbors came down and smiles were exchanged even with small greetings. I felt the joy of communicating with new neighbors."

Kim, a resident who participated in the Chuseok event, said, "I first came out just to watch the event, but ended up laughing and chatting with my children on the lawn, and got to know the names of neighbors and exchange greetings with them."

As small exchanges among neighbors accumulate through the Daily Sister City, the foundation of community living together within apartments is also becoming gradually stronger.

This year, community activities are expanding beyond neighbor relationships to collectively solve daily problems occurring in apartments. Zi The Heritage 'Herihy!' opens a public discussion on noise between floors, and the Cheolsan Prugio Sky Chae resident representatives council conducts noise prevention campaigns to reduce conflicts among residents.

The Cheolsan Central Prugio resident representatives council is undertaking environmental practices in daily life such as collecting expired medicines, continuing activities by finding common issues that residents can address together.

◇Mayor Park Seung-won: "When people gather, the power to solve problems together emerges…We will expand community culture"

The city operates pre-consultation and vision-building workshops so residents can plan and sustain community activities themselves. This year, 184 residents from 19 groups in 15 complexes participated in vision-building workshops and directly established visions and community commitments for each group.

The city plans to expand community activities to multi-family housing complexes not yet participating in the Daily Sister City. From September to October, it will operate the 'Daily Sister City Field Workshop' to visit 4 complexes, inform them about the Daily Sister City project, and guide their participation.

In November, the city will hold a Daily Sister City Activity Results Sharing Session to share residents' activities and display photos and works, sharing the achievements to date together.

Mayor Park Seung-won of Gwangmyeong City said, "When small relationships of knowing neighbors and checking on each other's well-being accumulate, the power of solidarity emerges to solve problems that are difficult to solve alone. We will steadily support the Daily Sister City so that residents can naturally meet in their daily lives, care for each other's lives, and grow together, thereby expanding the community culture of living with neighbors."