A garden where young workers can work, rest, and stay has been created around Seoul's Guro and Gasan Digital Complex (G-Valley). With green space added to an industrial complex whose park and green space ratio was effectively close to 0%, efforts to improve the work environment are now in full swing.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Wednesday that it had completed a 7,750㎡ "Street Forest Garden" around Digital-ro in Guro-gu. It is the first result of the "Garden Valley Project," which runs from this year through 2030 and aims to expand the green space that had been lacking within the industrial complex, creating an environment where young workers can work, rest, and stay.
G-Valley is a national industrial complex established in the 1960s, where about 160,000 young workers are currently employed at IT and venture companies. Due to a shortage of green space and rest areas, workers here have consistently voiced sentiments such as "I want to leave right after work."
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited the site that day and stressed, "An industrial complex with a 0% park and green space ratio can only become a place of burnout for young people." He added, "An environment where one can enjoy green space, culture, and art is not a choice but a matter of basic rights."
The Street Forest Garden created this time spans six routes including Digital-ro, with a total of about 180,000 plants such as zelkova trees, panicle hydrangeas, and flowering plants planted. Trees and shrubs were arranged three-dimensionally according to walkway conditions, and pocket gardens, planter-type gardens, nighttime lighting, and rest areas were also created to build a green space closely tied to daily life.
Starting with this, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to expand a total of 100,000㎡ of green space by 2030. Along with 40,140㎡ of Street Forest Gardens, it plans to phase in 60,909㎡ of "Shared Gardens" that redevelop aging public open spaces into gardens, with the aim of connecting the entire industrial complex into a green axis. In particular, the Shared Garden project will have the city support 70% of the project costs to encourage private participation.
In the second half of this year, an additional 10,410㎡ Street Forest Garden is scheduled to be created around Gasan Digital 1-ro in Geumcheon-gu, and next year about 20,000㎡ more of green space is set to be added along nine routes in the Guro and Geumcheon areas.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government believes this project will go beyond simple environmental improvement to strengthen the competitiveness of the industrial complex. As talent attraction and the residential environment have emerged as key factors in the advanced industry era, the government judges that expanding green space and rest areas can serve as a foundation for drawing in both companies and talent at the same time. In addition, effects on improving the urban environment, such as mitigating the heat island phenomenon and reducing fine dust, are also expected.
Mayor Oh said, "The Garden Valley Project is an urban innovation that transforms the industrial complex from a space for work into a space where citizens stay and gain vitality." He added, "We will transform G-Valley, once synonymous with a gray city, into a 'heart of green innovation and quality of life' where young people's inspiration comes alive."
