Newly installed address board in Daehyun Culture Park, a park in the vicinity of Ewha Womans University. Photo by Choi Su-hui.
Newly installed address board in Daehyun Culture Park, a park in the vicinity of Ewha Womans University. Photo by Choi Su-hui.

 

Seodaemun-gu recently administered road name addresses and installed address boards to 95 parks consisting of 36 children’s parks, nine small parks, two culture parks, and 48 village courtyards in the district. Prior to this project, the road name address, which includes the road name and the building number, was not given to small parks. This was mainly due to the regulation that road name addresses were only entitled to buildings and not land. Therefore, Seodaemun-gu’s project of entitling road name addresses to small parks is the first attempt on a nationwide scale.


Daehyun Culture Park, Baramsan Children’s Park, and Dongeurami Rest Area, which are parks in the vicinity of Ewha Womans University, now have a road name address as well as an installed address board.


Regarding this novel innovation, Ewha Voice interviewed Han Soo-won, the action officer of Seodaemun-gu Land Registration Office’s Road Name Address Team.


Han explained that Seodaemun-gu initiated the project because they noticed the absence of road name addresses in parks which are located in residential areas and are facilities that are closely related to people’s lives and safety. Clearly it was necessary to establish a guidance system that clarifies location information such as the boundary of a park and its main entrance.


Seodaemun-gu made this proposal to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security and it was accepted in May. After several months of progression, the district announced the completion of the project on Sept. 7.


“As this was the first-ever attempt in entitling addresses on small parks, we had difficulty setting various standards that could be applied nationwide and had friction when consulting with related agencies,” Han said. “No additional cost incurred in the process of giving parks a road name address and establishing space information such as the location, boundary, and entrance of the park. However, it cost about 19 million won to install address boards.”


Han mentioned that solar LED address boards were installed in children’s parks while axial light address boards were installed in the remaining parks. The LED type address board works in an eco-friendly manner by conserving solar power during the day and using it to operate LED during the night. As that makes the visibility of solar LED address boards superior at night, the district decided to install those in children’s parks, where safety is prioritized.


Park added that he hopes road name addresses and address boards have positive effects on keeping the security of the vicinity.


“I anticipate our project to bring safety to the residents of Seodaemun-gu and Ewha students living near the school,” he said. “Not only will it improve the convenience of finding one’s way, but the accurate location indication will also make immediate reporting and corresponding control possible in case of emergencies.”


Park Su-kyeong, a sophomore from the Division of Communication & Media, who resides near the school’s main entrance shared her thoughts on the recent change in Seodaemun-gu parks.


Living in a one bedroom apartment near the school, Park noticed that compared to streets in front of other universities, darkness comes faster in the streets in front of Ewha. She found out the reason was because the front of the school is a business district where beauty road shops and clothing stores account for a large portion rather than pubs and entertainment facilities.


“In a dark environment, it is difficult to perceive where you are especially when standing in between alleyways,” Park said. “It happens to be that parks in Seodaemungu like Baramsan Children’s Park are located in between alleyways. Therefore, a sign notifying the exact location of where I am can be of great help in emergencies. I hope more people become aware of the address boards in parks so that the district’s effort does not result in a merely budget-spending black hole.”


According to Han, Seodaemun-gu shared their pilot project with the Ministry of Public Administration and Security and local governments nationwide for other districts to learn from their example.


By the end of this year, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security plans to establish address information to 12,600 small parks and children’s parks across the country and also provide the information to navigation systems.

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