Seoul will install more benches and rest areas along alleys and sloped streets so pedestrians can stop and rest along the way. Foldable or wall-mounted benches will go on narrow sidewalks, and rest spots will also be added on paths leading to subway stations, markets and hospitals. The aim is to ease the burden of walking for older adults and others with limited mobility as the country's population ages, and to create a walking environment where residents can comfortably linger in daily life.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon instructed city officials at a management meeting on Oct. 20 to keep adding benches across the city and to diversify their designs according to the characteristics of each site and user demand. After hearing a report that Seoul's benches and shade canopies have drawn favorable reviews abroad, Oh said benches where residents can rest while walking remain in short supply, stressing the need for more rest spaces to prepare for an aging society.
The city plans to expand benches not only in parks and plazas but also along the alleys and slopes residents pass through every day. Key examples include the Seoul Shaded Walking Rights Declaration in August of this year and a pilot project to build shade and rest infrastructure along neighborhood streets, announced in September. The goal is to create what the city calls rest stepping stones, allowing older adults and others with limited mobility to sit or lean every five minutes of walking on the way from home to local destinations.
The city will give priority to paths and slopes leading to subway stations, bus stops, markets, hospitals and welfare facilities, and plans to build a pilot five-minute walking rest network on 10 or more routes by June 2027. Where sidewalks are narrow, it will install foldable benches or wall-mounted benches attached to buildings and retaining walls, along with facilities where people can briefly lean. The city is also reviewing plans to use leftover space at road corners and around on-street parking lots, or to combine seating and awnings with street trees and flower beds.
Some sections will be built as walking rest yards that combine rest, exercise and community exchange. Stretching equipment will be placed along walking and running routes, and waterside areas will get rest spots with views of the water. The city also plans to connect nearby village yards and small parks so residents can naturally meet and talk.
Seoul is also pursuing a Fun Design program that applies creative designs to benches and rest areas. The 107 Soul Drops benches installed at the Open Songhyeon Green Plaza and Yeouido Hangang Park in 2022 and 2023 won awards at Germany's iF Design Award and the Red Dot Design Award. In 2024, the city unveiled 27 types across eight bench models whose colors and sizes can be changed depending on where they are installed.
The city is also expanding rest spaces where people can lie down or take in the surrounding scenery from gently rotating structures. Haneul Haneul, a lie-down rest structure at Ttukseom Hangang Park, and Handeul Handeul, a gently rotating rest structure at Seoul Plaza, are leading examples. Handeul Handeul won a Red Dot Design Award this year and was also installed at the Seoul Forest International Garden Show. Working with Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Seoul plans to introduce Fun Design structures at 13 housing development sites in the city by 2029.
Oh stressed that benches and rest areas should develop beyond simple rest facilities into spaces where neighbors naturally communicate, incorporating the intent of the city's Seoul Without Loneliness policy. "A city's dignity is shaped not only by grand buildings but also by the design of every single bench and rest spot residents encounter each day," Oh said. "We must develop them into spaces where residents can rest comfortably, communicate with one another and feel the city's appeal."