Seoul's Seongbuk District is expanding its garden program beyond planting flowers and trees into a daily-life initiative that also offers reading, rest and cultural activities. The district is strengthening a participatory system in which residents tend and manage the gardens themselves. The aim is to turn gardens from places simply to look at into everyday spaces where neighbors meet and spend leisure time.
The district said on the 21st that it is launching the program, which it calls "Garden Phase 2." It marks a shift away from earlier policy centered on building gardens, toward how residents will use and continuously maintain them.
Two sites illustrate the approach: the Odong Water-Light Garden and the Odong Forest Library, both in Odong Neighborhood Park. The Odong Water-Light Garden is a water-themed garden built on about 2,000 square meters, using an existing concrete channel and rock slope to create a 126-meter stream, an ecological pond, a moss garden and a wall-fountain waterfall. The Odong Forest Library converted a disused timber-shredding site into a space for reading and rest. The district also plans to build a book rest area on Gaeunsan to add more places where residents can read and relax in nature.
Residents take part directly in maintaining the gardens. Seongbuk District has run a village gardener training course since last year, producing 39 graduates through the first half of this year. Another 20 people are taking the course in the second half. Graduates have gone on to create the Seongbukcheon Village Garden and a garden on the cafe terrace at the Arirang Cine Center, and to teach residents how to care for plants.
The district has also organized an event to mark the start of the program. Seongbuk District will hold a family garden festival, "Seongbuk Full Garden," on the 24th and 25th at Gaeunsan Neighborhood Park in Seongbuk District, Seoul. Garden concerts, hands-on programs, a garden library and forest recreation activities will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
At 2 p.m. on the 25th, a talk concert will be held under the theme "Urban Gardens Found in the Field — Adding Culture to Gardens." Seongbuk District Mayor Lee Seung-ro, University of Seoul professor Lee Soo-yeon and garden author Oh Kyung-ah will discuss how gardens are used and how residents can take part.
"A garden should be more than a place to admire flowers and trees. It should be an everyday space where residents read, rest and meet their neighbors," the mayor said. "Through 'Garden Phase 2,' which residents tend and care for themselves, we will add the values of culture and community to gardens so that anyone can enjoy nature close to home."