Sharing City Seoul

Description

1. DaYe Jung:

"Since the declaration of Sharing City, Seoul has been one of the pioneers on city-driven sharing movement. The current mayor Won-Soon Park, whose background is from non-profit social sector, is very much eager to realize transparency and citizen engagement through sharing resources of the city.

Seoul recently launched a website called the Information Communication Agora(정보소통광장). On this website, citizens can view almost every administrative document and worksheet within Seoul city government (except ones containing personal information and confidential materials). What’s most remarkable is the the system behind the website. That is, when the civil servants create documents for confirmation, they send them to their seniors, the Information Communication Agora automatically brings this process to the public on the site. The General public can access to these documents and worksheets, even those still being processed.

Seoul city is expecting this will increase the transparency of the city dramatically, and become the foundation of active participation of citizens on civic betterment." (http://www.collaborativeconsumption.com/2013/11/22/seoul-shares-administrative-documents-with-public-even-in-process/)

2. By Cat Johnson:

"One of the great megacities of the world, Seoul, South Korea is positioning itself to be a model city for sharing. A new, city-funded project called Sharing City, Seoul aims to bring the sharing economy to all Seoul citizens by expanding sharing infrastructure, promoting existing sharing enterprises, incubating sharing economy startups, utilizing idle public resources, and providing more access to data and digital works.

Created in September of 2012 as part of the Seoul Innovation Bureau’s plan to solve social, economic and environmental problems in innovative ways, the Sharing City is a move to better the lives of Seoul citizens through sharing. It’s also a way to maximize the city’s resources and budget.

The goal of the Sharing City is to create jobs and increase incomes, address environmental issues, reduce unnecessary consumption and waste, and recover trust-based relationships between people. According to Kim Tae Kyoon, director of Seoul’s Social Innovation Division, the recovery of a sense of community is an important aspect of the project.

“The Sharing City not only creates new jobs, increases income and efficiently uses resources,” he says, “but it will reproduce communities that disappeared, due to rapid urbanization and industrialization, in a modern mode using information technologies and social networking services.”

With more than 10 million people living within 234 square miles, Seoul is in a good position to demonstrate the benefits of tech-enabled sharing. It’s one of the most populous cities in the world and one of the most connected. It has a highly-developed tech infrastructure, widespread public wifi, and 60% of South Koreans own a smartphone.

Seoul also faces serious challenges. Overpopulation and urbanization have led to housing, transportation and parking shortages, pollution, and resource overuse. These are issues that other municipalities face, but they’re amplified by Seoul’s population density. The Seoul government, led by Mayor Park Won-soon, who has a history of social activism and innovative problem-solving, has embraced the sharing economy as a way to remedy some of these issues and is taking a proactive approach to utilizing and growing the city’s sharing infrastructure.

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The city has also committed to supporting sharing in the digital realm. Creative Commons Korea (CCK) is an instrumental partner in the city’s plan to share information and resources about the Sharing City project. The organization created and powers a newly launched online portal called ShareHub that serves to educate and inform citizens about the Sharing City, share news about the sharing economy and provide a directory of sharing services.

“The directory will hopefully provide an opportunity for discovery,” says full-time Creative Commons Korea activist Diane DaYe Jung. “People will have the services at their fingertips and it will be more convenient for them look up what they want and need." She adds, “hopefully, we’ll get people’s attention and let them see how sharing is convenient and more reasonable than traditional consumption...”

Working with CCK also ensures that the sharing spirit extends to digital works including art, photos and public data." (http://www.shareable.net/blog/is-seoul-the-next-great-sharing-city)

Characteristics

The Sharing Economy Agenda

By Cat Johnson:

"Below are the key actions the city is taking, all part of a comprehensive plan that encompasses public awareness, business incubation, new regulation, and mobilization of the city's underutilized assets:

• Vetting and designating sharing nonprofits and corporations - By putting the city's stamp of approval on select sharing services, the city builds the public's trust in the sharing economy and introduces citizens to proven and trusted sharing services.

• Promoting sharing enterprises - City-wide promotion of sharing enterprises generates buzz and strengthens the public's perception of the Sharing City as something that crosses demographic boundaries.

• Publicizing Seoul’s brand as the Sharing City - Branding Seoul as one of the great cities for sharing is a powerful way to attract international attention, accelerate the city's sharing economy and position the city as a forward-thinking hub of innovation.

• Subsidizing the expenses of 10 sharing enterprises with 250 million won (U.S. $240,000, EUR 180,000). Providing 10 sharing enterprises with the funding to either launch or scale up their platform gives the enterprises a bit of financial breathing room to focus on building or enhancing their service.

• Incubating approximately 20 sharing startups with office space, consultation, and subsidies. Providing space, guidance and some funding to sharing startups will allow businesses to take their service to the next level and the city to support innovative ideas and thinkers.

• Creating a Seoul Sharing Promotion Committee made up of representatives from a variety of sectors including academic, legal, press, welfare, transportation and more. Having a team of representatives from numerous sectors who are all on board with the Sharing City plan is a good way to extend the reach of the sharing economy, make sure that it's being promoted appropriately in the various sectors and ensure that sharing is part of the discussion when decisions within those sectors are being made.

• Creating an International Sharing City Conference - Creating a Sharing City Conference further brands Seoul as an innovative locale and provides other municipalities from around the world a chance to see a sharing city plan in action.

There's more. Officials are also working to correct obstructive statutes or systems and facilitate communication between sharing enterprises and the central government. The Social Innovation Division will handle sharing-related civilian proposals and requests.

In addition, the city is introducing a 492 vehicle car sharing service; opening select government parking lots and municipal buildings to the public during off-hours and idle days; connecting senior citizens who have extra rooms with students who need a room; installing tool libraries and shared bookshelves in communities throughout the city; and more.

Sharing enterprises chosen for city support include home-stay platforms Kozaza and Labo Korea; Woozoo, a company that remodels old houses into shared houses; Wonderlend and Billi, companies that facilitate the lending and borrowing of idle goods; car sharing service SoCar; Kiple, a children’s clothing exchange; The Open Closet, a company that distributes donated suits to young job seekers; the Living and Art Creative Center, a creative writing and art education space; and Zipbob, a meal sharing platform." (http://www.shareable.net/blog/is-seoul-the-next-great-sharing-city)