Completing 'Happy Lives' for Suwon Citizens Through the Suwon Great Transformation

"The ninth mayoral term will be evaluated by how much citizens' lives have changed."

At the 'Ninth Mayoral Term Suwon Great Transformation Vision Report' held at the Suwon Convention Center on the 1st, Mayor Lee Jae-joon of Suwon Special City, standing before citizens, repeatedly emphasized "changes in citizens' lives." He presented specific measures on how to improve citizens' lives further and promised, "I will complete the Suwon Great Transformation through changes in citizens' lives."

The ninth mayoral term's vision for Suwon Special City is 'Completing the Suwon Great Transformation'

The vision for Suwon Special City's ninth mayoral term is 'Completing the Suwon Great Transformation.' Two years ago, Mayor Lee Jae-joon declared the 'Suwon Great Transformation' and proclaimed during the ninth mayoral term that he would "complete the Suwon Great Transformation."

Suwon City has established a four-year plan with citizens to realize the completion of the Suwon Great Transformation. The Suwon Great Transformation Promotion Team, which launched in June, reviewed 445 citizens' proposals and ninth mayoral term pledges over 80 days, gathered citizens' opinions, and through repeated deliberation, set the direction for Suwon City's ninth mayoral term. The city examined finances, systems, departmental roles, and implementation methods to create a plan with field applicability, expertise, and feasibility.

The direction for Suwon City during the ninth mayoral term is clear: to implement and complete the changes begun in the eighth mayoral term so they translate into changes in citizens' lives. The four-year plan is an implementation blueprint to realize the completion of the Suwon Great Transformation in citizens' daily lives.

Mayor Lee Jae-joon promised to create a 'stable living livelihood city,' a 'cultural tourism co-prosperity city,' and a 'cutting-edge science research city' to reduce citizens' living expenses, ensure money circulates in the region, and increase quality jobs. These are the three major policy goals for the ninth mayoral term. To realize these goals, the city will pursue 60 policy tasks and 140 detailed projects.

Reducing the burden of three major living expenses: transportation, education, and healthcare

The first policy goal, 'stable living livelihood city,' is to reduce the burden of three major living expenses—transportation, education, and healthcare—so citizens can afford lower living costs. The city will provide bus fare support for youth, seniors, and people with disabilities, and introduce free shuttle buses connecting public facilities and tourist destinations. Free online lectures will be expanded, and family care allowances will be provided.

The city will concentrate on reducing costs in areas closely related to citizens' lives—transportation, care, health, and leisure—so residents feel their lives in Suwon become lighter and more secure.

According to research by the Suwon City Policy Research Institute, a five-member household eligible to receive all three living expense support programs can reduce their annual living expenses from 20.99 million won to 10.49 million won.

A city where tourists visit, spend money, and return

The second policy goal, 'cultural tourism co-prosperity city,' is to transform Suwon into a destination tourism city and inject vitality into the regional economy through tourist spending. The goal is to create a cultural tourism city where people come, stay, spend money in the region, and return to visit again.

The city will cooperate with seven cities along the route of King Jeongjo's royal procession to foster the 'King Jeongjo's Royal Procession K-Culture Road' based on the royal procession as a representative global cultural brand and develop it into a true global content.

Tourists' footsteps extending to traditional markets and alley shops, with vitality returning to the regional economy, represent what a cultural tourism co-prosperity city looks like. The standards for measuring tourism success will also change. Rather than tourist numbers, the focus will be on "how long tourists stay, enjoy themselves, spend money, and what value they leave in the region."

The city will establish a 'destination tourism ecosystem' by connecting Hwaseong Fortress, cultural resources, festivals, performances, gastronomy, and nighttime content so tourists stay longer and their visits extend to alley shops and traditional markets.

A city where research and enterprises gather and quality jobs are created

The third policy goal, 'cutting-edge science research city,' is to create a structure where research and enterprises gather in Suwon, investments continue, and resulting growth returns as quality jobs and opportunities for citizens.

A cutting-edge science research city is one where research in Suwon becomes technology, technology leads to enterprise, and growing enterprises create quality jobs. Based on the solid foundation of world-class enterprises, universities, and research talent in Suwon, the city plans to strengthen its future growth foundation.

The city will proceed without interruption on the Tapdong Innovation Valley and Suwon R&D Science Park projects and make an all-out effort to receive final designation as an Economic Free Zone next year. The Suwon Enterprise New Light Fund will be expanded to a scale of 1 trillion won to foster 1,000 youth startup companies.

Organizational restructuring implemented to realize three major goals

To realize the three major policy goals without interruption, Suwon City implemented organizational restructuring as of October 1st. The city established a new 'Living Expense Reduction Task Force' to implement policies that reduce living costs such as education, healthcare, and transportation expenses, and created a new 'Global Festival Division' to build administrative infrastructure for taking a leap toward becoming a global tourism city.

Additionally, to actively utilize Suwon's favorable location conditions for development as a cutting-edge industry research city, the city reorganized the 'AI Smart Policy Bureau' into the 'Advanced Industry AI Bureau.'

Mayor Lee Jae-joon presented three principles of city governance to complete the Suwon Great Transformation: listening and communication, citizen engagement, and future responsibility. Listening and communication means asking citizens and beginning policy from their voices. The city will examine voices and field conditions, data and expert analysis together, reflect them in policy, and share implementation results.

Citizen engagement means evaluating success by how much citizens' lives actually change. The focus is on how much citizens' time and costs are reduced and how much their lives improve. Future responsibility means ensuring that today's choices and investments lead to Suwon's future.

Mayor Lee Jae-joon stated, "The value of policy can be confirmed through changes in citizens' daily lives," and pledged, "I will pursue the three major policy goals without interruption, reduce citizens' living costs, ensure money circulates in the region, and increase quality jobs. I will also complete the Suwon Great Transformation together with citizens."