A sustainable public-private partnership model involving Gangnam gardeners and corporate volunteer teams — 450 plants, including roses, were planted on May 27
[The Herald Business = Senior Reporter Park Jong-il] Gangnam-gu (district mayor Jo Seong-myeong) this year launched a public-private partnership maintenance project in which residents and businesses work together to tend green spaces and rest facilities along the "Walkable Street" corridor between Gangnam and Sinnonhyeon stations.
The "Walkable Street" project links 10.6 kilometers of major thoroughfares — Dosandaero, Yeongdongdaero, Teheran-ro and Gangnam-daero — into a well-shaped circular pedestrian-friendly axis, transforming Gangnam's signature streets into spaces for walking, resting and leisure.
The district has begun rolling out its maintenance system on the completed 760-meter stretch of Gangnam-daero between Gangnam and Sinnonhyeon stations amid the broader project.
At the heart of the initiative is a volunteer-driven model in which residents and companies jointly tend the newly built streetscape. "Gangnam Gardeners" — residents who have completed professional horticultural training — serve as community volunteers, while corporate teams contribute as part of their ESG social responsibility activities. Unlike one-off cleanup drives, the program establishes a recurring weekly and monthly maintenance schedule covering green zones and rest facilities, aiming to create a sustainable model for managing the pedestrian environment.
Throughout April, 38 participants — 19 Gangnam Gardeners and 19 employees of Seongdo ENG — managed 13 green sections and 16 rest areas along Gangnam-daero one to three times a week. Work included collecting cigarette butts and litter from planted strips, removing dead trees, clearing weeds and trimming shrubs. Benches, tables and other rest facilities heavily used by foreign tourists and domestic visitors were cleaned on a regular schedule to keep the area in good condition.
On May 27, the district held a special "Community Gardening Day" event. Gangnam Gardeners and the Seongdo ENG volunteer team planted 300 miniature four-season roses and 150 Shasta daisies in the street's planted strips. The event gave residents and businesses a direct hand in shaping the streetscape while fostering a shared sense of responsibility for public space.
The district expects the project to deliver tangible improvements to the pedestrian environment beyond aesthetics. Careful green-space management can help ease the urban heat island effect and reduce fine-dust levels, officials said, and residents and businesses jointly caring for public space is seen as an opportunity to strengthen community ties.
"A walkable street is not a project that ends once it is built — what matters more is how consistently we tend and maintain the finished space," district mayor Jo Seong-myeong said. "Starting with the Gangnam–Sinnonhyeon stretch, we will establish a sustainable pedestrian environment management system in which residents and businesses care for the urban environment together, and expand the dignified street culture that is uniquely Gangnam's."
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