South Chungcheong Province holds first shared-property best-practices competition

South Chungcheong Province held the first Shared Property Best Practices Competition at the South Chungcheong Provincial Library on Wednesday — the first such provincial-municipal contest in the country — to promote the active use and increased value of shared public assets.

Shared property has long been viewed primarily as something to be preserved and maintained, but there is growing recognition of the importance of proactive asset management: identifying idle or underused properties and repurposing them as community amenity facilities or spaces that can help revitalize local economies.

For this year's inaugural competition, 11 cases submitted by cities and counties went through written and presentation reviews, from which three were selected as the final outstanding examples.

The top prize went to Hongseong-gun's rural care village project, which converted a closed school into a care facility for elderly residents and a cultural welfare space for the broader community. The project was highly praised for raising the utilization of idle shared property and for its sustainability and practicality — including job creation through rural welfare and care services.

The excellence award went to Asan's project to build a landmark integrated control tower for shared-property management, while Yesan-gun received an encouragement award for its traditional liquor experience complex developed from a closed school.

Judging focused on four criteria: creativity in shared-property use, fiscal revenue and cost-reduction effects, contribution to resident welfare and local economic revitalization, and the project's sustainability and potential for wider replication.

Cities and counties drew attention by presenting a range of cases in which they either improved existing shared-property management practices or found new uses for idle assets, treating shared property as a genuine local resource.

The province plans to share the winning cases with cities and counties and to continue expanding efficient and proactive shared-property management through the publication of a best-practices compendium and broader case dissemination.

"Shared property is not simply something to hold and manage — it is an important public asset that can raise the quality of life for residents and drive regional development," said Hwang Chim-hyeon, director general of autonomous administration at South Chungcheong Province. "We will work to actively uncover creative ideas from the field, enhance the value of shared property, and channel that into strengthening local finances and revitalizing regional economies."