Seongdong-gu's Smart Smoking Booths Hit 10 Million Users!

Seongdong-gu's "Seongdong-type Smart Smoking Booth" — the district's flagship inclusive smart-governance initiative — has surpassed 10 million cumulative users in roughly three years and nine months of operation, the district said.

Seongdong-gu first piloted a smart smoking booth in front of the D Tower in Seongsu-dong in November 2022, then expanded to high-traffic areas, knowledge industry centers and major subway stations, bringing the total to 14 locations. Cumulative users reached about 9.61 million by the end of July, and steady daily traffic of around 1,000 visitors pushed the figure to about 10.03 million by the end of August.

The defining feature of the Seongdong-type Smart Smoking Booth is its powerful negative-pressure design, which prevents cigarette smoke from escaping outside even when the door is open.

Each booth is equipped with an advanced air-purification system that filters and exhausts harmful substances, a heating and cooling unit, a smart ashtray with automatic extinguishing and shredding functions, an emergency bell and a closed-circuit television camera, and an IPTV screen displaying subway schedules and district news — all designed to maximize user convenience and safety.

The booths have established themselves as an essential everyday facility, recording high usage rates at busy locations throughout the city center.

The booth above Exit 6 of Wangsimni Station sees more than 2,200 users on a typical weekday, making it the busiest location. The booth near Seoul Forest The Sharp, installed in November last year, also draws an average of about 2,000 visitors on weekdays.

The high usage rates have translated into a tangible reduction in secondhand-smoke complaints, a long-standing source of conflict in the city center. In the area around Seoul Forest The Sharp, where the arrival of new office tenants last year had worsened smoking-related grievances, complaints about secondhand smoke plunged to near zero after the booth was installed. In Seongsu-dong — densely packed with knowledge industry centers and commercial districts and heavily trafficked by pedestrians — complaints about street-level secondhand smoke also fell in areas where booths were placed.

Residents and local workers who have experienced the booths' benefits firsthand have been calling for additional installations. The district said it plans to review the performance of existing booths and assess demand by neighborhood as it considers a phased expansion.

Seongdong-gu District Mayor Yoo Bo-hwa said surpassing 10 million cumulative users was "a meaningful achievement showing that smart smoking booths can help non-smokers and smokers coexist and look out for each other in the city." She added that the district would "continue to pay close attention to the everyday inconveniences residents face and use smart technology to build an urban environment where everyone can live comfortably."