Seoul Mayor Oh calls for more benches citywide to help residents rest on the go

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has ordered a citywide expansion of benches and rest spaces, calling on officials to ensure residents can sit down and rest at any point during a walk as the city prepares for an aging society.

At a senior staff meeting Tuesday, Oh received a report that Seoul's benches, shade structures and other street furniture had won international design awards, then said benches where residents can comfortably rest "are still not enough" and issued the directive, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday.

He urged officials to go beyond simple seating by blending the city's "fun design" approach — which incorporates playful and aesthetic elements into public fixtures — with its "Seoul Without Loneliness" policy, creating spaces where residents can naturally meet and connect.

The city had already been moving in this direction. In August it issued a "Seoul Shaded Walking Rights Declaration," and in September it announced a pilot project to build shade and rest infrastructure along everyday streets.

The core of that project is to place seating or leaning spots within every five minutes of walking along routes that elderly residents and others with limited mobility use to reach subway stations, bus stops, markets and hospitals.

The city plans to complete a pilot "five-minute walking shelter network" on more than 10 routes by June next year. Narrow alleyways will receive foldable or wall-mounted benches, while slopes and leftover spaces will be fitted with leaning supports and shade structures.

The city is also upgrading the design of existing rest areas. Between 2022 and 2023, it installed 107 "Soul Drops" benches at Yeollin Songhyeon Green Square and Yeouido Han River Park. Those benches won main prizes at both the German iF Design Award and the Red Dot Design Award in 2023.

A rest facility called "Handeulhandeul," unveiled at Seoul Plaza last year, won a main prize at this year's Red Dot Design Award and was also installed at the Seoul International Garden Expo held at Seoul Forest. The city plans to expand these designer benches and outdoor rest facilities into both public and private spaces.

"A city's dignity is shaped not only by grand architecture but also by the design of the single bench or shelter a resident encounters every day," Oh said. "We must go beyond mere seating and develop spaces where people can rest comfortably, connect with one another and feel the city's appeal."

He added that officials should "actively secure the cooperation of autonomous districts to extend the rollout of benches across all of Seoul, and take careful steps to raise both residents' convenience and the city's overall dignity."