Seoul Institute holds results presentation for its ‘Small Research’ support program
Presentations include planned research on changes the pandemic has brought and will bring to urban space
On October 6, the Seoul Institute (Acting President Yoo Ki-young) held the results presentation for its 2021 ‘Small Research’ support program in the Institute’s main conference room.
Running continuously since 2012, the Small Research support program gives citizens the opportunity to research problems in their everyday lives directly, thereby uncovering fresh and diverse policy ideas from the public.
The event was a venue for sharing the results of 14 small but meaningful research projects (6 on assigned themes, 8 on open themes) that citizen researchers and the Seoul Institute’s relevant research staff discussed and carried out together over the past six months, and for proposing policies to solve the problems addressed.
In connection with the 2021 assigned theme, ‘The New Normal Era, Seoul’s New Vision,’ presentations were given on the results of research into △New Housing Standards and Floor-Plan Proposals for the New Normal Era △Measures to Support Small Business Owners and Manage Commercial Districts in Seoul in the With & Post COVID-19 Era △Changes the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Brought and Will Bring to Seoul’s Urban Space △Hyper-Local Seoul △Urban Regeneration Through Smooth Consumption of Agricultural Produce △Listening to the Voices of Children in the Climate Crisis, among others.
△‘New Housing Standards and Floor-Plan Proposals for the New Normal Era’ is research on residential space in response to the emergence of new housing trends in the post-COVID-19 new normal era. Focusing on the Echo Boomer generation, it examined changes in daily life within residential spaces, residential space preferences, and psychological changes toward residential spaces, and proposed new housing floor plans for the new normal era.
△‘Measures to Support Small Business Owners and Manage Commercial Districts in Seoul in the With & Post COVID-19 Era’ is research aimed at supporting small business owners suffering economic damage from the decline in commercial-district sales caused by COVID-19. Through an analysis of commercial-district sales in Seoul and an in-depth analysis of representative commercial districts, it proposed measures to support small business owners and manage the commercial-district environment in response to infectious-disease outbreaks.
△‘Changes the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Brought and Will Bring to Seoul’s Urban Space’ is research that forecasts changes in Seoul’s urban space resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and seeks urban-planning responses. By analyzing spatial data on Seoul by phase of the COVID-19 outbreak and listening to changes in the city and citizens’ opinions through on-site citizen surveys, it proposed directions for Seoul’s urban space in the post-COVID era.
Among the open-theme research projects, results were presented on △Post-COVID: The Need for and Usefulness of Shared Spaces △The Widening Academic Achievement Gap Caused by COVID △How Will Non-Face-to-Face Education Programs Be Sustained After COVID-19 Ends?, among others.
△‘Post-COVID: The Need for and Usefulness of Shared Spaces’ studies how to resolve the crisis facing shared spaces amid the non-face-to-face trend brought on by COVID-19. Through on-site surveys and interviews of shared spaces, it explored the current state of shared spaces by type—hard and soft—and sought directions for improvement, proposing sustainable directions for shared spaces.
△‘The Widening Academic Achievement Gap Caused by COVID’ studies the educational gap caused by COVID-19 as seen from the perspective of adolescents. By interviewing low-income adolescents about their perceptions of the educational gap as well as social inequality and discrimination, it proposed measures to ease the academic achievement gap among adolescents.
△‘How Will Non-Face-to-Face Education Programs Be Sustained After COVID-19 Ends?’ explored the sustainability of the non-face-to-face culture that spread due to COVID-19. By conducting interviews with operators and instructors of non-face-to-face education, it proposed measures to enhance the quality of non-face-to-face education and to support its operation.
In addition, the event introduced △a study on changes in space-use patterns driven by the subscription culture of the MZ generation △Is a Vegetarian Lifestyle Possible for University Students? △an analysis of disparities between Seoul’s districts based on a natural language processing model △expanding the range of items in recycling bins to boost waste recycling rates △a study on measures to expand participation in zero waste in everyday life.
Yoo Ki-young, Acting President of the Seoul Institute, said, “I believe the results of this ‘Small Research,’ grounded in citizens’ perspectives and experiences, will be of great help in preparing Seoul’s new vision in line with the new normal era.”