Busan is good

Busan Shines in Paris with the 15-Minute City… Drawing Global Attention at the N-Minute City International Conference

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that it introduced the case of the 15-Minute City Busan to the world and attracted international attention at the “Towards Sustainable Urban Proximities” international conference, held for the first time this year in Paris, France.

The conference “Towards Sustainable Urban Proximities” was organized with major cities and world-renowned scholars to engage in in-depth discussions on proximity (N-Minute City) policies and sustainable urban development.

The event took place over two days, from September 4 to 5. Busan’s participation was made possible through an official invitation extended in March during the visit of Professor Carlos Moreno, the founder of the 15-Minute City theory, making Busan the only Asian city to attend the conference.

On the first day, September 4, Mayor Anne Hidalgo of Paris, UN-Habitat Executive Director Anaclaudia Rossbach, and other distinguished figures delivered opening remarks, followed by the Mayor’s Roundtable, attended by more than 300 participants, where leading cities implementing proximity policies shared their experiences.

Busan’s Vice Mayor for Future Innovation delivered a keynote presentation, introducing the background, progress, and future plans of the 15-Minute City policy as a model case for sustainable urban development.

Berlin (Germany), Łódź (Poland), Montería (Colombia), and other cities also presented their own successful applications of proximity policies.

On the second day, September 5, an academic exchange session was held with around 100 participants, consisting of research and case presentations by leading scholars on accessibility and proximity-related policies.

The Vice Mayor for Future Innovation presented key policies of the 15-Minute City Busan, including the Happy Challenge Neighborhood Creation Project and the Children’s Complex Cultural Space “Deullaknalak,” initiatives aimed at creating a Busan where people would want to live again if given the choice.

Particularly notable were Busan’s diverse and rapid initiatives, remarkable given the city’s large spatial and demographic scale. Among these, the establishment and purpose of the Haha Center drew significant attention.

In addition, world-renowned scholars, including Professor Li Wan of the University of Cambridge, presented research findings and case studies on the direction and necessity of proximity policy implementation.

Participants responded with surprise at how the 15-Minute City theory had been successfully realized in practice through Busan’s initiatives, and they reached a consensus on the need to expand exchanges among cities pursuing proximity-related policies.

Seong Heui-yeob, Vice Mayor for Future Innovation of Busan Metropolitan City, stated, “This conference has drawn worldwide attention to Busan’s 15-Minute City initiative as a model for sustainable urban development. We will strengthen cooperation with leading global cities to advance the policy of the ‘15-Minute City Busan, where citizens are happy’ with greater substance.”