Busan is good

Busan Metropolitan City Hosts the 3rd Urban Design Innovation Forum: Promoting Administrative Innovation through a Creative Design Perspective

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Busan Metropolitan City Mayor Park Heong-joon announced that the 3rd Urban Design Innovation Forum will be held at 2 p.m. on October 27 at the City Hall International Conference Room.

This year’s forum was organized following Busan’s selection as the World Design Capital (WDC) 2028 and aims to incorporate creative design perspectives and brand thinking into the city’s overall administration. It targets employees from the city government, district and county offices, and regional public institutions.

The discussion forum, titled “Busan’s Aspirations through the Seongsu-dong Pop-up Phenomenon”, will consist of a keynote lecture and a Q&A session.

The keynote speaker, Choi Won-seok, CEO of Project Rent and author of Ultimately, Offline, is a communication and space planning expert who has established the “local pop-up phenomenon” in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. He will introduce how brands and content are transforming urban culture through local creative spaces.

Choi is also recognized as the first in Korea to introduce a Retail as a Service (RaaS) business model, which emphasizes experience over sales, leading a new retail paradigm where consumers perceive brands and products through experiential engagement rather than purchase.

In addition, Choi will highlight successful “pop-up space” cases—such as Ghana Chocolate House, Amazing Oat, and Basket Store—that have gained strong popularity among the MZ generation. He will explain how spaces themselves can become brands, brands can become urban destinations, and how these dynamics evolve into new modes of civic engagement.

Through this forum, Busan Metropolitan City expects to spread innovative design perspectives across all areas of public administration and enhance its capacity in public design policy.

Miji Ko, Director-General of the Future Design Headquarters, stated,
“The charm of a city ultimately comes from its people and spaces. Busan’s local brands will grow into sources of civic pride, and these spaces will, in turn, become reasons to visit again, creating a virtuous cycle of urban vitality.”