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Seeing the City Through Children’s Eyes: “Kids Design Lab” to Shape the Future of Busan

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Busan Metropolitan City Mayor Park Heong-joon announced that, following Busan’s selection as the World Design Capital 2028 (WDC), the City will operate the Kids Design Lab to enable children—the future leaders of Busan—to view and engage with the city through Design Thinking.

The Kids Design Lab is a children-participatory design education program that helps children understand the core values of World Design Capital Busan 2028 at their level and offers a new way of looking at the city through children’s perspectives and questions. It also serves as a children’s member group within the Future Busan Design Group.

Participating children were formally appointed as members of the Kids Design Lab in October 2025, following the launch ceremony of the World Design Capital Busan Organizing Committee. Rather than being a one-time experience, the program is operated as a children’s design group that regularly engages in activities and reflects on the future of Busan together.

As one of the City’s citizen-participation programs, the Kids Design Lab is being piloted in two sessions (January 18 and February 1) and will be gradually expanded based on the outcomes of the pilot operation.

During the session held on January 18, participants explored the theme “Designing My Busan, Designated as the World Design Capital 2028 (WDC).” The program offered an opportunity to broaden participants’ perspectives on everyday life and the city, while also exploring Busan’s characteristics and potential through Design Thinking.

About 20 elementary school students and parents took part at Design Council Busan, where the program proceeded in the following order: introduction to World Design Capital Busan (WDC) and an icebreaking design workshop, group presentations, sharing of ideas, and reflections.

Children who participated in the program shared their impressions, saying, “Even things I usually passed by looked different,” and “It was fascinating to think about the future Busan where I will live.” Parents also responded positively, saying, “It made me look at the city again through my child’s eyes,” and “It was a meaningful time to communicate with my child through design.”

Based on the outcomes of the Kids Design Lab, the City plans to further enhance the program and continue developing it into a participatory design program that builds Busan’s future together with children.

Accordingly, on February 1, the City will operate an advanced Kids Design Lab session that deepens Design Thinking, featuring a design workshop in which children create questions and define problems on their own. Through this, participants will be provided with an experience of identifying inconveniences in daily life and urban issues firsthand and exploring directions for solutions.

The participating children will continue their design activities as members of the Future Busan Design Group by utilizing the summer and winter vacation periods. They also confirmed the future direction of their activities through the Meetup Day citizen-participation communication event held on January 23.

In addition, they are scheduled to take part in major events such as the World Design Capital (WDC) agreement ceremony on March 27.

Moon Jeong-ju, Director General of the Future Design Headquarters, stated, “The city seen through children’s eyes offers adults new questions and imagination.” He added, “The Kids Design Lab will serve as a starting point from which children’s curiosity and creative thinking can grow brightly and powerfully toward Busan’s future, and it will be a meaningful first step in viewing the city and policies anew through Design Thinking.”