Busan is good

Happy and Healthy Aging with My Neighbors: Groundbreaking Ceremony Held for the “Gaegum-dong Haha Center” in the Dangam–Gaegum Area under the 15-Minute City Initiative

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that it will break ground today (the 5th) on the Gaegum-dong Haha Center Development Project in the Dangam–Gaegum area, part of the 15-Minute City Happy Challenge initiative aimed at creating a complex cultural space for new-generation seniors.

To commemorate the groundbreaking of the Gaegum-dong Haha Center, a ceremony will be held today at 2:00 p.m. at 221 Gaegum-dong, with approximately 100 attendees including Mayor Park Heong-joon, National Assembly Member Lee Heon-seung, and local residents.

Located in a densely populated residential area of Gaegum 3-dong in Busanjin-gu, the Gaegum-dong Haha Center is a key anchor facility that residents can reach on foot within 15 minutes of their homes, representing a leading example of the people-centered 15-Minute City.

The project aims for completion in March 2027, with a total project cost of KRW 11.5 billion. The facility will be a building with one basement level and four above-ground floors, totaling 1,830 square meters in floor area, and will include activity spaces and club rooms for active seniors, an indoor artificial intelligence fitness space, reading areas, and learning spaces.

Busan Metropolitan City expects that the Gaegum-dong Haha Center will foster a cooperative community that connects all generations by enabling older adults to share their experience, knowledge, and life wisdom with children, youth, and other members of the local community through social contribution activities, ultimately enhancing residents’ quality of life.

The city plans to support social participation and community activities among the new senior generation at the Gaegum-dong Haha Center, strengthen local communities, and provide leisure and cultural spaces along with related programs to help reduce cultural access gaps between generations.

Meanwhile, since 2023, Busan Metropolitan City has been developing and operating Haha Centers to ensure happy and healthy later lives with good neighbors close to home. As the baby boomer generation enters old age, there is a growing need for differentiated spaces and programs distinct from conventional senior welfare centers and senior community halls.

Currently, the city operates five Haha Centers in Haeundae-gu, Sasang-gu, Saha-gu, Dongnae-gu, and Geumjeong-gu, and is promoting the development of an additional seven centers in Dong-gu, Gijang-gu, Saha-gu, Seo-gu, Jung-gu, Busanjin-gu, and Buk-gu.

Mayor Park Heong-joon is expected to state, “The accumulation of changes that make daily life more convenient and warmer close to home is the very competitiveness of a global hub city,” adding, “I hope the Haha Center will become a hub of a cooperative community where citizens communicate with their neighbors and rely on one another.”