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Busan Metropolitan City Begins “Urban Emptying Project” Around Sasang Station… Advancing “Busan, World Design Capital 2028” Through Public Space Innovation

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Busan Metropolitan City, under Acting Mayor Kim Kyung-duk, announced that it will begin construction tomorrow (May 7) on the “Urban Emptying Project” aimed at improving the pedestrian environment and innovating the urban landscape around Sasang Station, while fully launching urban space innovation efforts to realize “Busan, World Design Capital 2028.”

The “Urban Emptying Project” targets a 658-meter section around Sasang Station, a major transportation hub in western Busan, and aims to reorganize the area into a pedestrian-oriented, pleasant, and orderly urban space by improving excessively installed public facilities.

A total of 248 public facilities installed by 25 organizations, including the National Police Agency and Busan Transportation Corporation, are currently concentrated within the area, and concerns have continuously been raised regarding pedestrian inconvenience and the deterioration of the urban landscape.

Busan Metropolitan City collaborated with related agencies to conduct a comprehensive survey and functional reassessment of public facilities and established a systematic improvement plan.

The city plans to improve 210 facilities, accounting for 84.7 percent of the total 248 public facilities.

The improvement plan includes the removal of 56 unnecessary facilities, the integration of 7 similar or redundant facilities, and the improvement of 147 deteriorated or underperforming facilities.

This project serves as a practical implementation of the core values of “Busan, World Design Capital 2028” — “qualitative transformation of urban spaces” and “human-centered design” — by improving major pedestrian inconvenience factors and enhancing the usability of public spaces.

First, in the pedestrian bottleneck areas near Exit 5 of Sasang Station and in front of the Sasang Intercity Bus Terminal, unnecessary facilities such as flower beds, bicycle racks, bollards, and signboards will be improved, while the existing 7-meter-wide crosswalk will be expanded to 14 meters to dramatically improve pedestrian flow.

In the area around Exit 3 of Sasang Station, spaces previously underutilized due to garbage accumulation and other issues will be improved to create a more pleasant pedestrian environment, thereby enhancing the city’s image and increasing public satisfaction.

In addition, the circular subway ventilation structure in front of the Sasang Intersection crosswalk, which has been identified as an obstacle to pedestrian movement, will be relocated to improve both pedestrian safety and spatial usability.

The project will also revitalize the city by transforming spaces focused solely on movement into places where citizens can stay and communicate.

Public spaces around Exit 6 of Sasang Station will be redesigned from simple passageways into “meeting places” where citizens can gather and communicate, thereby increasing urban vitality.

At the same time, the city will secure pedestrian pathways, consolidate and streamline facilities, and apply integrated design principles to improve the urban landscape, implementing a Busan-style urban design strategy that enhances spatial value through “emptying.”

Busan Metropolitan City views this project as a representative example of urban space innovation being promoted in preparation for “Busan, World Design Capital 2028,” and expects the initiative to expand throughout the city in the future.

During construction, the city plans to minimize inconvenience to citizens through phased construction and thorough safety management measures.

Upon completion of the project, the area around Sasang Station is expected to be reborn as a “walkable and welcoming urban space” with improved pedestrian convenience and spatial usability.

Moon Jeong-ju, Head of the Future Design Headquarters of Busan Metropolitan City, stated, “The ‘Urban Emptying Project’ is a key strategy of ‘Busan, World Design Capital 2028,’ aimed at removing unnecessary elements and reorganizing urban spaces around citizens.” He added, “Beginning with the area around Sasang Station, we will innovate urban spaces throughout Busan and advance into a world-class design city.”