Busan is good

Children’s Voices Shape the Future of Busan at Citizen Forum on Building a Child-Friendly City

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Busan Metropolitan City, led by Mayor Chun Jae-soo, announced that it will hold the Citizen Forum for the Establishment of the Third Basic Plan (2027–2030) for a Child-Friendly City tomorrow (July 4) at 2:00 p.m. in the Grand Conference Room on the first floor of City Hall, with approximately 100 participants, including children, adolescents, and other citizens.

The City became the first metropolitan city in Korea to receive UNICEF Child Friendly City certification in 2019 and renewed its certification in 2025. Since then, it has taken the lead in building a child-friendly city where children’s rights are protected by establishing a new basic plan every four years.

The forum has been organized as part of the research project currently being conducted by the Busan Women and Family and Lifelong Education Institute to establish the Third Basic Plan for a Child-Friendly City. It aims to directly incorporate the voices of children and citizens into the basic plan, which will set the direction of Busan Metropolitan City’s child-friendly policies for the next four years (2027–2030).

In particular, children and adolescents, who are the primary beneficiaries of these policies, will participate directly to freely propose policy ideas from their own perspectives. Parents and other citizens will also join the discussions to share their views.

Participants will be divided into groups covering the six key areas of a Child-Friendly City—play and culture, participation and respect, family environment, educational environment, safety and protection, and health and welfare—to discuss policies and improvement measures needed in Busan.

Busan Metropolitan City plans to carefully review the various ideas presented during the forum and actively incorporate them into the process of establishing the Third Basic Plan for a Child-Friendly City. The City will continue working to ensure that children’s participation leads to meaningful policy development and tangible change in building a child-friendly city.

Park Seol-yeon, Director General of the Women and Family Bureau, said, “The experiences and thoughts shared directly by children help us recognize perspectives that adults may otherwise overlook. We will faithfully reflect children’s voices in our policies and work together with our citizens to build Busan into a child-friendly city where every child can thrive.”