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Busan Metropolitan City Takes First Step Toward Transforming Its Future Urban Spaces with Inaugural Busan Urban Space Week

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Chun Jae-soo) announced that it will host the inaugural Busan Urban Space Week at Busan City Hall, Pusan National University, and other venues through October 31.

Held for the first time in 2026 under the theme "Shaping Our City Together," Busan Urban Space Week aims to share a vision for future urban spaces that will help establish Busan as a maritime capital and a central city in the southeastern region. The event will also bring together urban planning experts and citizens to explore directions for sustainable urban development.

The event is jointly hosted and organized by Busan Metropolitan City, the Korea Planning Association, the Korean Association of Professional Urban Planners, and the Urban Design Institute of Korea. A total of eight programs will be offered, including conferences, seminars, workshops, and exhibitions of graduation projects.

At the opening ceremony, scheduled for 2 p.m. today (October 26) in the Grand Conference Room at Busan City Hall, Busan Metropolitan City and three professional urban planning organizations will reaffirm their commitment to cooperation in transforming Busan's urban spaces through the "Joint Declaration on the Vision for Future Urban Spaces."

The declaration will be attended by Kim Kyung-duk, Vice Mayor for Administrative Affairs of Busan Metropolitan City; Kwon Il, President of the Korea Planning Association; Ahn Sang-hoon, President of the Korean Association of Professional Urban Planners; and Oh Se-gyu, President of the Urban Design Institute of Korea.

The joint declaration is particularly significant as it marks the beginning of cooperation between Busan Metropolitan City and professional urban planning organizations to share a vision for the future urban spaces of Busan as a maritime capital and jointly explore directions for advancing urban spatial policies.

The "Conference on Urban Transformation for a Central City in the Southeastern Region," which will follow the opening ceremony, will focus on Busan's future urban spatial strategies and development directions.

Approximately 150 participants, including representatives of urban planning associations and universities, experts, and citizens, will attend the conference. Choi Yeol, Chief Urban Planner of Busan Metropolitan City, will deliver a keynote lecture titled "A Paradigm Shift in Future Urban Spatial Strategies." This will be followed by a presentation by Kwon Il, Professor at Korea National University of Transportation, titled "Development Strategies for Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongsangnam-do in Response to the Seoul Metropolitan Area."

A designated panel discussion and question-and-answer session involving urban planning experts will also examine practical policy directions for strengthening Busan's urban competitiveness and creating sustainable urban spaces.

Throughout the event, a variety of programs bringing together citizens, experts, and local university students will take place across Busan.

Through October 27, an urban design charrette* titled "Gonpo Reboot" will be held at Gonpo Garden in Taejongdae to rediscover the value of Busan's attractions and explore new ways to utilize urban spaces. On October 27, the "Discovering Urban Transformation: Field Tour of the Historic Downtown" will offer participants an opportunity to examine historical and cultural assets in the city's historic downtown and explore approaches to sustainable development.

* Charrette: An intensive collaborative process used in urban planning, architecture, and related fields to generate ideas and develop plans.

On October 28, the "Joint Graduation Project Presentations and Awards for Urban Engineering Departments at Busan Universities" will bring together students from four local universities—Kyungsung University, Dong-A University, Dong-Eui University, and Pusan National University—to share creative ideas from the next generation of urban planning professionals.

On October 29, the "Planning Seminar on Preparing for Busan's Future Urban Development" will explore future directions for urban spaces and measures to enhance the city's competitiveness.

From October 30 to 31, the "2026 Fall Academic Conference," hosted by the Korea Planning Association, will take place at Pusan National University. In particular, Mayor Chun Jae-soo is scheduled to deliver a keynote address on October 30 titled "The Future of Busan as a Maritime Capital."

Additional programs will include the "11th Urban Planning Citizens' Academy," designed to deepen public understanding of urban planning, and an exhibition showcasing outstanding graduation projects by students from local universities.

To ensure that the event leads to lasting outcomes rather than remaining a one-time initiative, Busan Metropolitan City plans to strengthen its cooperative framework with professional urban planning organizations and further develop its future urban spatial policies by incorporating policy recommendations from experts and feedback from citizens.

Kim Kyung-duk, Vice Mayor for Administrative Affairs of Busan Metropolitan City, stated, "For Busan to advance as a maritime capital and a central city in the southeastern region, we need spatial strategies that anticipate the city's future and new directions for urban planning."

He added, "I hope that the inaugural Busan Urban Space Week will serve as a meaningful starting point for citizens and experts to shape Busan's future together. I also hope it will provide an opportunity to continuously pursue tangible changes and innovations in urban spaces that citizens can experience, building on cooperation with professional urban planning organizations."