Seongdong District's 'Convergence and Innovation Special Education District' Re-designated Until 2029... Accelerating Leap Toward a Future-Oriented Education City

Expansion of Specialized Projects from 22 to 26
Connecting Education with Local Resources, Including AI, Handmade Shoes, and Seoul Forest

Seongdong District in Seoul (District Mayor Yoo Bohwa) will accelerate its transition to a future-oriented education city, maintaining its 'special education district' status for 15 consecutive years since its first designation in 2015. On September 6, the district announced that, in accordance with the notification from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the 'Seongdong Convergence and Innovation Special Education District' has been re-designated until 2029.

Children experiencing robot autonomous driving at the Seongdong AI Future Technology Experience Center. Provided by Seongdong-gu.

With this re-designation, Seongdong District will expand its educational initiatives from 22 sub-projects within four categories to 26 sub-projects across the same four categories starting next year. The district plans to further strengthen its educational policy that links future education with local resources.

This re-designation is the result of more than a decade of investment in education and achievements in specialized education programs utilizing local resources. Since being designated as a special education district, Seongdong has steadily expanded future education, career development, global, and lifelong learning hubs, including the Global Experience Center, the Seongdong AI Future Technology Experience Center, and the Lifelong Learning Center. Last year, more than 45,000 people participated in major educational programs at these hubs, demonstrating stable support for the educational needs of the community.

Specialized projects that connect Seongdong's unique industrial, cultural, and ecological resources with education are also attracting attention. The district utilizes regional assets such as the handmade shoe industry in Seongsu-dong, K-culture tourism, and social ventures, as well as Seoul Forest and Eungbongsan Mountain, to develop educational and experiential content. By associating these initiatives with local festivals such as 'Onmaeul Festival Wagle Wagle' and 'Taejo Yi Seong-gye Festival', as well as with the operation of the handmade shoe joint sales center, the district has established a foundation for the positive impact of the special education district projects to spread to the local economy.

With this re-designation, the district plans to further strengthen the cooperative network among schools, the local community, and educational institutions, and continuously expand a variety of educational initiatives that meet the rapidly changing educational environment and the needs of each generation.

For children and adolescents, the district will expand education that fosters competencies required in future society, such as artificial intelligence (AI). For young adults, it will support career exploration and entrepreneurship, while for adults, it will provide broad opportunities for lifelong learning as part of everyday life—creating a tailored educational environment that encompasses all generations. Through these efforts, the special education district program will be managed robustly to ensure that an excellent educational environment leads directly to improved quality of life and revitalization of the local economy.

District Mayor Yoo Bohwa stated, “Since the special education district designation, we have gradually enhanced Seongdong’s educational competitiveness through steady investment and connection to local resources. With this re-designation, we will build upon our achievements to nurture talent who will lead the future and create a lifelong learning city where people of all generations have opportunities to learn.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.