“Namyangju city has a population of 650,000 and is located 25km northeast of Seoul in the Republic of Korea. Namyangju has been continuously promoting smart city project since 2008 with a target of becoming a low-carbon green transport city by 2020. This city has recently experienced rapid growth of population followed by large scale housing development which has increased the share of public transport to 60% as well as crime rate by 50% in the past 5 years. As a proactive response to such societal demand, the smart city project in Namyangju took place with focus on the implementation of intelligent transport system and crime prevention system.

Namyangju offers various civic services especially via smartphone that has rapidly increased its penetration in the past 5 years. The city offers real-time road CCTV images, traffic flow and incident information on frequently used routes through customized mobile service which enables the citizen to choose best route in real-time. Also, to secure the safety of its large senior population, the city offers services such as sending the protector the bus arrival information of the senior resident and emergency alert when the elderly leaves the safe zone to enable prompt response. Cutting-edge crime prevention system is installed at bus stops with emergency bells and CCTV to enable prompt connection with the crime prevention center in the outbreak of emergency. Another innovative solution of Namyangju includes the multifunctional ‘smart pole’ which combines street light, CCTV and traffic signal to promote efficient use of roadside facility.
Perhaps the smart city service of Namyangju that attracts attention the most as a benchmark is the city’s effort to promote local economy through online market system. Being a city that has both urban and agricultural regions, e-commerce of local organic farm products is realized through the smart city system. The city’s active utilization of bus stops and roadside variable message signs in attracting advertisement to raise regular profit is another impressive factor that draws attention. Through such smart city system operation, the average traffic speed within the city has increased by 7.2km/h and the average delay time at intersections got reduced by 43 seconds. The citizen satisfaction level on the real-time traffic information provided by the city has yield an 80% survey result which demonstrates Namyangju’s strive to provide substantive benefits to citizens.

Namyangju has now reached the maturity phase of the smart city project, having been through the periods of initiation and expansion. The current focus of the city is on the implementation of smart city infrastructure in order to provide more effective and beneficial smart city services in a more stable and efficient manner. The city is in the process of installing the fiber-optic communication network of 101km and plans to complete the construction of integrated operation and control center by 2016. Other areas that the city is increasing its focus are citizen interaction and business model development to raise operation and maintenance cost of the smart city system. It is anticipated that Namyangju will continue to develop its reputation as a model case study for smart city implementation under close collaboration among the city officials, related agencies and citizens.” (Source: Inter-American Development Bank — document attached)