Imagine stepping outside your home and within 15 minutes, you can visit the doctor, drop off your children at school, relax in a park, or buy groceries—all without needing a car. This is the vision Busan promises with its ambitious 15-Minute City initiative, a plan designed to make essential services more accessible, reduce carbon emissions, and improve quality of life. On paper, it seems like an urban utopia—a model for cities worldwide to follow.
But for residents in Busan’s western districts, like Sasang-gu and Saha-gu, this vision feels distant. These industrial zones, where outdated infrastructure and social inequality persist, haven’t seen the benefits of the policy. Instead of easily walking to services, residents still rely on cars to navigate their neighborhoods, which lack basic public transport and pedestrian-friendly spaces. While the city’s wealthier, central areas have improved, critics say the 15-Minute City seems more like a global showcase than a solution to the deep-rooted urban problems in Busan’s neglected areas.
For residents in Busan’s most neglected areas, this policy feels like a promise unfulfilled. The disparities between neighborhoods are stark, with some communities enjoying modern amenities, while others struggle with outdated infrastructure and limited access to essential services. As the city moves forward, the question remains: can Busan bridge this growing divide and create a future where all its residents benefit equally from the vision of a 15-Minute City, or will these overlooked districts continue to fall behind?
Geographic and Industrial Challenges in Western Busan
Western Busan, particularly districts like Sasang-gu and Saha-gu, faces unique geographic and infrastructural challenges that make the implementation of the 15-Minute City policy particularly difficult. These areas are marked by aging industrial complexes, remnants of Busan’s rapid industrialization, and a lack of modern infrastructure. Sasang-gu, for instance, houses one of the oldest industrial zones in the city, which has seen little investment in modernization despite ongoing regeneration promises. The continued reliance on outdated manufacturing facilities and the absence of high-tech industrial transformation leaves this district lagging behind in urban development efforts.
Compounding these industrial challenges is the geographic layout of the region. Busan’s mountainous terrain and steep inclines make the creation of walkable, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods particularly challenging. This is especially true for the mountain-side villages in Saha-gu, where residents often live in older, underdeveloped housing that was originally built to accommodate evictees from other parts of the city. These areas, often neglected in urban renewal projects, are difficult to access by foot or bike, further distancing them from the core objectives of the 15-Minute City policy.
Moreover, the transportation infrastructure in these regions is still heavily reliant on cars. Despite attempts to promote public transportation and cycling lanes, the dominance of automobile-centered urban design continues to obstruct the policy’s goals of reducing car dependency. Without significant upgrades to the public transport network and the creation of more pedestrian pathways, the promise of achieving a 15-minute accessibility model remains out of reach for much of Western Busan.
Another major obstacle to the success of the 15-Minute City policy in Western Busan is the poor pedestrian environment. In districts like Sasang and Saha, walkability remains a significant challenge. Many streets are not designed with pedestrians in mind, lacking sidewalks, crosswalks, and proper street lighting. The dominance of wide roads designed for industrial use further marginalizes pedestrian pathways, making it difficult and unsafe for residents to navigate their neighborhoods on foot.
Additionally, the urban sprawl and industrial decay have left much of Western Busan without dedicated green spaces or public parks where residents can safely walk or exercise. Unlike the more developed parts of Busan, where new parks and pedestrian zones are integrated into urban plans, these regions are still grappling with the remnants of older, car-centric infrastructure. This lack of accessible public spaces directly contradicts the core principles of the 15-Minute City, where green spaces and walkable environments are essential components.
As a result, residents in these districts remain reliant on cars for their daily needs, and the intended environmental and health benefits of a pedestrian-friendly urban design remain largely unattainable. Improving the walkability of Western Busan’s neighborhoods will require significant investment in infrastructure upgrades, including the creation of safer, more connected pedestrian networks and public spaces.
Socioeconomic Disparities and Neglect
While the 15-Minute City initiative aims to provide equitable access to services and amenities across Busan, socioeconomic disparities between the city’s more developed eastern regions and the underdeveloped western districts remain a significant issue. Sasang-gu and Saha-gu, home to much of Busan’s working-class population, continue to lag behind in terms of both infrastructure and investment. These areas suffer from lower economic opportunities, limited access to public services, and aging housing, exacerbating regional inequalities.
One of the major failures of the policy is its inability to address the urgent needs of these underdeveloped neighborhoods. Western Busan has been historically neglected in terms of public investment, with funds and resources disproportionately directed towards central and eastern districts that already benefit from more modern infrastructure. As a result, the 15-minute accessibility goal remains far from being realized in these regions, where even basic services like healthcare, education, and recreational facilities are not easily accessible.
Additionally, gentrification and displacement are ongoing concerns in areas undergoing limited redevelopment. For instance, as parts of Sasang-gu and Saha-gu see minor revitalization efforts, property prices are slowly rising, which threatens to displace long-standing residents who can no longer afford to live in their communities. This pattern risks exacerbating the very socioeconomic divides the policy was meant to resolve, as wealthier residents move in and the original, lower-income populations are pushed to the periphery.
Compounding this issue is the fact that many community-driven solutions have been overlooked or underfunded. While Busan’s administration has set up programs such as the Living Sphere Plan to foster local engagement, the lack of concrete, immediate improvements in these regions leads to frustration and disengagement from residents.
Exhibition-Driven Urban Development
One of the most significant criticisms of Busan’s 15-Minute City policy is its focus on exhibition-driven projects over addressing the local infrastructural issues of underdeveloped areas. This is particularly evident in the Eco Delta City project in Gangseo-gu, which was launched as a cutting-edge smart city model. Despite the lofty ambitions of creating an eco-friendly, walkable community, Eco Delta City has been criticized for failing to deliver on many of its promises, especially in terms of transportation and community integration.
Located in a district that is largely car-dependent, Eco Delta City lacks efficient public transportation options, making it difficult for residents to avoid using personal vehicles. Although there are plans to introduce rail lines and link the area with the Busan-Gimhae Light Rail, these projects are still in the planning or early construction phases, leaving current residents without the sustainable transit options promised by the initiative. This heavy reliance on cars contradicts the city’s claims of building a green, sustainable living environment.
Furthermore, the project’s focus appears to be more on apartment construction and commercial real estate, rather than on developing the kind of public spaces and community infrastructure that would support a truly walkable and accessible urban area. Many areas in Eco Delta City have been described as underutilized, with empty roads and pedestrian pathways that lead to nowhere, creating the eerie feel of a “ghost town” rather than a thriving urban center.
In addition, the environmental and financial challenges facing the project—such as soil contamination and rising costs—have raised concerns about whether Eco Delta City can deliver on its smart city ambitions. These issues, combined with the inadequate transportation infrastructure, undermine the project’s ability to achieve its eco-friendly goals and leave many questioning the true priorities behind its development.
Overall, the case of Eco Delta City exemplifies the broader critique of Busan’s 15-Minute City policy: that it is more focused on high-profile, exhibition-driven development rather than solving the immediate, real-world needs of residents in underdeveloped areas like Sasang and Saha. Without substantial progress in public transportation and localized infrastructure improvements, the policy risks becoming little more than a showcase for international audiences, rather than a meaningful solution for the city’s pressing urban issues.
Community Involvement and Governance Failures
A critical aspect of urban development, particularly for initiatives like the 15-Minute City policy, is community involvement. However, in Busan’s case, especially in the western districts and older city areas, there has been a noticeable lack of meaningful engagement with local residents. While the city has established mechanisms such as the Citizen Participation Group and promoted public involvement through Living Labs in projects like Eco Delta City, the efforts have largely been inadequate in addressing the local needs and concerns of marginalized communities.
In regions such as Sasang-gu and Saha-gu, residents have expressed frustration with the top-down approach to development, where major decisions about urban renewal projects are made without substantial input from those directly affected. For example, while high-profile projects like Eco Delta City are branded as community-driven, many locals feel disconnected from the planning and decision-making process. This lack of transparency and exclusion of residents from key decisions has led to social tensions and a sense of marginalization, especially in areas still struggling with poor infrastructure and limited access to services.
Moreover, despite the city’s emphasis on public participation, many of these engagement programs are seen as surface-level efforts that do not result in actual policy changes or improvements in living conditions. In fact, residents in some areas undergoing redevelopment have reported that their input is either ignored or overshadowed by the city’s broader, exhibition-driven goals. This disconnection between city authorities and local communities undermines the potential for genuine collaboration and leaves residents feeling alienated from projects that are supposed to benefit them.
In addition, governance challenges continue to affect the implementation and effectiveness of these urban renewal projects. Bureaucratic delays and financial mismanagement have hindered the timely progress of critical infrastructure developments, exacerbating the sense that the city’s priorities lie elsewhere—primarily in international recognition rather than addressing local needs. The top-down governance structure, which tends to prioritize large-scale, high-profile projects, continues to sideline smaller, community-based initiatives that could have more immediate and tangible benefits for underdeveloped areas.
The 15-Minute City concept holds great potential for transforming Busan into a more equitable and sustainable city. However, for the policy to succeed, significant structural changes are needed. By prioritizing localized investment, expanding public transportation, and fostering community engagement, Busan can shift from an exhibition-driven approach to a more inclusive and effective urban development model. This will help bridge the gap between the city’s affluent and neglected districts, ensuring that the benefits of sustainable urban living are shared by all.
