Breathing Life into a Dead City
After the village buses started running, Yeojin City welcomed a new wave of change.
During the pilot period, the free fare was the biggest draw. Elderly residents who had once struggled just to reach a bus stop came pouring into downtown in droves.
"Well, I never! They have all this?"
"Back in the day, I had to walk forever just to get to the market. Now I hop on right in front of my house and step off right at the door!"
It finally felt as though people were truly enjoying what Yeojin City had to offer. Lively streets, clusters of elderly folks gathered in conversation, the sound of children laughing.
I was already painting a picture in my mind of how this small change would transform the city. And then something unexpected happened.
"Mayor, the car-free street in the old downtown has caused an uproar."
Chief of Staff Kang Seol-heon rushed in to deliver the report. I chuckled. I had seen it coming.
The spectacle of tearing up a road in the name of a car-free street experiment had become a far bigger topic of conversation than I'd anticipated. In particular, rural residents had begun streaming into the city to see it for themselves, and downtown was getting crowded.
"They actually dug up the road?"
"Yep. And they planted trees in it too. Isn't your mayor completely out of his mind?"
YouTubers flocked in to film, and word spread across every online community. Some praised it as a groundbreaking experiment in urban planning, while others slammed it as ignorant governance.
I didn't let it bother me. If anything, I saw it as an opportunity.
"Let's plant fruit trees."
"I'm sorry?"
"We can't just leave a hole in the road. Instead of expensive ornamental trees, I'd rather we plant fruit-bearing ones."
I decided without hesitation. Apple trees, tangerine trees — we would simply put them in the ground.
A street where you could reach out as you walked and pick a piece of fruit to eat. Wasn't that a magnificent thing to imagine?
"Mayor, are you serious?"
"I am. Picking an apple off a tree as you stroll along — isn't that fun?"
Kang Seol-heon let out a sigh, but she opened her notebook and wrote it down anyway.
Years ago, when I had traveled to Spain, I'd seen orange trees lining the streets of Seville. In the Czech Republic, I came across apple trees planted along the roadside.
Citizens rarely ate the fruit. Because the trees stood beside busy roads, the fruit was likely coated in exhaust fumes and dust, and there was a widespread perception that it simply wasn't clean.
And yet, every so often, someone would pick one and enjoy it anyway. Watching them do it looked delightful.
That was why I had once imagined that if we wanted to bring a sense of grandeur to our streets, planting fruit trees would turn them into something genuinely fun.
And now I was putting that idea into practice. Because I was the mayor.
A few days later, apple and tangerine trees stood in neat rows down the center of the road. Local farmers had donated the saplings, and landscapers pitched in to tamp down the soil around each one.
"This place is genuinely bizarre."
"You're telling me you're seeing tangerine trees in the middle of a city?"
People found it absurd, yet they couldn't look away. At one end of the street, elderly residents sat on benches, chatting away.
"What a fun little neighborhood this is. Playing baduk under an apple tree wouldn't be so bad at all."
"That's right. Back in the old days, every house had a tree out front."
I watched the scene with a smile. Perhaps the city I had been dreaming of was beginning to take shape on this one small street.
The transformation of Yeojin City was only just beginning.
The car-free street experiment drew a far hotter response than expected. Pedestrians flooded the vehicle-free road, and everywhere you looked, people were chatting freely or enjoying street performances.
Shops came alive as new customers streamed in, and children ran wild down the road, their laughter ringing out. The very air of the city was changing.
But I had no intention of stopping at a car-free street. I wanted to seize this opportunity and transform Yeojin City into a truly living city.
It wasn't enough to simply push cars out. We needed to create changes that citizens could feel with their own bodies. It was around this time that architect Kang Seo-jin arrived at the mayor's office with two of his colleagues.
"This is the final plan we've prepared after much deliberation."
The proposal he handed over was thicker than I'd expected.
I turned the pages with curiosity. It was packed with ideas: converting the road into green space, planting dense rows of street trees to create natural shade, and expanding pedestrian-centered plazas and outdoor areas.
The plan preserved the existing downtown structure while reshaping it into a people-first environment.
But some of the contents went well beyond common sense. For instance, proposals to reduce existing parking and convert it into bike lanes and walking trails, or to introduce miniature ecosystems into public benches so that the streetscape would change with the seasons — these were on an entirely different level from conventional urban planning.
When I had the civil servants review the draft, they too couldn't hide their bewilderment.
"Is this realistically feasible? There's the budget to consider, and..."
"The merchants will push back, especially. Vehicle restrictions were already a problem — will they really accept changes on top of that?"
The concerns kept coming, but I wanted to approach this project not as a mere administrative policy, but as a transformation built together with the citizens.
Confined to the existing framework, nothing would ever change.
"Let's hold a presentation and share it with the citizens first. We'll hear their reactions directly and adjust as needed."
I persuaded the civil servants and locked in the presentation schedule.
There might be backlash. But there was also a chance it would spark even greater anticipation than anyone expected.
No one could predict where this wind of change would blow. What was certain, however, was that Yeojin City had now embarked on an experimental challenge.
A few days later, the presentation was held.
"First: a street that breathes and lives."
Kang Seo-jin advanced the screen as he spoke.
"We will introduce Bio-Walls — building walls and ground surfaces covered in vegetation. The concept is not a city but a single ecosystem. The pavement will use eco-friendly materials as well, so instead of plain concrete, it will actively absorb carbon. We also plan to install miniature ecosystems in the public benches, creating a street that transforms with each season."
I smiled.
Now that's what I call an eco-city.
He turned to the next page.
"Second: a gravity-manipulation street."
The meeting room stirred at once. Everyone's eyes went wide.
"We will deploy maglev-based platforms throughout the street. This will allow people in wheelchairs or with strollers to glide along as if on ice. And at the center of the street, we plan to create a levitation garden — floating planters suspended by magnetic fields. We are already collaborating with the Institute of Science and Technology, and they've determined that Yeojin City is the most suitable site for a real-world demonstration."
"A levitation garden? You didn't mention that during the internal review last time, did you?"
I was intrigued. No, honestly, it sounded utterly absurd. But Kang Seo-jin was brimming with confidence.
"Correct. It was left out of the previous materials because we weren't yet certain it could be implemented. The Institute is currently running experiments and searching for a demonstration site. If Yeojin City accepts this project, we can make it happen without spending a single won of our own budget."
The room fell silent.
A demonstration project with zero budget outlay...?
I tapped the table.
"So we'd essentially become a testing ground for future technology, practically for free?"
"Exactly."
"Third: a street that responds to sound and light."
The story was getting more and more interesting.
"We will build a smart system where the lighting shifts with pedestrians' movements and music plays from the ground. The building facades will use digital panels with an interactive system that reacts to walking speed. For example, we can even implement a feature that plays a person's personal theme song when they pass through a specific zone."
"This is... starting to feel a bit too sci-fi, isn't it?"
I chuckled. But cities like Tokyo and Singapore were already experimenting with smart streets.
"It's feasible. In the end, it's just a matter of how you apply the technology."
"And finally: the personalization of public space."
Kang Seo-jin advanced the screen once more.
"Everyone wants something different from a street. So we'll use an app to let each individual configure their own environment. For example, users can select the music playing along the street, or adjust the height and temperature of their bench. They can even leave AR — augmented reality — messages at specific locations for others to discover."
The meeting room erupted in gasps and exclamations.
"This is... incredible?"
"Good heavens, they're building a street like this in Yeojin City?"
I calmly raised a hand and called for quiet.
"This is, quite literally, an experimental project. But I believe it's worth attempting."
The response was hotter than expected. Even the merchant representatives and city councilors who had regarded me with skepticism until now couldn't help but welcome something of this scale.
"Honestly, the reason we opposed it before was that we didn't think it would produce real results. But at this scale... there's clearly a tourism effect to be had."
"People will flock here. The old downtown will come back to life."
The meeting room heated up. The reaction was far more positive than I'd anticipated.
Looking at the faces around me — curiosity and expectation mingled together — I spoke again.
"If we build a space you can see anywhere, it will end as a small change enjoyed only by the citizens of Yeojin. But what if we build a space you can't see anywhere else?"
I paused for effect. Everyone was waiting on my words.
"First, the people of neighboring Gwangseong City will come. Then, from even farther away, people will start visiting from Seoul. Once they see what Yeojin City is capable of, we stop being just a small town and become a city on the rise. This transformation of the old downtown is not mere cosmetic improvement — it is our chance to change all of Yeojin City. Through this project, we can create the momentum that will reshape the future of our city!"
The meeting room erupted in admiration and exclamations from every corner. Even the merchant representatives and councilors who had been skeptical were nodding along in agreement.
"This is... a truly remarkable plan."
"If we capture the tourism effect properly, the local economy will come back to life."
I smiled as I looked around the room. This was the moment of change.
Yeojin City was now taking another step forward.
The next day, the local newspaper ran a bold headline.
Ordinarily, few people paid attention to local development articles. It was typical for them to barely attract a single comment.
But this time was different. From "how fascinating" to "I can't believe it" to "I'm actually excited" — far more people than expected read the article and reacted.
It became a hot topic on social media too. The word "levitation garden" in particular set people's curiosity alight.
Plants floating in midair? People were astonished that a concept straight out of a science fiction film was actually being realized.
The local broadcasters weren't about to sit still either. From the next day onward, coverage poured in, and the officer in charge, Section Chief Cho Yeon-woo, spent the entire day besieged by interview requests.
"Section Chief Cho, is this technology actually viable?"
"Are there any real-world examples of it being implemented?"
"Why is Yeojin City pursuing a project like this?"
Wherever he went, reporters were on his heels. Journalists dug into every detail of the project, and broadcasters scrambled to prepare special features.
Cho Yeon-woo stared at a schedule packed wall-to-wall with interviews and clutched his head.
"Section Chief, your next interview is in thirty minutes."
"We've now received a request from a YouTube channel as well."
In the span of a single moment, Yeojin City had captured nationwide attention. A small city that no one had ever bothered to notice was transforming, before everyone's eyes, into a city of innovation.