Incheon Metropolitan City is launching a full-scale project to create a more pleasant environment, built on two pillars: the creation of ‘community-based air lounges’ that protect residents from fine dust and ozone, and expanded support for facilities that prevent everyday odors. The aim is to increase the number of places where residents can breathe with peace of mind close to their daily lives, while reducing the inconvenience of urban odors.
 [코리안투데이] A fine-dust shelter in operation in Incheon © 장형임 기자 |
Incheon Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Chan-dae) announced that it is launching a full-scale project titled ‘Creating a Pleasant Environment through Fine-Dust and Ozone Response and Everyday-Odor Reduction’ to respond in practical terms to environmental problems closely tied to residents’ daily lives.
The project will move forward in two broad directions. One is the creation of ‘community-based air lounges,’ safe spaces that protect residents from high concentrations of fine dust and ozone. The other is the expansion of a rental care system for odor-prevention equipment at charcoal-grill restaurants and similar businesses.
An air lounge is a specialized space equipped with advanced air-purification functions so that residents can stay with peace of mind on days when environmental hazards are high. The city has selected fine-dust intensive-management zones, where facilities used by health-vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly are concentrated, along with heavily frequented public areas, as priority installation sites, and plans to raise efficiency by using existing infrastructure such as enclosed bus stops.
At present, Incheon has designated and is operating 116 sites with excellent public accessibility, including bus stops, community service centers, senior centers and station waiting rooms, as fine-dust shelters. Drawing on the know-how gained from operating these shelters, the city plans to expand air lounges fully equipped with air-purification systems in phases, so that residents can use them easily in places close to their everyday lives.
The city is also devoting effort to improving everyday odors. It will provide specialized technical support to odor-generating businesses such as charcoal-grill restaurants, and will significantly expand a rental care system that supports the maintenance costs of odor-prevention equipment such as electrostatic precipitators. In particular, the city plans to give priority support to chronic odor-generating businesses that have long drawn complaints, and to raise the maintenance-cost support ceiling per business to improve effectiveness.
Because fine dust, ozone and everyday odors are environmental problems that residents feel directly in their daily lives, the project is expected to go beyond a simple administrative achievement and lead to the protection of residents’ right to health and the improvement of everyday convenience. Incheon says it will not stop at supplying facilities but will continue field-centered policies that allow residents to fully experience the changed environment.
Woo Mi-hyang, head of the city’s Atmospheric Conservation Division, stressed, ‘Fine dust, ozone and everyday odors are the most direct environmental problems that residents feel firsthand in their daily lives,’ adding, ‘We will expand spaces where residents can breathe with peace of mind close to home, boldly reduce the inconvenience of odors in daily life, and build a pleasant and healthy Incheon that people can truly feel.’
지역 홍보대사 신청 기자양성과정 신청 코리안투데이 지부장 신청 코리안투데이 인천강화코리안브랜드대상 신청 최고경영인대상 신청 소비자만족도대상 신청
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