Establishing a Global advisory committee for the Seoul Mayor
Context
With the election of Wonsoon Park as Mayor in 2011, Seoul expressed the ambition to become a ‘social innovation city’. It implemented a programme of initiatives to deepen grassroots democracy, embed civic engagement in the everyday working of the city, and began to shift the city’s balance of power towards citizens.
Our Approach
In 2016, we helped establish and facilitated a global advisory committee to provide global perspectives on the challenges facing Seoul. The meeting now runs annually, making connections between local actors and global advisors and generating valuable insights to shape city policy.
Advisors –
- Prof. Geoff Mulgan, UCL(UK)
- Ada Wong, Make a Difference Institute (Hong Kong)
- Gabriela Gomez-Mont, Founder of Laboratory para le Ciudad (Mexico)
- Anil Gupta, Honeybee Network (India)
- Ezio Manzini, DESIS Network (Italy)
- Louise Pulford, SIX (UK)
- Peter Ramsden, URBACT (France)
- Tim Draimin, McConnell Foundation (Canada)
- Sunit Shrestha, ChangeFusion (Thailand)
Value
Through annual visits to Seoul, the Advisors would visit local innovations in the city and provide advice, feedback to the Mayor and his team. The Advisors act as a sounding board for new ideas, and can bring their local experience in their own countries. Some of the Advisors contributed to the publication ‘Seoul as a People Powered City‘, a collection of ideas to inspire other cities globally.
