The 2028 Ulsan International Garden Expo is just over a year and a half away. Since the launch of the 9th elected administration, the direction of the expo has been reassessed, leading to the implementation of special laws, key appointments to the organizing committee, and the successful bid for the AIPH Spring General Assembly. This article explores the significance of transforming a landfill into a garden and what Ulsan aims to achieve post-expo.
Can a site that has been a landfill for decades in the heart of Ulsan become a garden that attracts visitors from around the world?
With just over a year and a half until the expo, preparations are shifting from planning to execution.
Following the launch of the 9th elected administration, there has been a reevaluation of the expo's content and citizen participation methods. The special law and enforcement regulations have been fully implemented, and the key appointments to the organizing committee have been completed.
While efforts have focused on establishing organizational and institutional foundations, the next step is to transform the Samsan and Yeocheon landfills into actual gardens and fill them with content that will attract global visitors.
The Ulsan International Garden Expo will take place from April 22 to October 22, 2028, at the Taehwa River National Garden and the Samsan and Yeocheon landfill areas.
Ulsan's main distinguishing feature is not just showcasing the completed Taehwa River National Garden but also transforming a long-used landfill into a new urban garden.
The preparation direction for the garden expo was reassessed around the launch of the 9th elected administration in June.
Kim Sang-wook, the Mayor of Ulsan, visited the expo site during his candidacy to check on progress and requested a review of existing plans and content.
The core idea was that the expo should not merely be an administrative-led event where visitors observe but should involve direct citizen participation and feature Ulsan's unique stories and content.
Subsequently, the organizing committee held a 'Dialogue with Citizens' event in July, attended by over 500 citizens, civic groups, experts, and related agencies.
During this event, specific issues were discussed, including accessibility between the Taehwa River National Garden and the Samsan and Yeocheon landfills, transportation, parking, accommodation, climate change responses to heavy rain and heat, odor reduction from the landfill, and citizen participation methods.
As a follow-up, the organizing committee also conducted online surveys to gather opinions on garden and exhibition content, tourism and cultural programs, family and children's experiences, local business connections, and citizen participation programs.
The challenge now is not only to expand the scale of the event but also to create unique content and a structure for citizen participation that can only be found in Ulsan.
The most symbolic space of the expo will be the Samsan and Yeocheon landfill.
Ulsan plans to utilize the approximately 350,000㎡ landfill area as the expo site, creating various garden spaces, including international gardens, corporate gardens, themed gardens, and carbon reduction forests.
While the transformation of the Taehwa River from a polluted river to a national garden is a representative case of ecological restoration in Ulsan, converting the landfill into a garden can be seen as another urban space regeneration experiment.
During the expo bidding process, the AIPH positively evaluated the plan to regenerate the landfill into a garden, noting its alignment with the international garden expo's goals of carbon neutrality and climate change response.
Importantly, the focus is not solely on how spectacular the garden can be.
The key challenge is whether the land, which has long been a landfill, can be transformed into a green space that citizens can continuously use, and whether it can be integrated with the Taehwa River National Garden to create a new garden axis for Ulsan.
Ensuring that the expo site functions as a new public space in the city beyond just being an exhibition area during the event will also be a critical factor in the project's success.
The institutional conditions have also changed.
Following the enactment and promulgation of the 'Special Law on Support and Post-Utilization of the 2028 Ulsan International Garden Expo' on February 27, some key provisions and enforcement regulations have been in effect since August 28.
The enforcement regulations clarify the scope of expo-related facilities and the matters delegated by the special law, providing a solid institutional foundation for promoting the expo as a national-level international event.
The law also establishes a basis for how to utilize related facilities after the expo concludes.
An international schedule has also been added.
Ulsan successfully hosted the 78th AIPH Annual General Assembly in Bari, Italy, from September 13 to 17, where it secured the AIPH Spring General Assembly for 2028. The assembly will be held in Ulsan in April 2028, coinciding with the expo's opening.
This connection with an international event involving horticulture and garden professionals from around the world broadens the opportunity to promote Ulsan's vision as a garden city and the expo to the international community.
The key appointments to the organizing committee were also completed last month.
Yoo Sa-won, CEO of K Arts Creative, was appointed as the executive vice-chairman, Yoon Young-chan, former head of Ulsan's Culture, Tourism, and Sports Bureau, as the secretary-general, and Kim Woo-sung, former head of the Ulsan Life Forest Secretariat, as the research officer.
By placing professionals in cultural content, administration, and forestry and garden fields, the organization is transitioning to a system that will execute the development of the expo site, content creation, event management, and visitor attraction.
As the project moves into the execution phase, budget scrutiny is essential.
According to government data on the policy rating of international events, the total project cost for the expo is 49 billion won, comprising 14.7 billion won from the national budget, 19.6 billion won from local funds, and 14.7 billion won from self-generated revenue.
However, since various related projects, including transportation, environmental, and tourism infrastructure, can be pursued alongside the expo, citizens should consider not only the expo's budget but also the overall financial input and impact of related projects.
The Ulsan Citizens' Coalition has previously pointed out that it is crucial to look beyond the expo's budget alone and to include related projects such as transportation, environment, and tourism infrastructure to assess the total financial scale and local financial burden.
As a large-scale international event, it is important to transparently disclose any additional financial burdens and project impacts that arise as the scope of the project expands.
In the meantime, the special law has been established, the organizing committee has been launched, and key appointments have been completed.
Now, the criteria for evaluation must inevitably change.
The phase focused on securing the bid and organizing the committee has passed. What remains is to transform the landfill into an actual garden and fill it with content that encourages citizen participation, ready to present to the world in 2028.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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