TEDxDaejeon - HongChul Yeom - Defining the news central value of Daejeon via T.E.D

Had I known the light will be so strong on me I would have put some make up on Nice to meet you everyone I’m pretty sure most of you would know me I’m the mayor of Daejeon, Yeom Hong Cheol Today, I’m honored to be invited at TEDxDaejeon, a feast of knowledge Congratulations to this forum today Firstly, I will start with something serious We say that Daejeon is the new center city of Korea Then what’s the difference between an old center and a new center? The word “new” makes a significant difference You can think of Seoul and the metropolitan area as an old center The old center is all about centralization and monopoly Population, knowledge, industry, and power, everything was centered in Seoul in the past But the new center we are aiming at is about integration Not centralization, but integration Centralization is very exclusive since there’s no connectivity among components However, the new center we are aiming at is integration; hence, components make cluster and urge profits through connectivity Therefore, it’s not exclusive, but it include other areas And center means gathering things in the middle So it’s very static However, the true center we are looking for is more like hub There must be input to be a hub, but also hub spreads things out wide So we say, it’s not center, but hub For example, a center airport means just to arrive at destinations But if it’s a hub airport it also means going to somewhere and then coming back in someway, it means quite innovative Lastly, when I talk about my city, Daejeon I say it’s the center, so people tell me that it’s a geologically center But when I say it’s a center, it’s not only because of its geological factor but because we are trying to make it as a new center of the country in terms of new public policy and becoming a role model for other cities And there are many people who actually migrated into this city from other cities So some say it’s for wanderers, but it isn’t Just like New York city people come to Daejeon and mix together as a melting pot so some say that NYC doesn’t have its own identity but newyorkers are the ones who love their city the most They even write I love NYC on their shirts Today, I want to explain what Daejeon is aiming at by each meanings of Technology, Entertainment, and Design Technology, of course Every Korean would know that Daejeon is a city of science and technology There are around 30 private lavatories, and 30 government funded lavatories All the leading lavatories are integrated in Daejeon and 40 years ago, the government invested 4trillion won And Daejeon generated over 40 trillion won as a heart of Korean technology playing its role as an engine of national economic growth There’s no doubt about it There are many technologies Daejeon is on top of the world Cell phones we carry around, the Qualcomm has the original technology but researchers in Daejeon have made it popular generating billions of economic growth Recently, the ETRI announced development of the 4G technology the first in the world Like this, Daejeon is offering better and more convenient lives to people of the world Therefore, it’s rather natural to relate Daejeon to technology I’m sure you’d all agree And there are political conflicts recently but I think Daejeon of course deserves what it’s supposed to get Secondly, E stands for entertainment Entertainment is to be interpreted with a larger view and I think it’s based on culture and arts So I want to talk about the ‘E’ with culture and arts I want Daejeon to be more like New York than Washington D.C., and more like Munich, rather than Berlin I had a chance to study in New York 30 years ago and I learned many things and surprised many times There are music concerts in Central Park during summer times Then many people come and gathered around with sandwiches and coke waiting for a concert Then opera singers of the New York Metropolitan or symphony orchestra perform I’m not sure if he had been a mayor or a government official but somebody from the city hall gave a small speech like this: “You, newyorkers pay tax the most in America So I want to give you, the largest tax payers, a gift, the best performance.” Then the New York citizens went crazy and looked very happy I thought of a watercolor of Monet when I saw such scene Then 13 years after that, I became a designated mayor of Daejeon As imitation teaches creation, I imitated the concert of New York So, at the Seo-Daejeon Park, and the Sa-Jeong Park the art groups of Daejeon hold a music concert It was very high-class, hadn’t it been for free, people would have paid quite much of money for it It was right after hosting the Expo successfully when I gave a small speech to the citizens, I imitated the New York’s one I said, “ I thought what to give to citizens of Daejeon as a gift for hosting the Expo so successfully, and I decided to give you the best music concert.” People loved it Lastly, it’s design. I want to see it from a broader view I think, design can be done by hands artificially but we can design through nature, too And I believe that Daejeon has such a beautiful and natural nature So, Daejeon is one of the cities which has the best environment in Korea Recently, KyungHyang newspaper surveyed sustainability of 16 cities with many labs involved They announced the result, and Daejeon topped the list And Seoul came second with a huge gap between You might see the article on the screen behind So, Daejeon has the highest sustainability especially, it got the highest score from the environment sector And then fame, its fame as a city of science was an important factor, too Overall, Daejeon was the best city However, Daejeon came only at 13th in economy sector And we can get an answer from it The identity of Daejeon is its environment and science Using these two, achieving economic growth is out goal and identity at the same time So the concluded identity of Daejeon is Eco&Science How beautiful the nature is in Daejeon You may not notice it but Daejeon is surrounded by mountains and we made 12 walking courses which reaches 133 kilo meters Many people go for the Ol-leh road in Jeju island but the origin of this Ol-leh road is Dul-leh road of Daejeon It’s more beautiful The Daecheong road, and Hwangto road have been selected as the most popular place to visit by the Ministry of Tourism And there are three beautiful rivers in Daejeon There’s Gapcheon right over there Here, at DCC we hosted IMF Asea Conference, and IAEA conference by Dr.Lee Gyung-su sitting right in front of me and many world class scholars in the field came for the conference And when the chief president of IMF, and IAEA saw the city, they were stunned by its beauty There is a huge garden in the middle of the city And a beautiful river, Gapcheon streaming down the city And the Art Center, also. People were stunned by this beautiful city Daejeon is such a beautiful city, environmentally and that’s why I think TED and the identity of Daejeon are quite connected So, it’s obvious that Daejeon is a city of science and technology Secondly, it’s a city with a flourishing culture and for third, it’s such an eco-friendly city In conclusion, the identity of Daejeon is Eco&Science However, what we are aiming at is an economical development with a harmony of environment and material stuffs Lastly, I want to suggest you something Daejeon is working on a campaign to make it a city with no trash I also attend the self-attending cleaning campaign regularly The government officials working in Daejeon City Hall also attend the cleaning campaign in turns So we are trying to make our city with no garbage and of course, a city without garbage must be clean but also it lowers crime rate There’s data to prove it There’s a broken glass theory in America A broken glass theory It’s about a car with a broken glass left in Harlem Also a normal car was left in Harlem And after several days the car with broken glass was all tore down and people took its parts However, the normal one was still there all fine This is a broken glass theory indicating that a broken glass will cause more serious problem This theory was introduced in Korea, and with this theory I want to make Daejeon a city with no broken glass By doing so, Daejeon will have better reputation and people who visits Daejeon will have better impression of our city Every month, when I attend the self-cleaning campaign I post about it on my Twitter and Facebook account People see my post and come join me I have Cyworld, Twitter, and Facebook account And there’s something people ask me all the time “Do you really do it yourself?” People simply assume that my secretary would do since I’m so busy, and they don’t think I’d be able to use those programs I really do it myself If I don’t do it myself, there’s no meaning I talk to citizens real-time and sometimes there’s critical opinions about me,then I reply them It’s two-way communication of me and citizens And I wish you don’t doubt about it and be my friends, or follow me I made my Cyworld and Twitter account very early but I just opened my Facebook account It’s been less than a month, it’s been 20 days by today but I have 1600 friends I still have large space for you to join me so please come join me, and participate in city activities, too Please give me some ideas to make Daejeon a better city, a new center city and ask me lots of questions, then I’ll answer you with my true heart What I’ve been telling you is dream of mine Yeom Hong-cheol, a mayor of Daejeon city A dream one person dreams will end up just a dream However, when people here and citizens of Daejeon dream about it together it can be our reality I’d like to finish my talk asking you to dream of making Daejeon as a new center city of Korea Thank you