Field Trip to Seoul

—by Jonathan Justice | download PDF PDF icon

photo of student groups in South Korea
At the final debriefing workshop, Director Yoo is front and center, flanked by Professors Newman and Liou.

Together with students from Florida International University (FIU), Cornell University, and the University of Central Florida (UCF), six students from the MPA and MA in Urban Affairs & Public Policy programs at UD’s School of Urban Affairs & Public Policy (SUAPP) spent spring break in Seoul, South Korea. The field trip was the centerpiece of a special course titled “Policy Management in Seoul,” which examined the management reforms and new services Seoul has implemented as part of its program to become a top-ten global city. The trip was sponsored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG), which is led by Mayor Se-hoon Oh. It was planned and organized by Director Jae Ryong Yoo and Project Manager Jiyon Shin of the SMG’s Competitiveness Policy Division. Dr. Seok-Hwi Song of the University of Seoul (UOS) managed the academic program, which included lectures, briefings and site visits presented by municipal officials and academic experts.

photo of UD group in South Korea
The UD delegation on the University of Seoul campus comprised Jonathan Justice, Laura Black, Lucretia Taylor, Xiaofei "Faye" Yu, Danielle Reeves, Graceanna Enzinger, and Bolanle Ogunmakin.

Over the past decade, Seoul has worked very systematically to raise its international profile and provide world-class public-service innovations, and we had the opportunity to learn and ask questions about much of that work. Topics for the week included general background information on Korean history, politics, and culture; transportation infrastructure and management; urban design and redevelopment; the dasan 120 call center (similar in concept to New York City’s 311 system); environmental policies and practices; housing policy; social welfare programs; the “woman-friendly Seoul” program; e-government and citizen-participation initiatives; personnel reforms; and public finance. We also enjoyed exceptional hospitality, including a 20-course banquet, courtesy of the SMG. After five jam-packed days of instructional programming (and nights of exploring this 24-hour city of 10.5 million inhabitants), our hosts took us for a day of sightseeing before sending us back home, tired and happy.

We also had the opportunity to engage in dialogue with our fellow students and faculty from Cornell, FIU, UCF, and UOS and establish the beginnings of what may prove to be a number of long-term collaborations and friendships. The faculty included current ASPA President Meredith Newman (FIU) and newly elected ASPA Vice President Tom Liou (UCF). Not only have we already begun to discuss the hoped-for repeat of this program but a reciprocal program to bring UOS students here, sponsored by SUAPP and FIU. Watch for our presentation, and those of other SUAPP study-abroad trips, sometime in May.