Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do, Baegot New Town urban development project comes to an end after 15 years

Siheung City, Gyeonggi Province, announced on the 31st that the entire Baegot-dong area was completed 15 years after it was designated as an urban development zone in 2009. Unlike government-led projects such as Bundang, Ilsan, and Pyeongchon, Baegot New Town is Korea’s first large-scale urban development project directly promoted by Siheung City, a basic local government, from planning to implementation.

Currently, Baegot 1 and 2-dong have established themselves as Siheung’s representative city center with over 70,000 people living there. ‘Baegot’ is a pure Korean word meaning ‘place of learning’. It originated from the Korean language scholar Joo Si-kyung calling the ‘Joseon Language School’ ‘Hangeul Baegot’. Siheung City declared this place to be an ‘education city’ and named it ‘Baegot’.

Seoul National University’s Siheung Campus and an educational, medical, industry-academia cluster are being created. Currently, Hanwha Ocean and the Future Mobility Technology Center have moved into the Siheung Campus site, and Seoul National University Hospital is preparing to begin construction in the first half of the year (January to June).

It was designated as a free economic zone in 2020, and in June of last year, it was designated as a national high-tech strategic industry bio-specialized complex, showing signs of attracting bio companies. Bonghwa-ro and Seohaean-ro, which are directly connected to Baegot New Town, have been opened, and the Baegot-Wolgot pedestrian bridge and Seohaean-ro bypass are also being promoted. Siheung Mayor Lim Byeong-taek said, “We plan to provide a pleasant environment to citizens through environmentally friendly urban development utilizing the waterfront landscape,” and added, “We will be reborn as a center for west coast development and metropolitan area development.”