Seoul Youth Forum: Frienship, Fun and Fancy!

I accidentally found Seoul Youth Forum on the Urban SDGs advertisement on Facebook few weeks ago. I just applied with a very low expectation. The application was rather very academical and serious, unexpectedly I was selected as a participant and I spent last weekend in this forum which lasted for 4 days 3 nights. All the participants were required to stay at the Olympic Parktel throughout the period because of the all-day-long schedule. We basically talked about Urban Sustainable Development Goals and its implementation in Seoul. Sounds boring? Nah, it was actually fun!

There were 60 participants from about 20 countries. This forum is fully conducted in English and the expected participants are youths, local or foreigner, living in Korea.

We mostly did group discussion to work on our final presentation. We were divided into 8 teams based on urban-related theme that I could not recall. I was in the inclusive public spaces team. I remember there were food security, responsible consumption, housing and migration.

The forum was opened by few speeches from Seoul City representative and the sponsors of the event. Then we proceeded with some ice breaking games before continuing with the real serious lecture sessions. The schedule was nicely made. We started our day at 9 AM, finished at 9 or 10 PM with plenty of rest and abundant (read: overflowing) snacks in between.

First evening discussion

Evening schedule was always the best. On the first night, we had a small team discussion and presentation, imagining Seoul in 2030. We also had daily reflection session. Each of us wrote our feelings to sum up the day in one word. Similar concept to "one word check in".

The following day, we started to brainstorm and work on our final presentation. It was not easy as people had either too many different ideas or too little ideas. But our day was nicely interrupted by picnic lunch!

Inclusive public space team selfie!

We, inclusive public space team, ate in a public space! Hahaha but seriously, the area around Olympic Parktel was soooooo nice and green. I did not know that Seoul Olympic Park area was actually THAT big. I feel like living there. Even the view from our room on the 7th floor was really enjoyable.

We continued to work, work and work on our plan. We had a super ambitious grand plan to reform the public spaces in Seoul. We want to promote the existing facilities, make a design contest to revitalize the outdated ones, enforce a management standard among districts and install more security and safety facilities like lighting and CCTVs. Very grand, we did not know where to start.

Well, the thing is Seoul has a seemingly perfect public spaces. You see Cheonggyechon, Hangang, and even your neighborhood park, it is already beautiful and well-equipped. Here we need to find loopholes and fix it. Not an easy task in this city.

The next day, experts came to save our lives. Each team had their own expert and we had two experts from Urban Society. They are a designer and an urban planner. They were really really nice and brilliant! I love them!

Jeongneungchon Map

First impression, both were looking confused with our grand plan. Then they advised us to concentrate on certain space. I had a very brilliant place in mind: Jeongneungchon!

That place that I just mentioned, is actually a stream in Northern Seoul. I jog and walk there on a daily basis and sometimes I just wish if they could make it a bit prettier. The current jogging track is not bad, it is already perfect to my standard. We do not have such place in my hometown, so I am not complaining. But if you compare it to the rest of the places that I have been to in Seoul, then Jeongneungchon is nowhere in par.

The two experts kindly and patiently helped us with our plan. Miss Eunjin, who was working with me on the map, was super brilliant. She read what was missing in the area and what we already have there. We also got to talk a bit about social enterprise in Korea and she invited me to come to the upcoming workshop with Indonesian social entrepreneurs!

Our lovely expert, designer Eunjin Kim

Most experts left before or after lunch but our lovely experts stayed until 2 PM! They were super lovely and passionate. I could not ask for a better people.

We seemed to be enlightened after experts session so we could work better on our presentation prep. Although the presentation was nothing grand, everyone worked hard for this. We are all hopeful that our ideas could be implemented and make Seoul even prettier.

Indonesians

The last event for the day was... Cultural night!

The cultural night was dope! People showed up with colorful clothes and the Indonesians, of course, we wore Batik. The organizers also prepared Hanbok booth, polaroid photo booth, and even calligraphy booth. We did not straightly do the performances from several countries but games first!

I have to salute the facilitators who came up with team games before starting the cultural shows. It was just pure fun and creative. Say no to boring cultural performances. Plus the idea of feeding us pizza was much appreciated! Yum!

We ended the night with crazy dancing and basically turned our hall into a dance floor with loud music but minus alcohol. If only they have such club, with no alcohol, I would probably be a VIP member.

Then last day! Too busy for pictures, we nailed the presentation. We maxed out our last moments by taking selfies and gave appreciation to each other. They actually prepared these wall of envelopes since the very first day. But to be honest, I did not really utilize it until the very last moment. This is kuddos envelope, where you can place post of appreciation, love or admiration to your peers. Love it!

We closed the forum with a series of appreciation and closing remarks from both participants and organizers. We took a group picture and had a farewell dinner at a nearby buffet restaurant. 4 days surely passed really fast and I really enjoyed my time. My peers were all nice and I had quality conversation with some within a very short time.

Hopefully, youths will be more engaged and involved in working towards SDGs, especially in Seoul.

Some random selfies

I have been to several similar events in Indonesia and other countries, even organized YLS myself. But I must say that Seoul Youth Forum nailed the logistics very well. People might not like to wake up early but the schedule was just perfect. No sleep deprivation nor starving moment because we were fed, literally, at all times. Korea has the tastiest snacks and they brought it to the forum. Not to mention my love for Krispy Kreme and pizza... They served it as our 'evening snack'.

The venue was also nice. We had a delay in check in but it was nothing big. The hall room was perfect for our size, the nearby park was beautiful for an outing and they did utilize that. Peer facilitators were all very nice and I love the energy. Everyone was super high and dedicated.

Thank you, Seoul Youth Forum by Mizy Center!