Visiting the ARL with a South Korean scholarship

Jiwon Jeong was a guest researcher at the ARL from mid-September 2022 to the end of February 2024. His stay was funded by a scholarship from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Republic of Korea. Jiwon Jeong had applied independently for this guest research stay at the ARL. He studied geography and public administration and has been working as a senior manager at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for eight years in various departments, including the National Geographic Information Institute, the Urban Policy Department and the Green Space Planning Department. Before joining the ARL, he was primarily responsible for legal issues and urban development projects, particularly in the field of cooperative smart city initiatives. His practical orientation was highly valued at and facilitated extensive professional exchange.  

During his time at the ARL, Jiwon Jeong dealt with comparative studies on planning and transportation systems in South Korea and Germany and intensively explored smart city approaches in Germany. He also pursued a personal interest in the nexus of digitalisation, democracy and public space and he used his stay at the ARL to discuss and refine a proposal for his idea for a doctoral thesis. 

Reflecting on his experience, Jiwon Jeong states: “Korea needs to refer to the diverse experiences of collaborative urban development in both analogue and digital formats that have already been deeply discussed and thoroughly tested in Germany. Meanwhile, Korea can leverage its advantages as a global testing bed, based on its highly developed ICT infrastructure and digital society, as well as its empirical strengths in achieving smart city outcomes across various fields and stages of urban growth during international cooperation”.

The collaboration with Jiwon Jeong has continued beyond his guest research stay. For example, he is the co-author of a country profile on South Korea. This is currently being compiled and illustrates the country's planning system. The presentation benefits from Jiwon Jeong's specialist insights into the German planning system. The country profile will be published on arl-international.com in the coming months.

Contact

Dr. Britta Bockhorn
International Affairs/Deputy Scientific Head of AR
Phone +49 511 34842 25
britta.bockhorn@arl-net.de