[The Hwankyung Ilbo] Autonomy is a key requirement in the era of climate crisis due to global problems being problems in our neighborhood. Residents should be able to gather in various communities to discuss and respond to the climate crisis as a daily problem.

The president's autonomous decentralization committee aims to create a "government with residents" and a "social society full of diversity and novelty."

Article 1 (and its purpose) of the Local Autonomy Act also has the basis of "democratic development through residents' participation in local autonomy administration." However, the reality is that settling autonomous decentralization is not as easy as it sounds.

The issue was discussed in depth at the Green Conversion Forum (hosted by the Green Conversion Research Institute), which was held face-to-face on July 22. 

Heo Seung-kyu, CEO of Andong Youth Sympathy Network, diagnosed, "The means of responding to the climate crisis should be replaced with the language of the actual region and citizens' lives in the field, which is based on the premise that all camps should be able to unite and connect each region tightly."

"The climate crisis is a problem of inequality, which is not enough for technological and bureaucratic approaches," said Kim Ji-ahn, an activist at the Green Transition Youth Group. "Although local community-level response is important, local governments are still focused on government and have not escaped from fiscal and spiritual subordination." 

Emphasis on the importance of self-distribution in the era of climate crisis: 

Measures should be taken under conditions where citizens can feel and sympathize with the climate crisis, but there is no system to make it possible, therefore, it is difficult to induce participation as well as local communities.

Huh Seung-kyu approached a solution to the problem by paying attention to "political equality."

He explained that the issue of "inequality of participation" that should be solved, defining the common agreement of one person and reducing the gap between inequality in reality as democratic politics. The current local political structure is rather deepening inequality.

There was a thought about the limit to just inducing voluntary participation. Citing daily constraints such as money and time, he instead argued to expand the discourse on autonomous decentralization.

The beginning starts with acknowledging the reality that interest in local politics has fallen.

"There is a strong skepticism about whether there should be a real local council and a strong perception that the number of lawmakers should be reduced. Most people don't know what kind of local councilors I live in and what activities they are doing," he said. "If you don't admit this, there will be no realistic alternative." 

Based on this understanding of reality, he proposed the introduction of local politics, which is not subordinate to election politics. The plan calls for electing heads of cities and counties through direct election and introducing parliament to differentiate them. 

He also urged the poor not to confuse corrupt politics with legal means to raise funds for their activities.

"There is a distorted corruption political discourse in Korea that cannot encourage ordinary political activities," Huh said. "There should be no corruption, but the poor cannot do politics if they block the means of attracting money justly."

He interpreted the climate crisis response as a problem that "neighborhood" and "earth" should be connected, saying, "It is more urgent than ever to solve the problem of participatory inequality," and argued, "We should prevent grassroots from turning into a 'horn' democracy."

In fact, the voices of local politicians are not very different. Lee Sang-hoon, the head of the Korea Council for the Council for the Presidents of the City of Korea, urged citizens to develop autonomous means and implementation models to solve various social inequality and daily problems in the process of responding to the climate crisis.

"When the Green New Deal, Local New Deal, and Care New Deal are connected, we can take advantage of the decentralized meaning of the climate crisis era," said Cho Sun-hee, chairman of the Incheon Metropolitan Council.

Here's the gist. They say that it should break away from development-oriented thinking and policies and break away from the conventional notion of changing the core of decentralization to "like Seoul," and that youth's political participation should no longer be included. 

Grassroot democracy, fear of turning into horns: 

It also includes the fact that the centralized energy policy should be drastically converted to a regional decentralized type so that citizens can recognize it as a party to solving problems and have a sense of responsibility, not just as consumers.

In addition, care is linked to a "less consuming society" as a comprehensive concept that includes self-care as well as the act of looking at someone who is vulnerable.

"As we went through the coronavirus, we were given new tasks on climate crisis and care gaps," Cho said. "No matter how much it is an age of non-face-to-face, we can't feed children online, and we can't bathe elderly people face-to-face.

In the era of climate crisis, citizens' influence is emphasized as part of decentralization. The case of Superilla (Superblock) in Barcelona, Spain, is a case in point.

Focusing on making public spaces safer, healthier and more conducive to social relationships, the project considers both the needs of children and the elderly and the local business community. It is already expanding to urban models across Barcelona.

Vehicles become customers here, which is a "people-centered street" that everyone can access. 

Road pavement tiles or granite, not asphalt, were applied. For more natural space, green areas were also applied in the middle of the road, and passage spaces needed for urban services and ambulances were secured.

Rainwater reuse has also increased as much as possible, expanding the scope of soil application for sustainability. It also features a children's play area. 

"We want the Superblock project to be an urban project that is created through all stakeholders and public engagement and dialogue," said Xavier Matilla, chief architect of the Barcelona City Council. 

Political acceptance cannot be guaranteed:  

We have an idea that we can think of. Based on the fact that small cities in provincial areas are alienated from public transportation, CEO Huh Seung-kyu suggested that they can talk about green transportation while guaranteeing the rights of the socially disadvantaged to move by opening dedicated bus routes for teenagers and senior citizens.

Looking at this as an example of connecting the neighborhood and the earth, it also drew a blueprint that climate crisis response can be accepted as a language of the neighborhood, not a space issue.

However, continuity can be ensured only if self-distribution is properly operated.

It is inevitable that electricity prices will rise due to the expansion and distribution of renewable energy in the process of promoting carbon neutral strategies. It involves political acceptance to allow practical conditions to be considered.

CEO Huh said, "We easily face online malicious comment-based wars over sensitive topics such as rising electricity bills. At times like this, I feel that there is a need for a space where we can talk face to face even at the neighborhood level. Even if it's an issue that I can't understand, if I get experience in meeting and sharing opinions in my daily life, at least I won't be able to write random malicious comments."